Postmodernism and the
individual
KURT VONNEGUT, DONALD BARTHELME AND
PAOLA CAPRIOLO
Lecture outline
 The individual in society
 Narration and individuality
 Language and communication
 The shape of the story
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)
 American novelist, short
story writer and essayist.
 Most famous for semiautobiographical novel
Slaughterhouse 5.
 Irreverent and darkly
comic view of modern
society.
 Blended genres and
upset conventional
narrative structures.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Donald Barthelme (1931-1989)
 American short story
writer, novelist and
journalist.
 Famous for playful
approach to narrative
conventions.
 Creates ‘collages’ of
words rather than
plotlines.
 Stories often ambiguous
and confusing.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Paola Capriolo (b. 1962)
 Italian novelist, short
story writer and
journalist.
 Plays with genre of stories
– elements of the fantastic
as well as the mundane.
 More conventional
approach to narrative
structure.
 Interesting lack of
resolution to several
narratives.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Individual in society – Vonnegut
 Elements of science fiction but also dystopian.
 Reflects postmodern concerns about future of society – is
there room for individuality?
 Also of its time – published in 1961 so reaction to
Communist and Socialism?
 Dislocation of individual from family unit – leads on
from modernism but here all links are broken by the
state.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Kurt Vonnegut, ‘Harrison Bergeron’
The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal.
They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They
were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than
anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody
else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th and
213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the
unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States
Handicapper General.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Individual in society - Barthelme
 Chaos of the narrative makes it difficult to identify
individual characters.
 Sense of destruction underpinning the text – language of
conflict and resistance.
 Another story of its time (1968) – reflects contemporary
concerns with Vietnam and US foreign policy.
 Seems unsure about the role of the individual in society –
where does society end and the individual begin?
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Individual in society - Capriolo
 Huge emphasis on alienation – what is the natural state
of the individual?
 Are we really social animals or do we really desire
solitude – why is the prison such a seductive presence in
the narrative?
 Society at large is mainly absent from the narrative – just
its impact felt in the treatment of the prisoner.
 Idea of social roles and expectations – none of the
characters fit the model of wife/warden/prisoner.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Paola Capriolo, ‘Il gigante’
Ho osservato il volto immobile, l’esile figura che si
disegnava sotto le coltri, le dita sottili, lievemente
contratte, sul cui pallore risaltava il cerchio d’oro della
fede nuziale, e mi sono chiesto chi fosse quella donna
che per sette anni era vissuta al mio fianco.
All’improvviso mi appariva estranea, quasi che la
morte avesse illuminato di una luce cruda la solitudine
in cui siamo tutti confinati.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Narration and individuality - Capriolo
 Using a diary format allows for subjectivity but also
makes us question it.
 Capriolo deliberately leaving gaps – interesting it’s not
narrated from Adele’s POV.
 Confessional tone to the narrative – the narrator is
revealing thoughts he doesn’t speak about.
 Strange disjunction between the lyrical mode of
expression and his job, ie. prison warden.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Narration and individuality - Barthelme
 Very odd style of narrative – how does it compare to
Virginia Woolf’s use of stream of consciousness?
 Absence of conventional plotlines – forces the reader
to look for associations and appreciate the sound of
the words.
 Almost like a prose poem but still focused on
mundane elements of popular culture and
consumerism.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Donald Barthelme, ‘The Indian Uprising’
I analyzed the composition of the barricade nearest me and
found two ashtrays, ceramic, one dark brown and one dark
brown with an orange blur at the lip; a tin frying pan; two-liter
bottles of red wine; three-quarter-liter bottles of Black & White,
aquavit, cognac, vodka, gin, Fad #6 sherry; a hollow-core door
in birch veneer on black wrought-iron legs; a blanket, redorange with faint blue stripes; a red pillow and a blue pillow; a
woven straw wastebasket; two glass jars for flowers; corkscrews
and can openers; two plates and two cups, ceramic, dark brown;
a yellow-and-purple poster; a Yugoslavian carved flute, wood,
dark brown, and other items. I decided I knew nothing.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Barthelme on the narrative collage
 “The point of collage is that things are stuck together to
create a new reality.”
 ''The principle of collage is the central principle of all art
in the 20th century: 'Dealing With Not-Knowing’.”
 “Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult,
rather because it wishes to be art. However much the
writer might long to straightforward, these virtues are no
longer available to him. He discovers that in being
simple, honest, straightforward, nothing much happens.”
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Collage and art
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Narration and individuality – Vonnegut
 Anonymous third person narrator – no sense of
judgement at all.
 How does this compare to the ‘objective’ narrators
found in naturalism – why not comment on the
events of the story?
 Story conventional in structure but is there any
resolution?
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Language and communication
 Both Vonnegut and Capriolo focus on non-verbal
forms of communication – dancing and music.
 Barthelme concentrating on physical objects in
attempt to find meaning – description of the
barricades.
 All questioning the limits of language – what do we
miss when we read or speak?
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
The shape of the postmodern story
 Vonnegut taught creative writing at US universities –
very simple approach to narrative.
 Often lectured on how to write fiction for publication, for
example here.
 What does this approach tell us about the role of the
short story in postmodern society?
 Do the other postmodern stories fit this idea of the
simple narrative?
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012
Conclusions
 Postmodernism capable of tremendous variety in form,
narrative approach and characterisation.
 Often focusing on uneasy sense that society is not what
we believe it to be.
 Questions the nature of individuality – is conformity
desirable or even attainable?
 Postmodern short fiction collects elements of previous
movements – plays with genre and reader expectations.
Rochelle Sibley, Department of English,
University of Warwick 2012