From postmodernism to post-postmodernism : a study of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom

Abstract EN

The catastrophic September 11, 2001 events did not only mark a new epoch in contemporary world history, but also ushered in the beginning of a new phase in literary history.

It signaled the demise of postmodernism, which flourished during the period from 1960s to 1990s, and inaugurated a new phase in American fiction referred to by some critics as postpostmodernism, late postmodernism or new realism.

A study of Franzen's Freedom (2010) reveals it as a post-postmodernist novel which attempts to depict the post 9/11 American society.

This paper attempts to show that the black irony or cynical detachment of the long acclaimed postmodernism can no longer represent the post 9/11 reality.

It also tries to show that human experience could no longer be rendered through fragmented characters or plotless narrative.

A study of Freedom reveals Franzen‟s adoption of several devices that are characteristic of postpostmodernism in addition to employing other devices that pertain to postmodernism.