So this wednesday past I had an interview for a modern literature MA course at Birkbeck, university of London. It turned out to be a lot of fun really. There was a total good cop, bad cop feel to it all. The good cop was a pleasant gentleman I had met before and the bad cop was a pleasant lady I had not. Generally the accessible question came from the former and the tricky ones came from latter. The most interesting, however, came from the gentleman. He asked me whether or not I felt that modernist experimentalism had run its course, as several modern writers and critics suggest. My reply (without thinking about what I was leading myself into) was that I was sure, if not hopeful, that it was not finished.
It was then that I was asked what I thought the future of experimentalist fiction might be. To which my reply, I am sure, was pretty incoherant. However, I do maintain that the notion of the experimental is far from over. It was a question that, although I had often thought about before, was made even more important to me by its being asked in this interview. As one of a group of writers going off into the (literary?) world, I pose it to you. And wonder what you make of it.
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I find it interesting calling it “experimental” fiction, as it’s stuff that starts out being “experimental” that slowly drips elements into traditional prose writing styles.
With Modernism it was different, there was more of a radical break from previous form, but nonetheless, Stream-of-Consciousness and perspectivist fiction is all too common nowadays. So much so that reader’s expect it and it some techniques have, indeed, become post-modern out of abundance and ubiquity [is that a word? i hope so].
On a personal level, I still think I have a lot more to learn about the standard workings of fiction – I’m still learning the rules… breaking them is a little far off for me yet. x
Well that is one of the fundamental tenets of postmodernism…parody and pastiche of forms and techniques that have come before. and im so glad you see the stream of consciousness within the modernist novel as a demonstration of perspectivism….Nietzsche’s perspectivism is the basis of my final essay on the topic.
and as for your second post (which i didnt approve) id rather not discuss it here!!