⭐• Literary Genres & Unseen Prose Context 1945-2000s Flashcards
(27 cards)
List the date of occurence and explain + impact on literature for…
The End of WW2
- 1945
- Marked an end to global conflict
- Influenced literature through focus on existentialism (human existence, emphasizing freedom, responsibility, and the search for meaning in a seemingly meaningless world) & postwar trauma in literature
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The Cold War
- 1947 - 1991
- Longlasting tension between Russia and the USA
- Influenced literature with themes of paranoia, fear of communism and conflict
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The Rise of The Beat Generation
- 1950s
- Movement that rejected literary formalism and American culture built upon capitalism and materialism
- Influenced literature through writers rejecting traditional values, exploring themes of freedom, rebellion & emerging ideas
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The Civil Rights Movement
- 1950s-1960s
- Struggles for racial equality (especially within the USA)
- Influenced literature through the acknowledgement of raical tensions and civil rights struggles
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The Suez Crisis
- (1956)
- When Egypt nationalised Suzel canal, leading to a failed invasion from Britain & France, thus marking declien in European colonial influence & power
- Influenced postcolonial literature; highlighted decline in European colonial influence & power
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The 2nd Wave of Feminism
- 1960s-1980s
- Feminist movement that focused on furthering equality through areas such as reproductive rights, workplace equality, and dismantling patriarchal structures
- Lead to re-examination of gender roles and female identity/ presentation of the female gender
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The Vietnam War
- 1955-1975
- Sparked anti-war movements
- Influenced literature through explorations of trauma and its impact on people
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Postmodernism
- 1960s-1990s
- Literary movement characteristed by irony/ questioning traditional narratives, influenced by postwar disillusionment and techological advances
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The Cultural Revolution in China
- 1966-1976
- Political upheaval through purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society - had global implications
- Influenced literature through the importance of individual thought and acknowledgement of totalitarian regimes (a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state)
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The Moon Landing
- 1969
- Appollo 11’s first landing on the moon and sucessful human travel to outerspace - symbolic of human achievement and exploration of the unknown
- Influenced literature around themes of exploration, technological progress and humanity perhaps dystopian future themes/ genre
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The Watergate Scandal
- 1972-1974
- Political scandal that deepened the distrust in the US government
- Influenced literature through themes of corruption, conspiracy and the erosion of trust
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Margaret Thatcher’s Government
- 1979-1990s
- As a prime miniser Thatcher’s leadership greatly impacted British society, culture and literature
- Influenced literature that critiqued social change, class divisions & economic policies
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The Fall of the Berlin Wall
- 1989
- Symbolic of the end of the cold war - a pivotal moment
- Influenced literature through themes of freedom, unity & the collapse of ideological barriers
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The Rise of Technology & The Internet
- 1990s
- Digital revolution shaped new ideas and methods of communication
- Influenced literature in speculative fiction, ambiguity of the future and dystopian genres
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The End of Apartheid in South Africa
- 1994
- Marked dismantlement of a system of institutionalised racial segregation called Apartheid
- Influenced postcolnial literature and works dealing with race, justice and social change
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The 9/11 Attack
- 2001
- Defining event at the turn of the century that significantly impacted security, politics, culture and literature
- Influenced literature through works exploring terrorism, identity and security
Explain Modernism as a literary genre
- 19th and early 20th century
- Characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing
Main characteristics include:
* Individualism
* Experimentation
* Symbolism
Explain The Lost Generation as a literary genre
- American Literature
- Group of American writers who came of age during WW1 + established reputations in 1920s
- Generation was ‘lost’ in the sense that they felt disillusioned and unfamiliar with the post-war world
Main characteristics include: - Attempts to move away from existing standards
- Loss of identity and tradition
- Critique of moral disintegration of society as a result of war
Explain Absurdism as a literary genre
- Primarily included within 1950s-1970s
- Focuses on inherent purpose of life being entirely questioned
- Commonly includes dark humour to comment on human condition - delves into purposelessness
Main characteristics include: - Satire, Dark humour
- Abasement of reason / irrational logic
- Quaility of ridiculousness, Nihilism (Rejection of moral and religious principles in the belief that life is meaningless)
Explain The Beat Generation as a literary genre
- Began in 1940s but came into public eye in 1950s
- A group of writers that reject literary formalism and the American culture that is built upon capitalism and materialism
Main characteristics include: - Personal, free thinking
- New ideas on sex & sexuality
- Spontaneous writing
Explain Magical Realism as a literary genre
- Ongoing genre, mainly 1940s-1950s
- Particularly common amount wave of Latin-American writers in 20th century
- Brings fantastical elements to realistic worlds and societal structures, commonly serving as a metaphor/ vehicle for underscoring their faults or absurdity
- Became popular due to it being hugely absorbing - the combination between fantasy and reality allowed political expression/ covert messages to flourish in a way not possible in traditional forms due to newly found figurative/ euphemistic fantasy veil
Main characteristics include: - Use of fantasy/ fiction as extended metaphor
- Political critique - euphemistic critiques and messages
- Magical exposition (the setting/ characters/ background information to understand story)
Explain Postmodernism as a literary genre
- Primarily present, between 1950s-1990s
- Collection of movements that believe it is no longer possible to rely upon the previous depiction of the world and society
- Known for the rejection of traditional values and conventional forms of literature - embraces experimentation
- Often explores political and historical issues
What is metafiction?
A type of fiction that draws attention to itself as a story, often by breaking the fourth wall or commenting on its own storytelling (fiction about fiction)
* e.g. Jane Eyre (‘Reader….’ - the direct address) + Wuthering Heights (Not explicitly, but some qualities e.g. story told from Mrs Dean’s perspective as a story to narrator)
What is a memoir?
A nonfiction genre where the author tells true stories from their own life, focusing on personal experiences and relations than an entire biography
