Introduction
Burton Raffel’s translation of Beowulf tells the story of a legendary hero in times long passed. Throughout the piece, Raffel presents the reader with numerous conflicts that the main hero, Beowulf, has to overcome. One of these obstacles is the monster Grendel, a terrible fiend who has been attacking a peaceful village. Through this situation, the author presents the idea that humanity at its core is an awful and foul beast waiting to strike.
Summary of Element One: Black Humor/Irony
Postmodern Irony takes serious events like WW2 and makes jokes about them. An example of this is playing “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles in the background of a video depicting the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It’s a terrible thing in all reality, but we who live in the postmodern times find humor in it.
Postmodern Link to Beowulf
Here’s a quote from Beowulf, give it a read and let me know what you think.
“A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain, impatient as day after day the music rang loud in that hall” (Raffel ll. 86-90).
In the context of the story, the author is trying to depict Grendel as a beast that’s stalking its prey, waiting to strike. I think in context this a pretty good explanation of Grendel: hideous, monstrous, dangerous, and greedy, but if you look at it like it’s black humor, you see a much different story. I understand it as this; Grendel is an animal that has been doing nothing but trying to survive, and for her to survive she has to eat a few humans from the village. Now for the villagers, this is bad news, and in retaliation, they attack poor Grendel who’s struggling to survive. Viewing Grendel this way just makes her less intimidating. What will you be more scared of, an unbeatable monster attacking at night and eating your friends and family or a wild animal you shoot to keep away? Personally, I’ll take the wild animal. This is black humor because in all reality Grendel did attack and eat multiple people from the village, but let’s just ignore that and feel pity for the poor wild animal trying to live.
Link to "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid"
This article is a great argument on how America’s structure of government needs to change because it utilizes multiple real-world examples and provides actual solutions. It’s postmodern in his intertextual mentions of the Federalist Papers and other novels written by professionals on this subject. He also contests heteronomy by doing the hard thing and speaking out against the majority. I think it’s safe to say that 9/10 people would rather just keep their heads down and not say anything about social issues for fear of repercussions, which is exactly the point the author is trying to make. He also uses clarity of word choice to make it very easy for the everyday reader to understand.
My Take
These sources link together because of the main points they’re trying to make. In Beowulf, as Grendel and Beowulf begin their fight, Beowulf becomes less like a man and more like a beast in every way. Similarly, Jonathan Haidt’s article presents the point that humanity could talk and disagree with each other before the creation of the internet. In this way, they are almost identical because they show us different ways humanity can devolve into beasts, with Beowulf being physically devolving and Haidt’s article being culturally devolving.
Summary of Element Two: Maximalism
Postmodern maximalism utilizes heavy sensory details and complex metaphors to make their point. Maximalist literature also tends to be exaggerated with unnecessary details about the plot or characters.
Link to Postmodernism in Beowulf
Here’s another quote with a ton of sensory details about a guy getting ripped to pieces. How fun!
“Grendel snatched at the first Geat He came to, ripped him apart, cut his body to bits with powerful jaws, drank the blood from his veins, and bolted him down, hands and feet; death And Grendel’s great teeth came together, snapping life shut.”
In the context of the story, this is Grendel’s first attack against the Geats and a vicious one at that. The reason this quote is maximalist is simply due to the sensory details. Like who wants to hear about a man getting violently torn to shreds? Idk about y’all but it seems pretty unnecessary to me.
Link to "Making a Fist"
I chose this poem simply because the simple title interested me. Like what’s so significant about making a fist? Well, the answer to this is a little complex, but basically, making a fist is often tied to some sort of emotion, and the idea that you die “when you can no longer make a fist” means that a person dies when they lose their emotions. This poem utilizes maximalism because of the multiple references to things like where she is, how she feels, and even her age. The entire first 2 stanzas are all about her experience on this journey she is on. I think the first 2 stanzas are in place to give background information to the reader so she can make her big point in the final stanza. That’s not to say the first 2 aren’t important, I just think they reflect a child’s automatic acceptance of their parents' words, even if it may not be entirely true.
My Take
These sources all highlight the postmodern characteristic of maximalism through their use of descriptive language and sensory details. Beyond that, they honestly aren’t that similar, but this is one thing they have in common.
Here's the entire poem if you're intrested. It's really a beautiful poem with a powerful meaning, so give it a try.
Summary of Element Three: Temporal Distortion
Postmodern temporal distortion utilizes narrative fragmentation and a nonlinear storyline often for the sake of irony. An example of this is something like dinosaurs fighting in the American Civil War. It makes no sense but it makes a good story at least.
Link to Postmodernism in Beowulf
While Beowulf has a very linear storyline, the beginning has a little bit of temporal distortion. This is in the beginning when a squire, presumably in a tavern, says “Hear me! We've heard of Danish heroes, ancient kings and the glory they cut for themselves, swinging mighty swords” (Raffel ll.1-3). This is temporal distortion because it doesn't start in the POV of Beowulf, and instead starts in a completely different setting.
Link to "Pyramid Song"
The videos' mysterious, confusing, and somewhat disturbing characteristics, along with the song's lyrics, give way to the postmodern idea of distorting time. This makes time in this song feel almost cyclical. The video starts with the character jumping into the water and ends with him taking his life at the bottom of the ocean. This brings up questions like “why did he kill himself”, “why is he in the middle of the ocean”, and most importantly, “what happened”. While none of these questions are directly answered in the song, we can make assumptions based on other texts, mainly the biblical story of Noah’s Ark. A similarity to Noah’s Ark is the repetition of “there was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt”. I take this to mean the speaker's belief in God is so strong that he has nothing to fear because God will protect him. Based on this, the author is attempting to spread the message that God is good, and if you trust in God you won’t have to worry about anything.
My Take
These sources all highlight temporal distortion because the story they tell isn’t exactly linear. I find it interesting how even in vastly different time periods, the same general structure can be seen.
Here's a cool video about the possible location of Noah's Ark. I think it's pretty intresting, give it a look.
Conclusion
With these sources, we can see how the true nature of humanity hasn’t changed throughout the years. We are still animalistic and wild at times of intense stress.
Works Cited