American Lit. since 1865 Final Exam Review

Influence of naturalism on modernists:

Best definition: "Avant Garde" movement where artists are most concerned with experimentation in pursuit of an individual voice (felt betrayed by parents, politicians, churches, etc.) group decides they want to make art new Although they are experimenting and disillusioned, modernists are still trying to find a way to impose order on a world that seems increasingly spinning out of control

Metafiction:

Metafiction is a self-conscious literary style in which the narrator or characters are aware that they are part of a work of fiction. Often most closely associated with postmodern prose, metafiction involves a departure from standard narrative conventions, in which a self-aware narrator infuses their perspective into the text to create a fictional work that comments on fiction. This kind of fictional writing can appear in novels, short stories, plays, video games, film, and television.

"Entropy" by Thomas Pynchon:

"Entropy" is a short story by Thomas Pynchon. It is a part of his collection Slow Learner, and was originally published in the Kenyon Review in 1960, while Pynchon was still an undergraduate. In his introduction to the collection, Pynchon refers to "Entropy" as the work of a "beginning writer" (12). "Entropy" takes place in Washington, DC, in the spring of 1957. The first of the two settings is the apartment of a young man named Meatball Mulligan, at which a large, raucous party is taking place. The second occurs at the apartment directly above Mulligan's, belonging to Callisto, a middle-aged Italian intellectual, and Aubade, his waifish young French-Annamese girlfriend. Callisto's apartment has been transformed into a greenhouse and aviary, a self-contained, self-regulating space that Callisto and Aubade almost never leave: "Hermetically sealed, it was a tiny enclave of regularity within the city's chaos, alien to the vagaries of the weather, of national politics, of any civil disorder" (83-84). At the story's opening, Mulligan's party has been underway for almost two days and "seem[s] to be gathering its second wind" (82). Guests at Mulligan's party include Sandor Rojas, a libidinous Hungarian who is described as having a "chronic case of [...] Don Giovannism" (86), and a jazz quartet who call themselves the Duke di Angelis quartet. As the party continues, late guests continue to arrive, both invited and uninvited. A group of US Navy men show up, under the impression that Mulligan's apartment is a bordello. Three female undergraduates from nearby George Washington University arrive and are immediately taken up by Sandor Rojas. Mulligan's friend Saul also appears, by climbing up on to the fire escape outside of the kitchen. Saul has recently had a fight with his wife Miriam, and he believes that they are now on the verge of divorcing. He describes the fight to Mulligan as concerning "communication theory" (89). Meanwhile, Aubade and Callisto strive to maintain their equilibrium in their upstairs apartment, from where they can hear the distracting noises of Mulligan's party. They lie together on Callisto's bed, Callisto alternately nursing a wounded bird and dictating his memoirs to Aubade. These memoirs concern his discovery of the concept of entropy—a state of simultaneous chaos and stasis—and its application to modern life: He was forced, in the sad dying fall of middle age, to a radical reevaluation of everything he had learned up to then; all of the cities and seasons and casual passions of his days had now to be looked at in a new and elusive light. He did not know if he was equal to the task (87). Callisto also periodically sends Aubade to the apartment window, to check on the outside temperature, which has remained at 37 degrees Fahrenheit for the past three days. Callisto finds this sameness ominous, an "ome[n] of apocalypse" (85). Mulligan's party gradually winds down, while Callisto and Aubade's vigil culminates suddenly and violently. After observing the Duke di Angeles quartet mime playing music—even while his other guests grow louder and more disorderly—Mulligan decides to "try and keep his lease-breaking party from deteriorating into total chaos" (97). He placates Saul, breaks up fights, and calls a repairman to fix his broken refrigerator. Callisto and Aubade, meanwhile, discover that the wounded bird that Callisto has been nursing has died. Callisto is despondent that the heat of his body has failed to restore the bird, and he sees it as a further sign of imminent breakdown. Aubade goes again to the apartment window, and upon seeing that the temperature outside is still 37 degrees Fahrenheit, smashes her hands through the window: [She] turned to face the man on the bed and wait with him until the moment of equilibrium was reached, when 37 degrees Fahrenheit should prevail both inside and outside [...] and the hovering, curious dominant of their separate lives should resolve into a tonic and darkness and the absence of all motion (98).

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley:

"Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" is broken into two parts, and the second is sort of a poetic response to the first. In part one, Pound writes about the "Life and Contacts" of good ol' Huey Mauberley. Now Mauberley is a fine enough guy. The problem is that he's trying to make poetry cool again, and the world doesn't really have any interest in seeing that happen. So Mauberley spends most of his twenties basically "out of key with his time," trying to make people appreciate how great poetry is, while modern culture just wants something ugly and simple, or "an image of its accelerated grimace." It's like trying to explain to kids today how funny Woody Allen is. It doesn't matter how right you are; it's tough to make people care. But at the same time, Pound isn't totally satisfied with returning to the past. In section V of Part One, he actually goes on at length about how the Victorians (who lived around 1840-1890) were a bunch of stuffy weenies with no passion. No, Pound is interested in the mixture of classic beauty and intense passion (usually sexual and violent) that you find in the world of Greek myths. In section IX of Part One, Pound also rants about a conversation that his character Huey once had with a bestselling novelist. As it turns out, the novelist's books only sell out because he is a sellout, who cares more about what his reviewers think than the quality of his work. For Pound, this is one of the biggest reasons for why mass culture will never be able to produce great art. The artists and publishers only care about sales. In Part Two, Hugh keeps ranting on how great Greek myths are. But guess what? People still don't look as though they're going to start caring any time soon. At the end of the day, Huey was just born a few centuries (or millennia) too late. But poor Huey (and Pound) forge onward, bravely fighting to make the dumb modern world take notice and start learning about the great art of its past. Yeah, good luck with that, guys.

"Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston:

"Sweat" tells the story of a woman in an unhappy and abusive marriage who is eventually freed through an ironic twist of fate. The story opens on a Sunday night with Delia Jones, a hardworking washerwoman, sorting the week's laundry. Her husband, Sykes, returns home and plays a nasty trick on her with his horsewhip, which resembles a snake. She is frightened and scolds him, but he simply laughs. Sykes calls Delia a hypocrite for working on Sunday after church, stomps on the clothes, and threatens her with physical violence. Delia abandons her meek posture and stands to defend herself. She proclaims that her sweat paid for the house and she will do as she pleases in it, threatening Sykes with a cast iron skillet. Sykes, surprised, slinks away to spend the night with his mistress. Delia finishes her work and goes to bed. She lies awake, remembering the hopeful early days of her marriage and its swift turn to abuse. When Sykes returns home in the night to claim his place in bed, she no longer cares what he says or does. The following Saturday, Delia is passing the town store with her pony and cart to deliver clean clothes. A group of village men gathered on the shop's porch begin discussing Delia and Sykes. They comment on Delia's hard work and condemn Sykes for his abuse and infidelity. Joe Clarke, the storeowner, compares abusive husbands to men chewing sugarcane, who squeeze all the goodness out of something and throw away the remainder. Another man comments that they all ought to take Sykes and his mistress down to the swamp and beat them both, and the others seem to agree, but they stay on the porch and eat a melon instead. Sykes and his mistress Bertha appear, and a hush falls on the porch. Sykes makes a great show of ordering food for Bertha just as Delia drives past. Time passes, and Bertha has now been in town for three months, with Sykes paying for her room in a boarding house. He promises to move her into his and Delia's house as soon as he can get Delia out of it. Delia, meanwhile, has been through a great deal of hard work and embarrassment. She tries to ignore the situation, but Bertha keeps coming by the house. Delia and Sykes fight constantly. One hot day in August, Delia comes home to find that Sykes has caught a rattlesnake and placed it in a box by the kitchen door in order to scare her away. Delia is terrified and demands that he take it away, but she is met only with laughter and denial. People from the village come by to ask Sykes about the snake, and one man advises him to kill it, but to no avail. The snake remains in its screen-covered box by the kitchen door, and after several days digesting its latest meal, becomes more active and begins rattling its tail. Delia again tells Sykes to take the snake away, but Sykes responds that he doesn't care how she feels. Delia then astonishes Sykes by proclaiming that she hates him and telling him to get out of the house. They trade more insults, but Sykes leaves without carrying out any of his threats. The next day, Sunday, Delia goes to church in the next town over and stays for the evening service. She comes home after dark singing hymns. When she arrives, she finds the snake is absent from its box, and feels the sudden hope that Sykes might have had a change of heart. She goes to strike a match for light and, finding only one, concludes that Sykes and Bertha must have been there while she was gone. Delia starts to sort her washing, but upon opening the laundry hamper, she is horrified to find the snake waiting in the basket. He begins to slither out onto the bed, and Delia flees across the yard to the hay barn. She climbs up onto the hay and stays there for hours, first deathly afraid, then enraged, then horribly calm. She concludes that she has done her best and "Gawd knows taint mah fault." Delia falls asleep and awakens to hear Sykes destroying the snake's box in the pre-dawn light. She watches him go inside, then creeps down to peer through the bedroom window. Delia hears the snake rattling, but Sykes hears nothing until he knocks a pot lid down trying to find a match. He suddenly thinks he hears the rattle under the stove, and he flees to the bedroom. Delia hears Sykes's cries as he is bitten and his struggle with the snake. She feels ill and begins to creep away, but finds herself frozen when Sykes calls out for her. Eventually she gets up and sees Sykes crawling out, his neck swollen from the snakebite. She knows that it is too late to save Sykes, and she goes to wait in the yard, helpless to keep him from realizing that she knows of his fate.

"The Negro Speaks of River" by Langston Hughes:

"The Negro Speaks of River" is a poem written in 1920 by the American poet Langston Hughes. One of the key poems of a literary movement called the "Harlem Renaissance," "The Negro Speaks of River" traces black history from the beginning of human civilization to the present, encompassing both triumphs (like the construction of the Egyptian pyramids) and horrors (like American slavery). The poem argues that the black "soul" has incorporated all of this historical experience, and in the process has become "deep." The poem thus suggests that black cultural identity is continuous, that it stretches across the violence and displacement of slavery to connect with the past—and that black people have made vital, yet often neglected contributions to human civilization.

Definition of image for Pound:

"should present an intellectual and emotional complex in the same moment in time."

Double consciouness:

-Among black Americans, the sense of "two-ness," of being both black and American. -racialized oppression and disvaluation in a white-dominated society.

Hemingway Code, World, Hero:

-Code: "a man who lives correctly, following the ideal of honor, courage, and endurance in a world that sometimes is chaotic" -World: living to one's principles in a morally compromised world -Hero: one who exhibits the principles of honor, courage and endurance

Southern literature (unifying characteristics):

-Common sense of place (overwhelmingly agrarian, producing a very specific spirit and mindset, farmers had to develop a symbiotic relationship with the land - work and understand the land) -Common sense of history (before Civil War, south had very concrete and specific social hierarchy; at the top was the aristocracy (white men with large landholdings), below them is Yeoman Farmers (white men with some land), below them is Mercantile Class (bakers, shopkeepers, etc.) below then is poor whites, below them is slaves and freed men/women) -Common sense of culture (critics believe that culture of the south has always been distinct, culture is connected to agriculture and classicism)

Robinson as a transition figure (his themes and concerns):

-Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935) was a poet of transition -Robinson's poetry was transitional, evaluating the present by using traditional forms and by including elements of transcendentalism and Puritanism.

European vs. Native Poets:

-European (still American poets living and working mostly in Europe after the war, such as Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald) -Nativist (American poets living/working in America, such as Frost, Robinson, etc.)

Modernism Characteristics:

-Experimentation with form, to present life differently, fresh, new or modern (hence the name of the movement) -Challenging 19th century science and its ability to explain the universe -Criticizing industrialism and the subsequent displacement of the individual as a cog in a machine -Challenging the values of capitalism, Christianity, an often hypocritical moralism -Presentation of main characters who are alienated, detached, displaced -Loss of confidence in heroes Praise of heroes who are able to create their own moral codes and meaningful rituals in the face of defeat and nothingness (these are existential heroes) -Ambivalence and sometimes hostility toward past that is deceiving but nostalgia for past that was meaningful -Antagonism for popular culture -Criticism of modern man and woman for conformity and rootlessness -Desire to include more voices in literature: works from different perspectives -Desire to shock the bourgeoisie -Loss of traditional faith, but new faith in technique as a moral achievement -Interest in language as abstraction—if used correctly, language can allow us to see through to reality. Language is not fixed; it is thick, elusive, with multiple meanings and varied connotations. Interest in inner (psychological) reality through devices such as stream of consciousness -Focus on open or ambiguous endings

Tillbury Town:

-In Edwin Arlington Robinson ...a small New England village, Tilbury Town, very much like the Gardiner, Maine, in which he grew up. -Robinson's town

Italian Sonnet:

-When you have a sonnet with an octave and a sestet and they're separated, that's an Italian sonnet -In an Italian sonnet, the first 8 lines is supposed to set up a problem or a question -The Sestet (6 lines after break) is supposed to solve/answer it -14 lines total

Stream of consciousness:

-a style of writing in which the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind -a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind"

Modernism:

-after WWI, it is best characterized as an avant garde movement where artists are most concerned with experimentation in pursuit of a distinct voice and style. More than anything else, modernists felt betrayed by the past—the values, the stability they had inherited but which did not seem to hold up in a modern world. They wanted to make art new—to find a way to communicate and impose meaning in a world that seemed to be increasingly spinning out of control.

