123043 PS Proseminar Literature / Literary Studies (2016W)

In this proseminar we will look at US-literature after 1945, specifically at texts which have been generally labelled as postmodern. We will differentiate between postmodernity (the contemporary social and cultural situation) and postmodernism (theories developed in the second half of the 20th century). Issues such as late capitalism, post-industrial society a rising focus on “ethnic writing” but also the influence of (new) media on and depicted in literary texts.