Intro- Postmodern Claim and Le morte d’Arthur
While we are currently in the Postmodern era,
Postmodernism aspects have always been present in literature and are just more significant to our era. This is because the elements of Postmodern literature are those which force a reader to look deeper into a text and to build personal emotional connections. These tactful elements can be seen in even more ancient eras such as the 15th century with the text Le Morte d'Arthur, a chivalrous story about the knights of the round table. This story is filled with such elements of postmodernism… whether that was on purpose or just a result of proficient writing is debatable though.
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Postmodern Element #1 - Magical Realism
What Is Magical Realism?
Magical Realism is Described
As “the introduction of fantastic
or impossible elements into a
narrative that is otherwise
normal.” This includes how
“ Magical realist novels include
dreams taking place during normal
life,the return of previously
deceased characters, extremely
complicated plots,wild shifts in time,
and myths and fairy tales becoming
part of the narrative.”
(The Nerd Central Keep Forevers Archive ♥️)
Implementation In Le morte d’Arthur
Throughout the extent of the story of the round table, every event seems rather plausible… Some decisions are questionable like Arthur ignoring Lancelot's affair with Gweiniver, yet are still entirely possible in the real world. What sets the story apart are these small details that separate the story from reality, lines like “In the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in that hand.” which breach the barrier between real life and fantasy, but just enough to which
Magical Realism in Actual
Postmodern Media
There are many great examples of Magical Realism in modern media, but some of my favorite examples come from Music. One great band that comes to mind immediately. Tool is an absolutely fantastic band which songs are absolutely littered with the effects of Magical realism. The band is completely adept at making the events of their song just convincing enough to keep the realism aspect,but still overflowing with the grotesque and abnormal aspects that make it so magical. If you want to hear more about this I have a full post about it here
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Postmodern Element #2 - Black Humor
What is Black Humor?
Black Humor is when serious subjects such as “World War II, the Cold War, or conspiracy theories” are looked at and written about “from a position of distance and disconnect, and will be depicted ironically and humorously.”(The Nerd Central Keep Forevers Archive ♥ ️). Black humor is often mixed up with dark humor, which is understandable as they are really not that different, dark humor just tends to be a tad bit more deranged.
Implementation In “Le morte d’Arthur”
This is one of those where i'm not too sure if the author of Arthur, really intended for this to be a postmodern element, but looking through this in a modern context it is rather humorous the sheer number of important characters that are being killed off throughout the story and how after this massive struggle Constantine manages to become king, before promptly ending the story. Like Gawain is unnecessarily mortality wounded, Arthur is literally given a prophecy by Merlin (who is imprisoned in a rock for eternity) to not go to war, which Arthur still does and then is also mortally wounded. After which both Lancelot and Guinevere both die of illness for really no good reason. Genuinely makes you question if the author just got bored and decided to kill everyone so no one would request a sequel.
Black Humor In Modern Day PostModern Media
I'm not going to lie to you, this section is going to be scuffed as hell, deadlines are coming in way too fast and I can't think of Fungus right now. But hey this complaining of mine is a little bit of my own personal metafiction so that's gotta count for something right? … Right? Well here we go I guess.
Black Humor is really funny, especially to high school boys who really seem to love to push the limit with what they say in order to get a reaction (I Hate my Friends). So it should be to no one's surprise that Black Humor is present in our media as well. A great example of this is the short story “SURE, THE VELOCIRAPTORS ARE STILL ON THE LOOSE, BUT THAT’S NO REASON NOT TO REOPEN JURASSIC PARK” (boy that's a mouthful). This is a short story riddled with Black humor making fun and comparing Jurassic Parks reopening to the reopening of schools during the onslaught that was Covid. The story mainly enforces its black humor through obviously unreasonable lines like “we might as well just start getting used to them killing a few people every now and then.” which display absurdity of the events and mocks those that support this in its Covid counterpart. This black humor makes up a bulk of the support for this story's hidden argument and proves just how effective black humor can be at enhancing literature.
Oh yeah here's the link if the story sounds interesting - Link
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PostModern Element #3 - Fractured Narration
What Is Fractured Narration?
