POSTMODERNIST VIEWS OF TIME AND SPACE IN LITERATURE

Abstract

Rejecting canonical narrative forms and ideas, postmodern literature presents a fresh perspective on the passage of time and geographical location. In contrast to the linear and cohesive representations of time and space expected in modernist literature, postmodernist works often embrace dislocation, fragmentation, and distorted timelines. Through metafiction, intertextuality, and non-linear tales, this study investigates how postmodern writers question traditional ideas of space and time. These methods show time as cyclical, irrelevant, or fluid, which disrupts the reader's perception of a steady, chronological development. Similarly, postmodern literature frequently portrays space as hyperreal, fragmented, or disjointed, reflecting a world where the lines between the tangible and the abstract are increasingly blurred. This study analyses seminal postmodern works to see how these changed views of space and time fit into a more extensive critique of postmodern reality, identity, and meaning stability. According to the results, postmodern literature does more than make us rethink the passage of time; it also prompts us to wonder what it means to exist.