&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Trout Fishing in America&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; as a Postmodern Parody

Aycan Gökçek

doi:10.4236/jss.2021.99028

Abstract

This study aims to analyse Richard Brautigan’s novel Trout Fishing in America as a parody of realistic novel writing convention with an eye on the qualities of postmodern literature. With this study, the qualities of postmodern literature and criticism of postmodern consumer society will be scrutinized. This paper also discloses different ways of postmodern technique of parody. Initially, general qualities of modernism and postmodernism will be pointed out and then Trout Fishing in America will be handled as a postmodern parody. How Brautigan deconstructs realistic novel writing with the use of postmodern tools is examined. The author’s criticism of consumerism of postmodern society is also studied. In the end, it has been concluded that Richard Brautigan manages to achieve his purpose to react against society out of order through literature by using the exceptional technique of parody and absurd.

Highlights

Modernism is a prevailing movement in literature, art and music that started towards the end of the 19th century and continued until the first half of the 20th century
This study aims to analyse Richard Brautigan’s novel Trout Fishing in America as a parody of realistic novel writing convention with an eye on the qualities of postmodern literature
General qualities of modernism and postmodernism will be pointed out and Trout Fishing in America will be handled as a postmodern parody

Summary

Introduction

Modernism is a prevailing movement in literature, art and music that started towards the end of the 19th century and continued until the first half of the 20th century. Estrangement, perspectivism, impressionism, allusive presentation of experience, multiple and complex language were the major themes of modern literature. The concept of reality became subjective with modernism; people started to question nature of reality and postmodernism came into existence towards the last two decades of the 20th century. Postmodernism is a western movement in art and literature that came into existence as a reaction against prin-

Gökçek DOI

Trout Fishing in America as a Postmodern Novel

Conclusion