Fractured Narration really has 2 different parts to it. The first part is that a narrator can be unreliable, this can be because of any reason to which you believe the narrator might not be telling you what truly happened or may have misremembered the true events. This is one of my favorite types of writing as it makes a reader have to decide how things went for themselves. The second part is when the author is constantly switching between characters, creating breaks and temporal disruptions in timelines as it jumps between events that are happening in the story. This type of fractured narration is incredibly common in modern media and is present in one of my favorite book series you know the one Big Nerd.
Implementation In “Le morte d’Arthur”
“Le morte d’Arthur” pretty much takes on exclusively the second form of fragmentation in narration. It can be seen throughout the story that the narrator swaps from character to character telling different stories and taking different sides depending on who the narrator is talking about. Many events happen at the same time, yet obviously have to be written as
separate such as Mordred's attempted takeover and kidnapping of Guiniver at the same time as the events of Lancelot's and Gwaine’s battle.
The Other Half of Fragmented Narration
Of course there is the first half of fragmented narration that does appear to be much more common in Media nowadays. Of course a wonderful example of this is the band A Perfect Circle's “Orestes” Yes yes I like Maynard's music. “Orestes” is a perfect example of Fragmented Narrative as the narrator himself is describing a very trying time, overflowing with emotions that the narrator himself does not fully seem to understand. On top of this, frequent mention of taking medication also leads to the questioning of the mental stability of the narrator in this time, leading us to the ultimate debate of whether there are some distorted details in this story or not.
Here is a link to a full post I made about this song - Here
Here is The actual Song if you care to listen to that -
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Conclusion
Ultimately Most of the skills and effects prominent in Postmodern Literature are not new, these are simply some of the ways that you can force a reader to have a deeper connection to the text like any good Author should strive for. It's simply that these styles have come more into fashion in our very own Postmodern era.
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Works Cited
CharmedOne. “Link & the Master Sword on Make a GIF.” MakeAGif, makeagif.com/gif/link-the-master-sword-kdZx9i. Accessed 10 May 2024.
“Download Diablo and a Knight Wallpaper.” Wallpapers.Com, 1 Sept. 2023, wallpapers.com/wallpapers/diablo-and-a-knight-3vd9xh0as5imei67.html.
Dozer. “Source #2 - Postmodernist Lyrical Poetry.” Nerdy Publishing, Nerdy Publishing, 1 May 2024, nerdypublisher.wixsite.com/website/post/read-between-the-lines?commentId=13e4cbf2-effb-4e56-9779-0afc81d53eaf.
Dozer. “Source #3 - Postmodernist Music Video.” Nerdy Publishing, Nerdy Publishing, 5 May 2024, nerdypublisher.wixsite.com/website/post/10-famous-authors-on-their-favorite-books-1?commentId=5f0852c7-a1c0-4cc9-8d31-5aff72a73532.
Greaves, Carlos. “Sure, the Velociraptors Are Still on the Loose, but That’s No Reason Not to Reopen Jurassic Park.” McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, 6 May 2020, www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/sure-the-velociraptors-are-still-on-the-loose-but-thats-no-reason-not-to-reopen-jurassic-park#:~:text=Well%2C%20I’m%20pleased%20to,180%2Dpound%20predators%20roaming%20around.
Keenan, Maynerd. “Orestes.” YouTube, 19 Apr. 2017, youtu.be/TVF7Z3Pj_-I?si=IXJHddhDyR-7lvb5.
Keenan, Maynerd. “Tool - Schism (Official Video).” YouTube, 30 Aug. 2019, youtu.be/MM62wjLrgmA?si=14DIgDPnZF98v-9s.
Kuchera, Ben. “Diablo 2: Resurrected - Mephisto.” Polygon, Polygon, 10 Apr. 2021, www.polygon.com/2021/4/10/22376225/diablo-2-resurrected-remaster-brain-directions-map.
“Le Morte D’Arthur.” The Project Gutenberg eBook of Le Morte D’Arthur, Volume I (of II), by Thomas Malory, www.gutenberg.org/files/1251/1251-h/1251-h.htm. Accessed 10 May 2024.
“Monty Python.” GIFGlobe, montypython.gifglobe.com/scene/?id=rGsIN9BxYfq5. Accessed 10 May 2024.