Post Modernism: STUDY THIS ONE!!!

-begins around 1945 and runs arguably until now -WWII ushers in postmodernism—a second wave of disillusion that is more profound and pervasive. WWII is a contradictory war. Unlike WWI whose origins and complex network of alliances is difficult to explain, WWII is often described as the Sanctified War; that is, the threat Hitler posed to the world seemed concrete and obvious. He had to be removed from power. So the war seemed utterly justified and a great deal of heroism was attached both to the war and the sacrifices made at home. However, this is the war that ushered in nuclear war. This reality made it clear to many that while we had concentrated so much energy on science and technology, we had reached a point where we could now annihilate ourselves. That didn't make sense, so there was also a great deal of confusion, disillusionment, and fear attached to the aftermath of the war. The postmodern worldview is difficult to define and describe—to even determine a start date, but postmodernism affects nearly every discourse—art, history, architecture, etc. Postmodernism is essentially a reaction against modernism (after modernism). By the end of WWII, people were recognizing that modernism does not provide answers or even order. We did not perfect ourselves—we set ourselves up for annihilation—we could split the atom but had lost humanity—so there were attendant problems of the human spirit. The movement was also prompted by the Cold War, McCarthyism, and Vietnam.

Iceberg Theory:

-created by Ernest Hemingway -technique used to write stories "under the surface," by not describing everything that happens, merely describing the key parts that lead to emotions and reactions, he could get the reader to think for himself and make the world of his story more immersive.

Abner (Ab) as a heroic figure:

-from Barn Burning

Truth/Story Truth:

-happening truth-series of events -story truth- bigger and universal (O'Brien believed mattered most)

Pynchon (Entropy and Order):

-highly experimental, hopeful, wrote about love, kindness, but still dark stories, used binaries (male/female, white/black, hot/cold) -entropy: dominant metaphor in Pynchon's writing, he is applying a modern science concept to fiction (applies to communication)

Hemingway's Style:

-style was semi-revolutionary -stripped away everything he didn't need from a sentence or paragraph and brought it down to the bare bones. There, he was able to create a new way of writing dialogue and descriptions that got to the heart of the story much quicker.

Ex-patriates:

Expatriates from both generations wrote as a means of understanding the world around them. Their literature reflects not only their personal sentiments, but also the overall feeling of the time. It demonstrates how ordinary people dealt with these post-World War periods.

Form for Frost:

Frost believes a poem begins in delight, assumes a direction from the very first line laid down, and ends in a clarification of life (momentary stay against confusion) -Greatest contribution to modernist technique is non-traditional blank verse (unrhymed, iambic pentameter) FIVE FEET, 10 SYLLABULS PER LINE

"Big Meeting" by Langston Hughes:

In the short story "Big Meeting," author Langston Hughes portrays the sorrow of powerlessness that black people felt because of their low social position in society. Black people, including the mother of the narrator, a young black boy, and the narrator's friend named Bud have had a tough life. Instead of living for themselves, they have to work all day for others. The narrator says, "They came home for a few hours' sleep before getting up at dawn to go cook and scrub and clean for others" (35). Even though they work hard for white people, these individuals neglect and look down upon them instead of being thankful for them. In the story "Big Meeting," a white woman who observes the rituals of black people in a car bombards them with rough words. She sneers at black people by calling them "darkies" (33). The "Big Meeting," which is composed of testimonials, song services, sermons, and prayer is very meaningful for black people who had to endure tough times and racial discrimination. Because it is the only place where the black people can express their sufferings and pain by singing. As they gather, they sing words such as"I am a Po' pilgrim of Sorrow Out in this wide world alone," (34) and "Sometimes I am tossed and driven, sometimes I don't know where to go...." (34). As the black woman tells about her past sufferings, the white woman in a car scoffs at her. Also, she makes a fool of the narrator's mother's dance by saying, "My, Lord, John, it's better than a show" (35). Because of the white woman's disrespectful attitude, the narrator's blood boils. Furthermore, the narrator says, "I didn't want any white folks, especially whites who wouldn't let a Negro drink a glass of soda in their drugstore or give one a job, sitting in a car laughing at Mama" (35). Through the saying, we can assume how serious racial discrimination in American society was. We can see that black people rely on religion impassionedly. In the "Big Meeting," black people spend most of their time in prayer, listening to a preacher's sermon, and talking about the death of Jesus and the betrayal of Judas. The black people weep inconsolably in the "Big Meeting" because of their agony of life. The characters in the story depend on religion because it has the power of soothing and comforting their sorrows and sufferings that they undergo while they work all day for white people. Furthermore, they needed their own place such as the "Big Meeting," to express their sorrows of powerlessness and the troubles of life that they have had hidden. Their meeting is a place of catharsis. The white people, who represent dominant culture, sneer and snicker, though they look at the meeting from the outside and without empathy or understanding. Many definitions of racism require that the racist believes they have power over the victim. In the time of Langston Hughes' writing, Jim Crow laws were in effect, so the white people had power in this story (Urofsky 1). This made their insults even more offensive and painful to the black people in the meeting. The white people from the dominant group could not understand why the black people needed this time so much. They simply laughed at them, making them feel foolish and powerless.

