Post Modernism( 1946-Present ) Women Fiction Writers

1. Post Modernism(1946-Present)Women Fiction Writers Flannery O’Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker and Lorraine Hansberry

2. Post Modernism Notes • The U.S. was the most powerful nation on Earth after WWII • Despite the prosperity of the nation, the prospect of a nuclear war and the dominance of the Soviet Union was looming. • In 1945, the United Nations was formed in an effort to prevent future wars. • The Cold War began immediately following WWII-between the US and the Soviet Union • 1st armed conflict was in Asia

3. Post Modernism notes continued • “Silent Generation”—name given to Americans of the 1950s • October 1957, Soviet Union launched Sputnik-1st artificial satellite to orbit Earth • President John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960 and was assassinated in 1963. • 1954 Segregation in public schools was outlawed by the Supreme Court • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, TN, in 1968

4. Postmodernism Writers • Short Story Writers • John Updike • Flannery O’Connor • Joyce Carol Oates • Alice Walker • Lorraine Hansberry • Poets • Marianne Moore • Robert Frost • William Carlos Williams • Theodore Roethke • Sylvia Plath • Robert Lowell

5. Literary Elements—Gothic Elements & Grotesque Characters Gothic Elements Grotesque Character • Story set in bleak or remote places • The plot involves macabre or violent incidents • Characters are in psychological and/or physical torment • A supernatural or otherworldly element is often present. • One has become bizarre or twisted, usually through some kind of obsession • May be expressed in a character’s physical appearance • May be hidden, visible only in a character’s actions and emotions • Absurd, extreme behaviors, or distortions

6. Women Fiction Writers--Gothic Joyce Carol Oates Flannery O’Connor • Many of her novels and short stories concern individuals whose ordinary lives are suddenly upset by mysterious forces beyond their control • Writings focus on characters who are disturbed or who are searching anxiously for their identities. • Many of her stories are set in the fictional Eden County. • She suffered from lupus. • Her works force readers to confront such human faults as hypocrisy, insensitivity, self-centeredness, and prejudice. • Stories revolve around death and exhibit a dark sense of humor. • Characters are social misfits or people who are physically or mentally challenged.

7. “Where is Here?” by Joyce Carol Oates pp. 374-382 • What is the setting of this story? • Identify the characters and describe each. • Find examples of gothic writing within the story and write them on your paper. (Give page # and paragraph.) • Which character(s) fit the description of a grotesque character? Explain by citing examples from the story. • What do you think is the real reason the stranger has come to the house? • How would you react if you were in this same situation? • What is you opinion of this author’s style of writing? Would you be willing to read other works by this writer?

8. Contemporary Female African American Writers Alice Walker and Lorraine Hansberry

9. Alice Walker • Youngest of 8 children and daughter of a sharecropper. • Shot in the eye with a BB gun at age 8—she did not lift her head for 6 years • Her self-confidence decreased and she went into isolation & indulged in reading • Once she had the surgery to remove the scar she regained her confidence and went on to be come prom queen & valedictorian of her class • Civil Rights Activist • Taught African American studies at Jackson State University • Explores the connections between sexism and racism and the effects of both on individuals and their relationships. • Famous works: The Color Purple and You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down