Books that belong to a current that might possibly not exist, but that are nonetheless all awesome. And The Corrections too!
*dapa-ching!*
JKNG The Corrections is pretty dope.
What Is Postmodernist Literature? An Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT4L4LxNBvI
Where to Start With Postmodern Literature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2_0Y-w8eXc
What Is Post-Postmodern Literature? An Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tICiNbukog0
Andrew Hoberek’s After Postmodernism on Jstor. Dig it: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20479812
The books I mention in this video, in alphabetical order, with links to buy them on Amazon (yep I’m an affiliate), and to my review of the book if I ever filmed one:
Chabon – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: http://amzn.to/29kZjLt
Video Reader’s Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2InnwVIw4w
Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ4InL1Lg-0
Chabon – The Yiddish Policemen Union: http://amzn.to/29Rgx45
Danielewski – House of Leaves: http://amzn.to/29pkL4g
Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJvXX36zzNY
Diaz – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: http://amzn.to/29pk8Yp
Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUjfOl7-S1s
Egan – A Visit from the Goon Squad: http://amzn.to/29yWIlK
Eggers – A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: http://amzn.to/29keYJO
Eugenides – The Marriage Plot: http://amzn.to/29wSWbb
Franzen – The Corrections: http://amzn.to/29pkJJv
Pynchon – Bleeding Edge: http://amzn.to/29kfqaV
Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcOR-CEuRWU
Safran Foer – Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcOR-CEuRWU
McSweeney’s Homepage: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/
… Tell me about YOUR suggestions for great introductions into this blurry world in the comments below 😉
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Great video, always good to see you. I just finished Wonder Boys and think I would recommend it over K&C or Yiddish as the best place to start with Chabon. Total joy. Always great recs from you.
Great video .Ηave you read 2666 by Roberto Bolano and if so will you do a review ?
Dude, the T-shirts you wear in your videos are kick ass.
I have a few book recommendations for you-“Invaders:22 Tales from the Outer Limits of Literature.” I haven’t actually read this anthology yet, I should be receiving it in the mail this week. It is a collection of genre writing by authors categorized as literary fiction. Authors include Junot Diaz, Katherine Dunn, George Saunders, Jonathan Lethem, Robert Olen Butler etc. It sounds very promising. Another anthology released this week that I have yet to read but I have also ordered is Jeff Vandermeer & Ann Vandermeer’s sci-fi anthology “Big Book of Science Fiction.” The title seems to be a bit of an understatement as it clocks in at 1,000+ pages. I always sit up & take notice when the Vandermeers release an anthology. Their collection “The Weird: A Compendium of Strange & Dark Stories” is amazing.
Of those you cited, I read House of Leaves. It was OK, no big deal. It’s a better novel to those unfamiliar with semiotics and French philosophy, and even so, it doesn’t apply the concept so efficiently as for instance Gravity’s Rainbow does.
It’s funny, it seems that you and I liked the book mostly for its graphic qualities—regarding this, it’s a work of art. The edition is spectacular.
The first PPM novel I read was Infinite Jest. I had no idea whatsoever about what I was facing. It amazed me so much, I guess, because I have a background in sociology a philosophy, and it kind of epitomizes contemporary sociology core ideas, regarding consumption and post-industrial society. And it does this while being very fun to read. Yay!
Once a friend said, ‘post(and post-)-modern books must be very good, otherwise they are not worth the reading’. I think he’s right in a way, because it’s a real challenge to build a narrative outside genre pillars. An entertaining narrative, at least. E.g. Pynchon—Gravity’s Rainbow: if he wasn’t such an amazing writer regarding from sentences to the way he applies non-fictional content, no one would read that shit.
I’ll definitely read soon Oscar Wao. I’ll tell you my opinion. Cheers.
Is Cormac McCarthy a post-postmodern?
Do you read any Steve Erickson? I never see him mentioned here on booktube, but as you like DeLillo/Pynchon thought you would be a fan of Erickson too. The Sea Came In at Midnight and Arc D’x two of my faves of his. Not sure if post or postpost though.
hey thanks so much for these videos- i’ve been really enjoying them! you’ve a talent for explaining difficult concepts quite simply.
This is just a general question but how many hours a day you spend reading?
consider me subscribed man.
Didn’t the New Sincerity movement try to pass itself off as Post-Post-Modernism?