"Soldier's Home" by Ernest Hemingway:

Krebs went to the war in 1917 from a Methodist college in Kansas. There is a picture of him with his fraternity brothers all in the same collar. He came back from the war in 1919, after he had been in the Rhine. There, a picture was taken of him, a fellow corporal, and two German ladies. When Krebs returns, no one celebrates. He comes back after most everyone else, so he misses the hysteria. He also cannot get anyone to listen to his stories. Everyone has heard too many gruesome stories to care. To get people to listen, he has lied twice. But he is disgusted by that so he has stopped talking about the war. Even his lies bore people, anyway. During this time, Krebs is sleeping late and hanging around all day. He is a hero to his younger sisters and to his mother. She sometimes asks about the war, but she gets bored. The town has not changed in his absence except that some of the girls have become women. Krebs likes to watch them, but he does not want to be a part of their lives. He does not want to get involved in the politics or the lying involved in a courtship. Krebs does not want any consequences. The army had taught him that he did not need a girl, even though many men claimed that they could not live without one. Krebs likes the looks of the girls, but does not want to have to talk. That was one nice thing about the French and German girls: not so much talking. Krebs had not wanted to come home, but he had. Now, he watches girls walk by and thinks that they are made out of a nice pattern. He starts reading a book about the war, about all of the battles he was in. He is finally learning about the war. Krebs' mother tells him that he can take the car out at night. Krebs goes downstairs for breakfast and starts to read the paper. His mother tells him not to muss it. His sister, Helen Krebs, tells him that she will be pitching in an indoor baseball game that day. She asks if he'll come. Their mother shoos her away and tells Krebs that he should think about finding a job. She tells him that she prays for him and the temptations that he must have faced. But, she says, he must find a job. After all, she says, the other boys his age are getting jobs and wives. She asks if he loves her. He says no, meaning that he cannot love anyone. She is only hurt, so Krebs tells her that he did not mean it. Krebs tells her that he will try to be good. She asks him to kneel with her and pray. She prays, but he cannot. He leaves, thinking that he will get a job in Kansas City and get out of the house without too many more confrontations. He only wants to have his life go smoothly, which it is not. He goes to watch Helen play baseball.

"Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald:

Part I opens in the middle of a conversation between Charlie Wales and Alix, a bartender at the Ritz. Charlie asks Alix to pass along his brother-in-law's address to Duncan Schaeffer. The narrator says that Paris and the Ritz bar feel deserted. Charlie says he has been sober for a year and a half and that he is now a businessman living in Prague. He and Alix gossip about old acquaintances. Charlie says he's in town to see his daughter. Charlie gets in a taxi. The Left Bank looks provincial to him, and he wonders whether he's ruined the city for himself. The narrator tells us that Charlie is a handsome thirty-five-year-old. Charlie goes to his brother-in-law's house, where his daughter, Honoria, jumps into his arms. Marion Peters, his sister-in-law, greets him without warmth, although his brother-in-law, Lincoln Peters, is friendlier. In a calculated remark, Charlie boasts about how good his finances are these days. Lincoln looks restless, so Charlie changes the subject. Marion says she's glad there aren't many Americans left in Paris, and it's clear that she doesn't like Charlie. After eating dinner with the Peters family, Charlie goes to see a famous dancer named Josephine Baker, then to Montmartre, where he passes nightclubs that he recognizes. He sees a few scared tourists go into one club. He thinks about the meaning of dissipation and remembers the vast sums of money he threw away. After ignoring a woman's advances, he goes home. Part II begins the following morning. Charlie takes Honoria to lunch. He suggests going to a toy store and then to a vaudeville show. Honoria doesn't want to go to the toy store because she's worried they're no longer rich. Charlie playfully introduces himself to her as if they are strangers. He pretends that her doll is her child, and she goes along with the joke. She says she prefers Lincoln to Marion and asks why she can't live with Charlie. Leaving the restaurant, they run into Duncan Schaeffer and Lorraine Quarrles, two of Charlie's friends from the old days. Lorraine says she and her husband are poor now and that she is alone in Paris. They ask Charlie to join them for dinner, but he brushes them off and refuses to tell them where he's staying. They see each other again at the vaudeville, and he has a drink with them. In the cab on the way home, Honoria says she wants to live with him, which thrills Charlie. She blows him a kiss when she is safely inside the house. In Part III, Charlie meets with Marion and Lincoln. He says that he wants Honoria to live with him and that he has changed. He says he drinks one drink per day on purpose so that he doesn't obsess about it ever again. Marion doesn't understand this, but Lincoln claims that he understands Charlie. Charlie settles in for a long fight, reminding himself that his objective isn't to justify his behavior but to win Honoria back. Marion says that Charlie hasn't existed for her since he locked Helen, her sister and Charlie's wife, out of their apartment. Charlie says Marion can trust him. As it becomes increasingly clear that Marion simply doesn't like Charlie, he begins to worry that she will turn Honoria against him. He stresses that he will be able to give Honoria a good life and then realizes that Marion and Lincoln don't want to hear about how much wealthier he is than they are. He craves a drink. The narrator says that Marion understands Charlie's wish to be with his daughter but needs to see him as the villain. She implies that Charlie was responsible for Helen's death. Lincoln objects. Charlie says that heart trouble killed Helen, and Marion sarcastically agrees with him. Suddenly giving up the fight, she leaves the room. Lincoln tells Charlie that he can take Honoria. Back in his hotel room, Charlie thinks of the way he and Helen destroyed their love for no good reason. He remembers the night they fought and she kissed another man; he got home before her and locked her out. There was a snowstorm later, and Helen wandered around in the cold. The incident marked the "beginning of the end." Charlie falls asleep and dreams of Helen, who says that she wants him and Honoria to be together. Part IV begins the next morning. Charlie interviews two potential governesses and then eats lunch with Lincoln. He says Marion resents the fact that Charlie and Helen were spending a fortune while she and Lincoln were just scraping along. In his hotel room, Charlie gets a pneumatique (a letter delivered by pneumatic tube) from Lorraine, who reminisces about their drunken pranks and asks to see him at the Ritz bar. The adventures that Lorraine looks back on with fondness strike Charlie as nightmarish. Charlie goes to Marion and Lincoln's house in the afternoon. Honoria has been told of the decision and is delighted. The room feels safe and warm. The doorbell rings—it is Lorraine and Duncan, who are drunk. Slurring their words, they ask Charlie to dinner. He refuses twice and they leave angry. Furious, Marion leaves the room. The children eat dinner, and Lincoln goes to check on Marion. When he comes back, he tells Charlie that the plans have changed. In Part V, Charlie goes to the Ritz bar. He sees Paul, a bartender he knew in the old days. He thinks of the fights that he and Helen had, the people out of their minds on alcohol and drugs, and the way he locked Helen out in the snow. He calls Lincoln, who says that for six months, they have to drop the question of Honoria living with Charlie. Charlie goes back to the bar. He realizes that the only thing he can do for Honoria is buy her things, which he knows is inadequate. He plans to come back and try again.

