Postmodernism and Donald Barthelme

The video I have chosen is four minutes and nineteen seconds long video titled, Donald Barthelme; the Rise of Post Modernism, submitted by YouTube user, Phuoc Dieu. I chose this video, due to recognizing the Barthelme as an author, and having an interesting writers as an avid reader. Also, the visual of the video, helped me understand the subject matter a lot better. It helps that the video doesn't feel too long or too short.

As the title suggests, the video focuses mainly on this man...



... Donald Barthelme, and although he only wrote short stories, he was one of the leading figures in the rise post modernism literature. The video is short, although it gets right into the point. It starts off by explaining what post modernism is and how it works, though this is very brief. The video's view on post modernism does follow the lectures definition of the topic.

Donald Barthrlme's work was specifically designed to have multiple meanings and convey multiple ideas, something that was very uncommon for authors at the time, and it could be seen as confusing. The video also discusses a bit of Barthelme's history and his work. He started out as a reporter for he Houston Post, before moving on to being an author. As mentioned before, he wrote mainly short stories, mainly for magazines, and has written collections of his short stories.

Part of the reason for his writing was the dehumanization of the time. Barthelme got into writing around the time of the MacCarthy Era Trials and Segregation. Because of this, much of his work in both wording and themes that were meant to relate to everyone, so that it could be seen as having multiple meanings. All of this was meant to have the reader question their world. What is Identity? What is morally right or wrong?

Strangely a lot of these themes and questions are being asked today. With Donald Trump as president, fake news, and police violence, and with social media to help, the public has become more devided then ever. Barthelme's work was meant to have multiple meanings and themes so that everyone would see it differently by anyone who reads it. Barthelme was often very critical of going with the flow and blending in with the crowd. Nowadays it's pretty easy to criticize someone and say, "I'm right, your wrong." Barthelme's work had different meanings so that people would be challenged and see the world differently. Because of this, it's no wonder Donald Barthelme is considered a pioneer in post modernism literature.