I would suggest Roberto Bolano’s “2666” and Daniel Kehlmann’s “Measuring the World”, “Fame” and “F”. Oh, and Donna Tartt: “The Secret History” and “The Goldfinch”.
nihilism… i think nihilism is what postmodernism is turning into.
Alternative title for this video: All the books I’ve been meaning to read – apart from the few I already read, which luckily includes the Chabon books 😉
Thanks for this 😀 Very clear and informative as always. I have learned so much with this channel (without any doubt It’s my favorite), I read so many books and bought even more 😛 I’m really curious about your review on Mason & Dixon. Hugs from Argentina!
I will show a ‘mini’ exhibition featuring a photographic quasi-oeuvre, representative of things ‘POST-‘, i.e. POST- Punk, POST- War, POST- Post by artist, Bobby Collins aka Streykatt, accompanied by musician Marijn Degenaar of CIRCULAR RUINS.
https://web.facebook.com/events/289390974846422/
Great videos, thank you every time.
A name I’ve seen come up instead of post-postmodernism is metamodernism, which I understand as a “third way” which mixes modernism/classicism and postmodernism.
I’ve read House of Leaves and enjoyed it immensely, and am about a third of the way through DFW’s Infinite Jest.
Great video!!
What great timing! Watching this made me think to check again and I found that Audible just released the Yiddish Policeman’s Union on 7/5/2016. That will be next in line now. As a literary scholar, what are your thoughts on reading via audio book vs printed material?
Love this topic 🙂
You may remember on another one of your videos I asked if I should read Against the Day or Gravity’s Rainbow first after having read only Lot 49 and Inherent Vice. Well, I haven’t started either of them yet because I’ve been reading other stuff (Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and to be honest I will probably try to fly through a bunch of other smallish books before I commit to one of those Pynchon door-stoppers) but, man, you made me really want to try Bleeding Edge now! GR and AtD will probably have to wait even longer.
EDIT: The way you describe Bleeding Edge here makes it sound like it would be just the book for me. I’m hugely interested in whatever it might be that comes after postmodernism but I never identified with the antagonism against it (e.g. some articulations of the “New Sincerity” crowd) – people who make out as if postmodernism was just a big mistake, or the triumph of assholes, and that we need to bury it for the sake of humanity. I, on the other hand, still love postmodernism and feel that whatever comes next has to accept and incorporate the challenges and conclusions that postmodernism made – and it sounds as if Bleeding Edge makes an argument to this effect too.
What do you think of William Gaddis or John Barth? Are they PPM writers?
Zone One, yes! it was brilliant. still gotta read that Chabon.
great to see your videos. i wish you talk about nathanael west’s the day of the locust
Big thanks to you bookchemist, i finished the Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and it was as good as you hyped it up to be. I loved the writing style, the characters felt soo real and I also enjoyed how it gave a glimpse into a place in time and space i had no idea about,(plus the ending had me kinda weepy so kudos). Now to find a copy of the Watchmen….
Ordered Against the Day, finished Infinite Jest recently, reading Gravity’s Rainbow. You definetly affected my reading habits and you’re simply the best book youtuber. Keep going!
P.S: Still waiting your Mason&Dixon review 🙂
I know how much you dislike Jack Kerouac but he was using some of those “post post modern” devices way back in the fifties with books like “Some of the dharma” .
What do you believe the ideal post-postmodern masterpiece would look like? much like Ulysses is the modern monolith and Gravity’s Rainbow is the postmodern monolith for their scope and cramming in of literary stylings among other things. I think infinite jest does not reach this standard and although ambitious and certainly great in its own right, is much less so than Ulysses or Gravity’s Rainbow.
Would a post-postmodern masterpiece be composed of alternating genre styles to create one overall story? it seems like that would be a necessary outcome of reaction to modernism and postmodernism making it necessarily post-postmodernism.
is Everything is Illuminated post modern or post post?
I am currently reading Thomas pynchon’s book Mason & Dixon. I have already read his books inherent vice and the crying of lot 49. I can honestly say I don’t know why people putting Mason and Dixon as one of the last words of his, I’m not very confused or lost of what’s going on I’m actually really confounded and really amazed.
The name Post-Postmodern lacks creativity. What’s next, Post-Post-Postmodern Literature? Time to think up a better name.