"How to Tell a True War Story" by Tim O'Brien:

O'Brien prefaces this story by saying that it is true. A week after his friend is killed, Rat Kiley writes a letter to the friend's sister, explaining what a hero her brother was and how much he loved him. Two months pass, and the sister never writes back. Kiley, frustrated, spits and calls the sister a "dumb cooze." O'Brien insists that a true war story is not moral and tells us not to believe a story that seems moral. He uses Kiley's actions as an example of the amorality of war stories. O'Brien reveals that Kiley's friend's name was Curt Lemon and that he died while playfully tossing a smoke grenade with Rat Kiley, in the shade of some trees. Lemon stepped into the sunlight and onto a rigged mortar round. O'Brien says sometimes a true war story cannot be believed because some of the most unbearable parts are true, while some of the normal parts are not. Sometimes, he says, a true war story is impossible to tell. He describes a story that Mitchell Sanders tells. Sanders recounts the experience of a troop that goes into the mountains on a listening post operation. He says that after a few days, the men hear strange echoes and music—chimes and xylophones—and become frightened. One night, the men hear voices and noises that sound like a cocktail party. After a while they hear singing and chanting, as well as talking monkeys and trees. They order air strikes and they burn and shoot down everything they can find. Still, in the morning, they hear the noises. So they pack up their gear and head down the mountain, where their colonel asks them what they heard. They have no answer. The day after he tells this story, Mitchell approaches O'Brien and confesses that some parts were invented. O'Brien asks him what the moral of the story is and, listening to the quiet, Sanders says the quiet is the moral. O'Brien says the moral of a true war story, like the thread that makes a cloth, cannot be separated from the story itself. A true war story cannot be made general or abstract, he says. The significance of the story is whether or not you believe it in your stomach. Heeding his own advice, he relays the story of Curt Lemon's death in a few, brief vignettes. He explains that the platoon crossed a muddy river and on the third day Lemon was killed and Kiley lost his best friend. Later that day, higher in the mountains, Kiley shot a Viet Cong water buffalo repeatedly—though the animal was destroyed and bleeding, it remained alive. Finally Kiowa and Sanders picked up the buffalo and dumped it in the village well. O'Brien expounds on his problem by making a generalization. He says that though war is hell, it is also many other contradictory things. He explains the mysterious feeling of being alive that follows a firefight. He agrees with Sanders's story of the men who hear things in the jungle—war is ambiguous, he says. For this reason, in a true war story, nothing is absolutely true. O'Brien remembers how Lemon died. Lemon was smiling and talking to Kiley one second and was blown into a tree the next. Jensen and O'Brien were ordered to climb the tree to retrieve Lemon's body, and Jensen sang "Lemon Tree" as they threw down the body parts. A true war story can be identified by the questions one asks afterward, O'Brien says. He says that in the story of a man who jumps on a grenade to save his three friends, the truth of the man's purpose makes a difference. He says that sometimes the truest war stories never happened and tells a story of the same four men—one jumps on a grenade to take the blast, and all four die anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead turns to the man who jumped on the grenade and asks him why he jumped. The already-dead jumper says, "Story of my life, man." Thinking of Curt Lemon, O'Brien concludes he must have thought the sunlight was killing him. O'Brien wishes he could get the story right—the way the sunlight seemed to gather Lemon and carry him up in the air—so that we could believe what Lemon must have seen as his final truth. O'Brien says that when he tells this story, a woman invariably approaches him and tells him that she liked it but it made her sad, and that O'Brien should find new stories to tell. O'Brien wishes he could tell the woman that the story he told wasn't a war story but a love story. He concludes that all he can do is continue telling it, making up more things in order give greater truth to the story.

"The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway:

One winter evening, around dusk, while he is sitting at the end of a counter and talking to George, the manager of a diner in Summit, Illinois, a small town south of Chicago, Nick Adams watches two over-dressed strangers in black (Al and Max) enter the diner. After complaining about the serving schedule, the two men order dinner, joking sarcastically about George and Nick being a couple of dumb country boys. Finishing his meal, Al orders Nick and Sam, the Black cook, to the kitchen, where he ties them up. Meanwhile, Max boasts to George that he and Al have been hired to kill Ole Andreson, an aging boxer, who, they've heard, eats dinner there every night. When the boxer fails to show up in the diner, Al and Max leave, and George hurries to untie Nick and Sam. He then suggests that Nick warn Andreson, who lives in a nearby boarding house. When the boxer hears about Al and Max's plan to kill him, he's unconcerned; he's tired, he says, of running. Nick leaves and returns to the diner, where he tells George and Sam that he's leaving Summit because he can't bear to think about a man waiting, passively, to be killed by a couple of hired killers.

Harlem Renaissance (who, what, when, where):

The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a Black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art.

Momentary Stay Against Confusion:

Poetry as a momentary stay against confusion. I think Frost's essential word here is momentary; to entirely escape from the world seems not only impossible, but perhaps a bit selfish. Yet to give in to the cultural—or perhaps capitalist—demand to remain superficially engaged, online or otherwise, is to assert the importance of society over spirit.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism (connections between Hemingway):

Postmodernism questions all fundamental principles of modernism—beginning with Truth: Truth no longer objective—all subjective—depends on viewer—each person sees truth slightly differently Truth is about perception and determined by sources of power—we are taught by authoritative figures what is true World not reasonable—irrational, chaotic, random Predicated on disorder, fragmentation, chaos Truth/history no longer linear Rejection of master narratives Postmodernism considers the natural cultural formations that accompany capitalism Suspicious of all dogmatic claims of knowledge Progress a way to justify oppression—marginalization—white European patriarchy Subversion of status quo—decentralizing control Blurring and breaking down of binaries Even language breaks down—no stable signifiers—no center Reversal of hierarchies At best, postmodernism is promoting plurality—difference celebrated—marginalized voices become prominent

The Wasteland (poem):

