The word postmodernism means absolutely nothing in poetry. It was first
coined by architects to indicate a particular new style in reaction to a
clearly defined "modernist" style of design. It has since been taken over
to mean absolutely anything which is different from what preceded it
directly or indirectly, including an entire condition of global perception.
The term had hardly been invented before it was taken as an absolute de
facto condition and courses were being run on it at universities . The
hunger among commentators and organisers for a new tag is immense and knows
no bounds. I believe it is now quite difficult to get a book published on
any modern literary artistic or cultural subject if the word "postmodern"
isn't included in the title.
Among the British poets who have been called post-modern are: JH Prynne,
me, Paul Muldoon, Seamus Heaney, Tom Raworth, Bob Cobbing, Craig Raine, Roy
Fisher.....
It is said in Cambridge that when Jeremy Prynne set the English graduation
exam one year he had a note on the paper saying that anyone using the word
postmodern or derivatives would automatically lose ten marks.
I do agree with Robert that historical categories in recent literary
history should not be allowed to pass as unquestionable fact: viz. the
Movement was the British 1950s. There was certainly another 1950s --
David Jones for instance, Kathleen Raine, Jonathan Griffin, Donald
Davie,W.S.Graham, Sorley MacLean, Thom Gunn and many many others wrote
right through the 50s in many different ways. But this isn't to say the
Movement was just a publicity job: it met a definite need, otherwise it
wouldn't have been successful.
/PR
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