American culture

Post-Postmodernism and Other Recent Movements

Since 1970, rising along with a literary trend in literature focusing on the minorities, has been a new semi-populist literary trend which has taken hints in terms of some approaches of stylization with postmodernism but that is much more accessible. Authors of this vein include John Irving and T.C. Boyle.

Post-Postmodernism, a rather heavy title for an ongoing movement that started in the 1990s, includes younger writers like Brett Easton Ellis, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Safran Foer, David Sedaris, Jeffrey Eugenides, Mark Haddon, Audrey Niffenegger, and Canadian author Yann Martel.

These authors typically employ a mix of soulful plots with some ideaological context, stylistic maximalism on top of the substance allowing the substance to be "turned and pinched" many ways (including an almost endless array of storyline-bending and repositioning effects), an almost pop-culture level of enhanced imagery and scene structure influenced by film and television, and a symbolism that includes images from contemporary American culture.

This movement can also be called "maximalism", with its blowing melodrama, use of literary effects, and scale of cultural reference. As well, commentary on the literary process and modes of thought and storytelling and an ambiguous and very close relation between reality and fiction are often features of post-postmodernism. Many critics criticize post-postmodernism for its use of style over true substance in some worse cases, though it can often strike a fine accord between these.

Modern humorist literature

From Irving and Hawthorne to the present day, the short story has been a favorite American form. One of its 20th-century masters was John Cheever (1912-1982), who brought yet another facet of American life into the realm of literature: the affluent suburbs that have grown up around most major cities. Cheever was long associated with The New Yorker, a magazine noted for its wit and sophistication. John Updike also continued Cheever's tradition and is best known for his Rabbit series.

Although trend-spotting in literature that is still being written can be dangerous, the recent emergence of fiction by members of minority groups has been striking. Here are only a few examples.