''The Literature of Exhaustion'' is a 1967 essay by the American novelist
John Barth
John Simmons Barth (; born May 27, 1930) is an American writer who is best known for his postmodern and metafictional fiction. His most highly regarded and influential works were published in the 1960s, and include ''The Sot-Weed Factor'', a sa ...
sometimes considered to be the
manifesto of
postmodernism.
The essay was highly influential and controversial.
Summary
The essay depicted
literary realism
Literary realism is a literary genre, part of the broader realism in arts, that attempts to represent subject-matter truthfully, avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements. It originated with the realist art movement that began with ...
as a "used up" tradition; Barth's description of his own work, which many thought nailed a core trait of postmodernism, is "novels which imitate the form of a novel, by an author who imitates the role of Author". He also stated that the novel as a literary form was coming to an end.
Barth argued that a particular stage in history was passing, and pointed to possible directions from there.
Criticism
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...
criticized "The Literature of Exhaustion" and Barth's novels for making an analysis of only the plots of novels and myths, while refusing to engage with the style of either, resulting in reductionist and disinterested understandings of novels' contents. Vidal instead advocated increased stylistic innovation and appreciation as better venues for further progression of the novel as a form, pointing particularly to the work of
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the '' Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the ''Cosmicomi ...
as a model.
Sequel
In 1980, Barth wrote a follow-up essay, "The Literature of Replenishment" in order to clarify the earlier essay.
I. Some general ideas of postmodernism
/ref> "The Literature of Exhaustion" was about the need for a new era in literature after modernism had exhausted itself.
See also
* Death of the novel
*Borges' "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote
"Pierre Menard, Author of the ''Quixote''" (original Spanish title: "Pierre Menard, autor del ''Quijote''") is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
It originally appeared in Spanish in the Argentine journal '' Sur'' in May 1939. ...
"
*Mock-heroic
Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature. Typically, mock-heroic works either put a fool in the role of the hero or exaggerate the heroic ...
*Postmodern literature
Postmodern literature is a form of literature that is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narrator, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues. This sty ...
* List of postmodern critics
References
External links
''The Atlantic monthly, Volumes 245-246''
(1980)
The Literature of Exhaustion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Literature of Exhaustion, The
Essays about literature
Pamphlets
American essays
1967 essays
Art manifestos
Works about postmodernism