Modernism, Postmodernism, and Feminism in the Novel

This diversification of voices reflects an increasingly plural and multicultural society, where everyone has their own story. The novel increasingly combines different styles, genres, and approaches, making it difficult to separate writers into distinct movements.

The Last Modernist

Most major Modernist works were written between the two World Wars. However, Samuel Beckett, considered by many the last Modernist, published most of his novels after World War II. Written mostly in French and translated into English by Beckett himself, his works show language in a state of exhaustion. Beckett saw himself writing at the end of literature, a rubbish heap of others’ words he was condemned to repeat, now meaningless. This sense of ending is echoed by the post-apocalyptic landscapes and tramp-like characters in his novels and plays. Unlike other Modernists, Beckett saw no possibility of salvation from the senseless chaos of the world.

The Postmodern Novel

Postmodernist fiction originates from two sources: the rise of popular culture (television, cinema, pop music, and consumerism) and the development of literary theory. As literary analysis became more sophisticated, it became clear that literature was made of pieces of other texts, often used unconsciously. Another theory suggested that no singular objective historical truth existed; history was relative and depended on one’s perspective. This led to new forms of writing that were more like a game with pieces of text or used old styles ironically, rather than attempting to describe the world or the self.

Postmodern fiction first appeared in the US, with pioneers like Thomas Pynchon and John Barth. John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) is an interesting British example. More recent postmodern novels include Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot, a self-reflexive novel where the protagonist uses Flaubert’s work to understand his own tragic life.

Feminism and the Novel

The idea that women had a different vision of the world from men arose in the 19th century in the novels of Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, and George Eliot but was explicitly formulated by Virginia Woolf, particularly in her essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’. The post-war period saw major women writers such as Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark, and Doris Lessing, as well as the rediscovery of forgotten writers from past generations, including Jean Rhys.