**5. Postmodernism**

The final section of the course is dedicated to postmodernism, peaking from 1960 through the present throughout the Western world. This is, once again, a moment when the course is not entirely in line with the wisdom of Nordic literary histories, which have had some difficulty with the term "postmodernism," since it has been seen as connected to cultural conservatism and superficiality.<sup>10</sup> In the wake of her Nordic Council Literature Prize for her novel *Bang* in 1997 (Willumsen 1996), Dorrit Willumsen came and spoke to my Masterpieces class. When I informed her that I presented her as a postmodernist, she said in a mildly baffled voice, "But in Denmark they tell me I am a modernist!" I use this anecdote to this day to illustrate how these labels are generated by scholars, and the writers themselves write the world as they see it, without concerning themselves overmuch with labels. I have made the argumen<sup>t</sup> for Nordic postmodernism elsewhere (Brantly 2017, pp. 9–13), and the texts read in this section of the class continue to be the most popular among the American college students, presumably because they finally see a world that seems familiar. I make the point that postmodernism is not a radical break from modernism, but rather a shift in tone, interests, and attitudes. The shortest definition of postmodernism I can provide is that it is modernism that has developed a sense of humor. The bullet list is as follows11:


The first point indicates an adjustment in attitude compared to high modernism. The long-lasting struggle with the void caused by God's death has diminished to the point that it is no longer a primary issue. One has grown accustomed to the lack of a purposeful design to the world, and rather than feeling the isolation and anguish caused by being abandoned by God, we are left with a mild case of confusion. The world appears absurd at times, because of the lack of reason and purpose, and one simply acknowledges that is the way things are. Our sense of reality is challenged by realities that contradict our common everyday experience of reality, whether that be by presenting a dystopian future or allowing patently "unreal" elements to disrupt the illusion of a plausible fiction. This draws attention to the fact that narratives, stories, fictions are made things, and not a representation of reality. While possessing an interest in both social issues and artistic issues, postmodernism's main focus can be stated as an interest in the products of culture. The dynamics of cultural construction are of chief interest. Cultural attitudes are examined and exposed as constructed, not natural. Modernism took itself very seriously, and literature was a form of high culture. Postmodernism calls into question

<sup>10</sup> For example, the Danish critic Morten Kyndrup, in his 1997 essay on "Postmodernism in Scandinavia" (Kyndrup 1997), suggests that postmodernism did not really make it to Sweden and it has already died out in the rest of Scandinavia (p. 377). A lively press debate raged in Sweden about the existence of Swedish postmodernism in the 1980s, and soundly rejected it, for the most part. My book, *The Historical Novel, Transnationalism, and the Postmodern Era: Presenting the Past* (Brantly 2017) argues strongly and, I hope, persuasively, that postmodernism has been and is alive and well in Swedish literature.

<sup>11</sup> This list has been informed by my general reading about postmodernism, but has been most strongly influenced by Linda Hutcheon's *A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction* (Hutcheon 1988).

the distinction between high and low culture (think Andy Warhol's soup cans or the proliferation of literate crime novels). Styles can be mixed, so that "serious" novels use the formulae of popular fiction. Narrative collage is a device that is sometimes used. Pervasive forces that appear to shape our modern culture are commercialism and the rise of media, so they become a strong interest. There is no objectivity, everybody wants something from you, and postmodern narratives tend to raise questions, rather than providing answers. The disbelief in traditional literary values strongly overlaps with the previous point of looking at the products of culture. Modernism valued originality and artists who created new forms of expression. Postmodernism holds the view that nothing is original under the sun, and parody can come into play, as well as literary interrogations of literary classics (see Dannie Abse's *The Strange Case of Dr. Simmonds and Dr. Glas* (Abse 2002) or Bengt Ohlsson's *Gregorius* (Ohlsson 2004), both of which re-visit the story of *Doctor Glas*). Occasionally this can result in nostalgia, a painful longing for a simpler time with clear-cut values (see the popularity of Jane Austen films, paired with the postmodern parody *Pride & Prejudice & Zombies* (Grahame-Smith 2009)). The protests of the 1960s brought about a suspicion of authority in all of its forms, including narrative authority. As mentioned before, there is a tendency to raise questions rather than provide answers, which often results in texts with a lack of narrative closure. Readers must provide their own answers, if there are any. Connected with questioning the distinction between "high" and "low" literature is the general process of questioning the literary canon: Why are there so many white men? This, in turn, leads to a questioning of the "normal self," which for the purposes of the class, is defined as "white, male, and monied." This construction of the "normal self" has left its stamp all over Western culture. Finally, the modernist suspicion of language has been ratcheted up a few notches, and is now a radical suspicion of language. All language can do is re-present reality; it is not reality itself. At the same time, there is an acknowledgement that language is power. Whoever crafts the most persuasive story or the most attractive advertisement will have an impact on people's choices. Therefore, one must remain aware of the manipulative power of language.

