Final answer:
In postmodern American literature, authors like Donald Barthelme, Don DeLillo, and Toni Morrison have played significant roles. Postmodernism represents a cultural shift after the 1950s toward a more playful and eclectic narrative style. It reflects the complex nature of society and the role of language in shaping reality.
Step-by-step explanation:
Since 1945, American literature has seen a proliferation of postmodern authors who have each contributed to the rich tapestry of the genre. Key figures in this movement include Donald Barthelme, whose short story “The School” encapsulates the disorienting nature of American society during this time, and Don DeLillo, whose novel White Noise highlights the absurdity and disorientation in postmodern society. Toni Morrison is also a seminal postmodern author, weaving folk and postmodern storytelling techniques to articulate the African-American experience. These authors, among others, use a range of experimental techniques inherited from Modernist literature, but with a playful and often critical awareness of language and textuality that characterizes postmodern sensibility.
The term ‘postmodernism’ describes the cultural shift that began in the 1950s, moving away from the Modernist ideals of singular narratives and minimalism, toward a style that is more playful and self-aware, often incorporating a mix of historical and contemporary elements. Postmodern literature uses these shifts to explore the nature of reality in a media-saturated society, foregrounding the role of language and narrative in shaping consciousness.
Theodore Roethke is known for his postmodern poetry, while other influential postmodernists include David Foster Wallace, known for his maximalist prose and non-linear narratives. These authors have engaged with the complexities of American culture through a postmodern lens, creating works that reflect the shifting grounds of identity, reality, and textuality in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.