Modernism In T. S Elliot's The Naming Of Cats

967 Words4 Pages
“What exactly is postmodernism, except modernism without the anxiety,” (The Ecstasy of Influence) asks Jonathan Lethem in his article, commenting on the dilemna of the one literary theory that does not completely renounce its predecessor. Postmodernism, in the true spirit of its uniqueness, does not deny the entirety of the theories that the modernism has claimed, but picks the ones that it can develop further in the concept of irrational as real, and real as irrational. The relativeness of truth leads to the impossibility of achieving the absolute truth, but at the same time the fragmentarisation allows for different perspectives being shown for one subject at the same time, chaotic narratives and incoherent structure reflect the process of thinking, creating an illusion of veracity. In the meantime, postmodernism draws from poststructuralists approaches and creates its own claims. T.S. Elliot is one of the most prominient modernist authors. His poem The Naming of Cats is a description of the process itself which turns out to be more complicated than expected, what appealingly corresponds with the major postmodernist claims. The title itself sugggests that the author rejects the traditionality of the topic – the process of naming cats is usually considered more of a necessity than an activity…show more content…
The irrationality of the reality of Elliot's poem makes it more postmodernist than it could be thought. The intertextuality is shown in most peculiar of ways, the estrangement is present through the whole text, the personification of a cat being the most prominent example, quite chaotic construction makes an impression of a torn part of a discussion. The Naming of Cats can be read and analysed by using postmodernist approach and still remain as valulable and coherent, as it is needed for a poem to make sense and be possible to

    More about Modernism In T. S Elliot's The Naming Of Cats

      Open Document