From Postmodernism to Post-postmodernism: A Study of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom

The catastrophic September 11, 2001 events did not only mark a new epoch in contemporary world history, but also ushered in the beginning of a new phase in literary history. It signaled the demise of postmodernism, which flourished during the period from 1960s to 1990s, and inaugurated a new phase in American fiction referred to by some critics as post-postmodernism, late postmodernism or new realism. A study of Franzen's Freedom (2010) reveals it as a post-postmodernist novel which attempts to depict the post 9/11 American society. This paper attempts to show that the black irony or cynical detachment of the long acclaimed postmodernism can no longer represent the post 9/11 reality.  It also tries to show that human experience could no longer be rendered through fragmented characters or plotless narrative. A study of Freedom reveals Franzen’s adoption of several devices that are characteristic of post-postmodernism in addition to employing other devices that pertain to postmodernism.