The Burial of the Dead It's not the cheeriest of starts, and it gets even drearier from there. The poem's speaker talks about how spring is an awful time of year, stirring up memories of bygone days and unfulfilled desires. Then the poem shifts into specific childhood memories of a woman named Marie. This is followed by a description of tangled, dead trees and land that isn't great for growing stuff. Suddenly, you're in a room with a "clairvoyant" or spiritual medium named Madame Sosostris, who reads you your fortune. And if that weren't enough, you then watch a crowd of people "flow[ing] over London Bridge" like zombies (62). Moving right along... A Game of Chess You are transported to the glittery room of a lavish woman, and you notice that hanging from the wall is an image of "the change of Philomel," a woman from Greek myth who was raped by King Tereus and then changed into a nightingale. Some anxious person says that their nerves are bad, and asks you to stay the night. This is followed by a couple of fragments vaguely asking you what you know and remember. The section finishes with a scene of two women chatting and trying to sneak in a few more drinks before closing time at the bar. The Fire Sermon Section three opens with a speaker who's hanging out beside London's River Thames and feeling bad about the fact that there's no magic left in the world. The focus swoops back to the story of Philomel for a second, then another speaker talks about how he might have been asked for weekend of sex by a "Smyrna merchant" (209). Next, you're hearing from Tiresias, a blind prophet from myth who was turned into a woman for seven years by the goddess Hera. You hear about a scene where a modern young man and woman—both not much to look at—are having this really awful, loveless sex. Finally, you overhear someone singing a popular song, which in the context of this poem just sounds depressing. Death By Water In a brief scene, you watch as a dead sailor named Phlebas decays at the bottom of the ocean, and the poem tells you to think of this young man whenever you start feeling too proud. Good tip, T.S. What the Thunder Said Section five takes you to a stony landscape with no water. There are two people walking, and one notices in his peripheral vision that a third person is with them. When he looks over, though, this other person disappears (it's like one of those squiggly lines that dance in the corner of your eye). In a dramatic moment, thunder cracks over the scene, and its noise seems to say three words in Sanskrit: Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata, which command you to "Give," "Sympathize," and "Control." This is followed by a repetition of the word Shantih, which means "the peace that passeth all understanding." After all that slogging, T.S. maybe gives us a little hope with this final word. Then again, maybe not.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor:

The grandmother tries to convince her son, Bailey, and his wife to take the family to east Tennessee for vacation instead of Florida. She points out an article about the Misfit, an escaped convict heading toward Florida, and adds that the children have already been there. John Wesley, eight years old, suggests that the grandmother stay home, and his sister, June Star, says nastily that his grandmother would never do that. On the day of the trip, the grandmother hides her cat, Pitty Sing, in a basket in the car. She wears a dress and hat with flowers on it so that people will know she is "a lady" if there's an accident. In the car, John Wesley says he doesn't like Georgia, and the grandmother chastises him for not respecting his home state. When they pass a cotton field, she says there are graves in the middle of it that belonged to the plantation and jokes that the plantation has "Gone with the Wind." Later, she tells a story about an old suitor, Edgar Atkins Teagarden. Edgar brought her a watermelon every week, into which he carved his initials, E. A. T. Once he left it on the porch and a black child ate it because he thought it said eat. The family stops at a restaurant called the Tower, owned by Red Sammy Butts. Red Sammy complains that people are untrustworthy, explaining that he recently let two men buy gasoline on credit. The grandmother tells him he's a good man for doing it. Red Sam's wife says she doesn't trust anyone, including Red Sam. The grandmother asks her if she's heard about the Misfit, and the woman worries that he'll rob them. Red Sam says, "A good man is hard to find." He and the grandmother lament the state of the world. Back in the car, the grandmother wakes from a nap and realizes that a plantation she once visited is nearby. She says that the house had six white columns and was at the end of an oak tree-lined driveway. She lies that the house had a secret panel to make the house seem more interesting. Excited, the children beg to go to the house until Bailey angrily gives in. The grandmother points him to a dirt road. The family drives deep into the woods. The grandmother suddenly remembers that the house was in Tennessee, not in Georgia. Horrified at her mistake, she jerks her feet. Pitty Sing escapes from the basket and startles Bailey, who wrecks the car. The children's mother breaks her shoulder, but no one else is hurt. The grandmother decides not to tell Bailey about her mistake. A passing car stops, and three men get out, carrying guns. The grandmother thinks she recognizes one of them. One of the men, wearing glasses and no shirt, descends into the ditch. He tells the children's mother to make the children sit down because they make him nervous. The grandmother suddenly screams because she realizes that he's the Misfit. The man says it's not good that she recognized him. Bailey curses violently, upsetting the grandmother. The grandmother asks the Misfit whether he'd shoot a lady, and the Misfit says he wouldn't like to. The grandmother claims that she can tell he's a good man and that he comes from "nice people." The Misfit agrees and praises his parents. The grandmother continues telling him he's a good man. The Misfit tells the other two men, Hiram and Bobby Lee, to take Bailey and John Wesley into the woods. The grandmother adjusts her hat, but the brim breaks off. The Misfit says he knows he isn't good but that he isn't the worst man either. He apologizes to the grandmother and the children's mother for not wearing a shirt and says that he and the other men had to bury their clothes after they escaped. He says they borrowed the clothes they're wearing from some people they met. The grandmother asks the Misfit whether he ever prays. Just as he says no, she hears two gunshots. The Misfit says he used to be a gospel singer, and the grandmother chants, "pray, pray." He says he wasn't a bad child but that at one point he went to prison for a crime he can't remember committing. He says a psychiatrist told him he'd killed his father. The grandmother tells the Misfit to pray so that Jesus will help him. The Misfit says he's fine on his own. Bobby Lee and Hiram come back from the woods, and Bobby Lee gives the Misfit the shirt Bailey had been wearing, but the grandmother doesn't realize it's Bailey's. The Misfit tells the children's mother to take the baby and June Star and go with Bobby Lee and Hiram into the woods. Bobby Lee tries to hold June Star's hand, but she says he looks like a pig. The grandmother starts chanting, "Jesus, Jesus." The Misfit says he's like Jesus, except Jesus hadn't committed a crime. He says he gave himself this name because his punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime people said he committed. A gunshot comes from the woods. The grandmother begs the Misfit not to shoot a lady. Two more gunshots come from the woods, and the grandmother cries out for Bailey. The Misfit says that Jesus confused everything by raising the dead. He says that if what Jesus did is true, then everyone must follow him. But if he didn't actually raise the dead, then all anyone can do is enjoy their time on earth by indulging in "meanness." The grandmother agrees that perhaps Jesus didn't raise the dead. The Misfit says he wishes he had been there so he could know for sure. The grandmother calls the Misfit "one of my own children," and the Misfit shoots her in the chest three times. Bobby Lee and Hiram return, and they all look at the grandmother. The Misfit observes that the grandmother could have been a good woman if someone had been around "to shoot her every minute of her life." The Misfit says life has no true pleasure.

