engleski

The Transformations in the Understanding of Temporality in Postmodern Literature

Postmodern literature encompasses broad transformations of the notions of temporality in the Western culture that have taken place since the 1960s and involve changes in science, technology, aesthetics, and socio-economic structures, which ties literary texts and their innovative narrative structures to physical changes. It does not mean that these changes simply influenced the revolution in literature, because revolutions in all aspects of life occurred more or less simultaneously, with literature as one of the forces shaping our culture. The fragmented plots of many postmodern texts reflect the accelerated temporal rhythms of late-capitalist mode of production, its industry of consumerism and marketing, revealing inconsistency, fracture, and discontinuity, of both time, space, and its subjects, which makes long-term developments more difficult to conceptualize. The speed with which these conglomerates act, operate, move, and change their products is affecting humans, for we are forced to follow their pace in order to survive. The new technological time focuses individuals on a narrowly defined time period unhinged from past causes and future effects. But it is also legitimate to claim that fractured narrative plots together with theories about the dissolution of master narratives tend to shape our perception of the world, including the view of the consumption oriented economy and life-style, granting commodity, instantaneity, and disposability, thus obstructing long-term constructions of time. Following this thread, it seems that both economic and aesthetic practices contribute to the emergence of a culture of time (or speed- space in Virilio's terms) which concentrates on drastically shortened temporal horizons at the expense of long-term scenarios ; and while both sets of practices ought to be understood to have some impact upon each other, neither is dependent on the other (Heise, 1997:6). This article offers a view of the transformations in our society pertaining to time phenomenon, testifying to the changes in the notions of temporality that have taken place since the middle of the twentieth century and can be traced within the literary works written by John Barth, Donald Barthelme, Robert Coover, Don DeLillo, William Gaddis, Thomas Pynchon, and Kurt Vonnegut. These changes involve alterations in all aspects of reality, connecting literary texts and their advanced narrative structures to material changes, and confirming the idea that literature (as well as science) has its role in forming cultural values and the way we experience and view reality.

temporality; space-time; postmodern literature

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