Perspective |
Realism |
Modernism |
Postmodernism |
| Point of View | Unified point of
view (resolves contradiction) |
Multiple and contradictory points of view | Multiple views |
| Narrative Discourse | Objectivity; omniscience | Subjectivity; relativism | Subjectivity; relativism (pluralism?) |
| Implementation of Discourse | Hierarchy of discourse—image as truth | Hierarchy of
discourse—art/implied author generates meaning |
Anarchy of discourses—even “weighting”; play; language & narrative questioned—art too is meaningless |
| Narrative Strategy | Narrative privileged | Narrative (mythic) | Anti-narrative |
| Importance of Style |
Effacement of style: story > genre and style |
Foregrounding of style: exploring of genres and the medium | Style, genre, medium foregrounded, sometimes jumbled, and critiqued |
| Grounding of Genre | Illusionism (mimesis) | Abstraction; design | Chance; Formlessness |
| Plot Development | Static, objective, logical and coherent space-time relations; chronological | Dynamic, subjective and symbolic use of space and time; achronological | Dynamic, subjective and symbolic use of space and time; achronological |
| Central Images in Text | Character centered | Psychology > events | Allegory > character |
| Resolution of Conflict | Closure: resolution of enigmas, social integration | More open; resolution at level of mythic meaning | Open: closure—even mythic—ironized |
| Treatment of Themes | Traditional themes and images | Some non-traditional themes and symbols | Traditional and non-traditional; pop culture borrowings |
| Connection with Reader | Promotes identification | Disrupts identification; promotes critical distance (often through critical parody) | Plays with identification and distance (pastiche or camp vs. critical distance through parody) |
| Pleasure Principle | Sustains pleasure through “sense” and commonsense | Disrupts pleasure through “difficulty” and non-sense, critique of commonsense | Sustains pleasure, but may question it; sense and non-sense; some critique of commonsense |
| Depiction of Mass Culture | May critique mass culture | Critiques mass culture | Celebrates mass culture? |
| Appeal to Mass Culture | Form shared by mass culture | Elite form largely unshared by mass culture | Form shared by mass culture |