"There There" by Tommy Orange:

The prologue contains an essay about Native American experiences in North America, detailing the genocide and dehumanization Native Americans have received since white settlers arrived in the fifteenth century. The unnamed narrator starts with a description of the Indian Head test pattern used between television broadcasts in the twentieth century and follows with specific, historical examples of atrocities committed against Native Americans. He describes the first "thanksgiving" land-deal meals, one of which ended when 200 Native Americans "dropped dead that night from unknown poison." He talks about the dismemberment of Natives and how white people often displayed Native American heads (and other body parts) as medals of honor. The author discusses the portrayal of Native Americans in society and the way their culture has been appropriated for entertainment in the United States. In well-known movies, Natives have been saved by whites, killed by whites, and often even played by white actors. Native Americans are depicted on logos, mascots, flags, jerseys, and coins without consent. The narrator shifts to describe urban life and what it means to be an Urban Indian, or a Native American born in the city. Urban Indians feel more at home in large metropolises than they do in nature, and the narrator asserts that not all Native Americans are trying to return to their ancestral land.

Imagism (characteristics and principles):

These imagists were pushing against what they saw as a decline sense of values in the 20th century Many critics argue that modernism began with publication of the imagist anthology in 1914, experimental poets In 1913, Pound published the "imagist manifesto" Pound was the most influential and famous poet in this group Imagist poet/poem should be: It is better to present one image in a lifetime than to produce many works. The rhythm must have meaning. -Objectivity Use the language of common speech, use the exact word, go in fear of abstraction -Consider the way of a scientist rather than an advertising agent -Create new rhythms Absolute freedom of choice

How modernism is a reaction to WWI:

World War I did not shake the overall optimism of America; the country emerged a superpower and protector of democracy worldwide. However, the war had a pervasive effect on American life. The overwhelming reaction of the young, fighting generation of America was disillusionment. Their experience helped to break down old manners and conventions in dress, manners, behavior, language, and moral codes. Naïve, young Americans became aware of war realities—they experienced shock from a world of violence, irrational vulgarity, filth, and confusion That same disillusionment appeared immediately in both the European and American artistic culture. We date modernism as an artistic movement between 1890 and 1940; however the major modernist achievements cluster around the 1920's, directly after WWI.

"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner:

Young Colonel Sartoris Snopes crouches on a keg in the back of the store that doubles for the town court. He cannot see the table where his father and his father's opponent, Mr. Harris, are seated. The justice of the peace asks Mr. Harris for proof that Mr. Snopes burned his barn. Mr. Harris describes the numerous times Snopes's hog broke through the fence and got into his cornfields. The final time, when Mr. Harris demanded a dollar for the animal's return, the black man who was sent to fetch the hog gave Mr. Harris an ominous warning that wood and hay are combustible. Later that night, fire claimed Mr. Harris's barn. While the judge claims that that by itself isn't proof, Mr. Harris has Sartoris called to testify before the court. The boy knows his father is expecting him to lie on his behalf. After doing so, the judge asks Mr. Harris whether he wants the child cross-examined, but Mr. Harris snarls to have the boy removed. The judge dismisses the charges against Snopes but warns him to leave the county for good, and Snopes agrees to comply. Snopes and his two sons then leave the store and head to their wagon. A child in the crowd accuses them of being barn burners and strikes Sartoris, knocking him down. Snopes orders Sartoris into the wagon, which is laden with their possessions and where his two sisters, mother, and aunt are waiting. Snopes prevents his crying wife from cleaning Sartoris's bloodied face. That night, the family camps around the father's typically small fire. Snopes wakes Sartoris and takes him onto the dark road, where he accuses him of planning to inform the judge of his guilt in the arson case. Snopes strikes Sartoris on the head and tells him he must always remain loyal to his family. The next day, the family arrives at its new home and begins unloading the wagon. Snopes takes Sartoris to the house of Major de Spain, the owner on whose land the family will work. Despite the servant's protests, Snopes tracks horse manure into the opulent house, leaving only when Miss Lula asks him to. He resentfully remarks that the home was built by slave labor. Two hours later, the servant drops off the rug that Snopes had soiled and instructs him to clean and return it. Snopes supervises as the two sisters reluctantly clean the carpet with lye, and he uses a jagged stone to work the surface of the expensive rug. After dinner, the family retires to their sleeping areas. Snopes forces Sartoris to fetch the mule and ride along with him to return the cleaned rug. At the house, Snopes flings the rug onto the floor after loudly kicking at the door several times. The next morning, as Sartoris and Snopes prepare the mules for plowing, de Spain arrives on horseback to inform them that the rug was ruined from improper cleaning. In lieu of the hundred-dollar replacement fee, the major says Snopes will be charged twenty additional bushels of corn. Sartoris defends Snopes's actions, telling him that he did the best he could with the soiled carpet and that they will refuse to supply the extra crops. Snopes puts Sartoris back to work, and the following days are consumed with the constant labor of working their acreage. Sartoris hopes that Snopes will turn once and for all from his destructive impulses. The next weekend, Snopes and his two sons head once again to a court appearance at the country store, where the well-dressed de Spain is in attendance. Sartoris attempts to defend Snopes, saying that he never burned the barn, but Snopes orders him back to the wagon. The judge mistakenly thinks the rug was burned in addition to being soiled and destroyed. He rules that Snopes must pay ten extra bushels of corn when the crop comes due, and court is adjourned. After a trip to the blacksmith's shop for wagon repairs, a light meal in front of the general store, and a trip to a corral where horses are displayed and sold, Snopes and his sons return home after sundown. Despite his wife's protests, Snopes empties the kerosene from the lamp back into its five-gallon container and secures a lit candle stub in the neck of a bottle. Snopes orders Sartoris to fetch the oil. He obeys but fantasizes about running away. He tries to dissuade Snopes, but Snopes grabs Sartoris by the collar and orders his wife to restrain him. Sartoris escapes his mother's clutches and runs to the de Spain house, bursting in on the startled servant. Breathlessly, he blurts out the word Barn! Sartoris runs desperately down the road, moving aside as the major's horse comes thundering by him. Three shots ring out and Snope is killed, his plan to burn de Spain's barn thwarted. At midnight, Sartoris sits on a hill. Stiff and cold, he hears the whippoorwills and heads down the hill to the dark woods, not pausing to look back.

