COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES OF POST-POSTMODERNISM (ON THE MATERIAL OF MODERN AMERICAN SHORT FICTION)

Abstract

The article deals with the latest methods of constructing a literary text in American short fiction. There are two main types of narrative: theatrical performance and psychological sketch. Theatricality finds expression in the elements of surrealism, magical realism, absurdity. Sometimes it develops into an overt puppet theatre performance. The psychological sketch takes the form of an emotional monolog or an impression. The article analyses the transformations of the author – he constantly changes masks, breaks up into plurality of self; as well as of the protagonist, a passive, problem creature, often a person with damaged psyche. The article substantiates the need to study new concepts of constructing a literary text. Modern authors create “explosions of truth”, most often impartial, moving away from the usual canons and inventing new ones, sometimes taken to the extreme, exaggerated means of artistic expression. It is argued that a story is able to “capture” the momentary and barely noticeable. A striking sample of modern literary techniques is Frederic Tuten's collection “Self-Portraits: Fictions” (2010), an example of intertextuality, essential for the aesthetics of post-postmodernism.