There is too little time left in the semester at this point to provide examples of all of these issues, but students quickly ge<sup>t</sup> the point nonetheless, because they are able to find examples of these things everywhere. They are surrounded by them. We start by looking at two different approaches to feminism from the 1970s: Bjørg Vik's "Portrommene" (Vik 1984; "The Entryways") and "Oppbrudet" (Vik 1984; "The Breakup") read in combination with an excerpt from Gerd Brantenberg's *Egalias Døtre* (Brantenberg 1985; *Egalia's Daughters*). After Moa Martinson and Cora Sandel, Bjørg Vik's tales seem somewhat familiar, and not particularly postmodern. Even so, the third-person narrator undermines her authority by taking the perspective of one of the characters. The point is to explore the experience of "non-normal selves," women, and move them towards the realm of "normal." Gerd Brantenberg creates a contradictory reality in which women or "wim" are the dominant normal selves and explores all the ramifications of that power shift. Language presents the most obvious realm of impact and, in the brilliant English translation, all the "sexist" terms in the language are red-flagged and flipped (Men = menwim; Women = wim; fele = female; mafele = male). Dorrit Willumsen's "Voksdukken" (Willumsen 1982; "The Wax Doll") explores the shallowness and the existential void created by our commercial/consumer society. Jan, the handsome wax mannequin from a wax museum, is much easier for our unnamed narrator to relate to than the complicated man who becomes her husband. The husband does not remain complicated for long, as he is apparently murdered while the couple is on their honeymoon. When my class asked Willumsen who had committed the murder, she replied "I don't know," and suggested three different possibilities (the doll, the narrator, or a random stranger). That was a splendid example of relinquishing narrative authority. Herbjørg Wassmo's "Hvor nært er nært nok" (Wassmo 1983; "How Close is Close Enough") provides a terrifying look at the extremes to which commercial media might go to make a profit (a magazine has stapled live birds into a magazine). P.C. Jersild's *En levande själ* (Jersild 1998; *A Living Soul*) has long been a favorite of the pre-med students in the class. The narrator is a human brain in an aquarium in a laboratory. The novel explores what it is that makes us human, the ethics of using experimental animals, and the compromising

effect that a profit motive can have upon scientific research. Jersild most obligingly wrote his own postmodern prequel to the novel, *Ypsilon* (Jersild 2012), which the students can only hear about, since it has not ye<sup>t</sup> been translated. The final novel of the semester is Peter Høeg's *Frøken Smillas fornemmelse før sne* (Høeg 1995; *Smilla's Sense of Snow*). Smilla challenges the normal self in terms of both gender stereotypes and mixed ethnicity. The novel mixes "high" and "low" in that it is a best-selling mystery/thriller with valuable literary and cultural points to make. A dash of science fiction is included in the form of the meteor that might be a silicon-based life form. There is ample confusion as Smilla searches for an elusive truth, which seems absurd when it is revealed, and despite the conventions of the mystery genre there is a lack of closure. The very last line tells us: "There will be no resolution" (Høeg 1995, p. 469).