"How it Feels to be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston:

Zora Neale Hurston states that she is "colored" and does so without any apology or "extenuating circumstances." She won't claim any distant Native-American ancestry to complicate her race, as other African-Americans might. Hurston claims she remembers the first day she "became colored," which occurred when she was thirteen. Hurston describes her childhood growing up in Eatonville, Florida, a successful all-black community. The only time she saw white people was when they were traveling through their town on their way to or from Orlando. The people of the town were indifferent to southern whites on their horses, but northern whites who drove through in cars were a spectacle, and many ventured out to the porch to gawk at them. Although some shied away from watching the tourists, Hurston loved to watch them and didn't mind that the tourists noticed. She would speak and wave to them, sometimes walking alongside them as they passed through. She even jokes that the Chamber of Commerce should have taken notice of her efforts. But if her family noticed her welcoming the white travelers, she would have to stop. When she was a child, Hurston believed the only difference between white and black people was that white people would pass through town but never stay. Even so, she would perform for the white tourists, singing and dancing, which they would sometimes reward with a dime. This surprised her because performing was something she would do anyway. The black locals would never pay her for a song, but she knew they cared about her nonetheless. After Hurston turns thirteen, her family moves to Jacksonville, Florida, where the makeup of the community is very different. Here, she says, she stopped being "Zora" and turned into a "little colored girl." Along with this recognition of her race comes a new sense of scrutiny and control from the community. Hurston rejects the notion of being "tragically colored," which she explains as nurturing a sense of grievance or victimhood for historical wrongs. She contrasts herself with other African-Americans, who she says feel victimized by their oppression. Instead, she claims the powerful work their will regardless of race, and she can't be bothered to ruminate over the sins of the past when she's so busy getting the most out of life. Instead of a backward-looking worldview that focuses on past wrongs, Hurston looks to the future and the possibility of greater freedom and achievement. Hurston specifically complains about the tendency to overemphasize the legacy of slavery, which she dismisses by placing it "sixty years in the past." She describes the centuries of slavery as a sacrifice so that African-Americans could gain freedom and opportunity, "the price paid for civilization." Hurston describes her experience now as an adventure and a grand opportunity for glory. As an African-American, she's viewed by whites as a representative of her race, which raises the stakes for her conduct and achievement. The scrutiny of white America creates a "national" stage on which Hurston can hold her performance. On the other hand, her "white neighbor," and white America as a whole, must bear the historical guilt of slavery. "Brown specters" and "dark ghosts" trouble the white neighbor as he tries to go about his life. His future task is to try to keep as much as he can of what he already has. Hurston's task is to win it for herself. That said, Hurston notes that she doesn't always feel "colored." She feels it most in white places like Barnard College in Manhattan, where she studies. There, she feels like a dark rock which the white sea breaks upon, but as the waves recede the rock still stands. To illustrate this, Hurston tells a story about taking a white friend to a black jazz club. As the band plays, she experiences a sort of trance where she returns to a more primitive time, seeing a jungle and finding herself in tribal paint shaking a spear. She wants to "slaughter" something, to kill and give pain. Then the song ends, and she returns to "civilization." While Hurston was in a trance, her friend had been smoking calmly. He seems untouched by the music, giving a bland compliment. Hurston sees him as if "across a continent" and describes him as "pale with his whiteness" in a way that lacks passion and vitality. At other times, Hurston feels like she has no race. She feels like the expression of an eternal femininity or just one fragment of a "Great Soul." When she walks the streets, she feels "snooty" and "aristocratic." Of course, she experiences racism, but she only pities the racist for depriving themselves of her company. Hurston describes herself as a brown bag among white, yellow, and red bags. Each bag has a jumble of contents both marvelous and ordinary, such as a "first-water diamond" or a "dried flower or two still a little fragrant." Although each bag has its own assortment of objects, they're often similar to the objects in differently colored bags. Hurston supposes that all the bags could be emptied and replaced at random without altering the contents of each to fit the bag. She even speculates that the "Great Stuffer of Bags," might have originally filled the bags randomly.

Binary Oppositions (Breakdown of binaries):

black/white, good/evil, etc.

The humanization of Christ:

saw christ as brother in Big Meeting

Initiation:

story when a character moves from innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge (complete/reject initiation)

Blank Verse:

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Literature of the town/village:

where author's create stories or towns for their character's to take place in

Characteristics of Post-Modernism:

· Highly experimental—questioning or subverting all stable knowledge of text and interpretation and meaning · Death of the subject or author—may not even have a stable main character · Multiplicity of meaning/reality · Self-reflexive or meta-fictional—fiction which calls attention to itself as fiction—stories about writing stories—technique replaces center of novel—reality of fiction is to itself—responsibility of author is first to its text · Pastiche or montage: modernist idea of fragmentation · Blurring of genres and forms—fictional journalism · Love of play—art techtronics—playing with genres, reader expectation—enigmatic, puzzling · Employment of pop culture and mass produced objects · Focus on late capitalism—has so taken over our values, no alternatives left—leads to paranoia, sense of surveillance -Matrix, Minority Report · Disorientation—revelation of information makes you go back and constantly re-evaluate—6th Sense; Donnie Darko · Literature of exhaustion—boredom, cultural helplessness—I've seen it all—John Barth—nothing means anything anymore · Never falls into nihilism—nihilist wouldn't write · Conventional form another means of entrapment · Affirmation in rejuvenation of technique · Possibility of failure a given · Anti-heroes; opportunists, amoral or even immoral · Active involvement of reader—commitment—reader must determine meaning · Emphasis on disenfranchised or devoiced—rise of ethnic/postcolonial writing— · Hispanic lit, Jewish American lit, Latin American, Asian American, African American, Native American, feminist , agrit-lit · Anti-authoritarian—dehumanization of subject · Black humor—dark, bleak, inappropriate—humor used to expose darkness but also to encourage sympathy—affirmation—linked to grotesque and satire—traditional role of humor restorative—to reintegrate, restore order—laughter now disruptive · Science fiction/fantasy—break with reality; creation of other realities—imagined, psychic breaks—utopic, dystopic, apocalyptic · Magical Realism