Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
MIMAROPA REGION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF CALAPAN CITY
ORIENTAL MINDORO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
J.P. RIZAL ST., SAN VICENTE EAST, CALAPAN CITY

Realism, Existentialism and

Postmodernism in 21st Century European Literature

Testing the Waters

Write X if the statement is about realism, Y if the statement is about existentialism and Z if
the statement is about postmodernism. Write your answers before each item.

1. ______ - It is concerned with capturing the everyday in all its minutest details.
2. ______ - It questions the self’s coming to life and its purpose on living.
3. ______ - It signifies the breakdown of the boundary between external world and individual
consciousness.
4. ______ - It denotes a lifelike, immediate quality.
5. ______ - It is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity,
intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues.

Sailing
Europe has greatly impacted world literature as its literature involves works in various
languages: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian, Modern Greek, Czech,
Russian, Bosnian, Scandinavian and Irish. The timeline for European literature below could
help us better understand 21st century literary movements in Europe.

Among the different European literary movements, Realism and

Existentialism both still retain in the 21st century of European literature together with an
emerging genre, the Postmodernism. The table on the next page could help us better
understand the different characteristics and highlights of the three movements mentioned.
Guided Practice

For our guided practice, let us extract excerpts from The Apologizer by Milan Kundera and
identify whether they are proof of realism, existentialism or postmodernism.

1.
This excerpt is proof of realism in such a way that it deals with both the reality of girls’ fashion
trends, which is the show of skin and boy’s thinking towards this. Majority of girls nowadays
prefer this fashion trend while boys are torn between the thoughts of disturbance and
captivation.

2.
This presents maximalism as support to postmodernism. It could be understood that Alain’s
mother has deviated readers’ attention from her son’s personal dilemma and sentiments to
mankind’s situations on large, even mentioning human rights. Apart from this support,
maximalism is also present in the entirety of the text through its use of subchapters and wide
range of literary techniques via figurative language.

A. Realism and Existentialism

Directions: Write L before the excerpt if it is a proof of realism and M if it is a proof of

existentialism. Write your reason for saying so on the blanks provided after the statement.

1. _______ - “Since you insist, I’ll tell you: your mother never wanted you to be born. She never
wanted you to be around here, to be burying yourself in that easy chair where you’re so
comfortable. She wanted nothing to do with you. so now do you understand?”

2. ________ - “Don’t protest, and let me apologize,” he said. “I’m an apologizer. That’s the way
you made me, you and he. And, as such, as an apologizer, I’m happy. I feel good when we
apologize to each other, you and I. Isn’t it lovely, apologizing to each other?”

3. ________ - Traffic was slow, and he heard: “I want to be sure that there’s no confusion
between you and me, that we understand each other completely -” He had to brake. A
pedestrian had slipped between cars to cross the street and turned toward Alain with a
threatening gesture.

4. ________ - But what’s going on? Has she forgotten her resolve? Why does she not drown
herself, since the person who tried to rob her of her death is no longer alive? Why, now that
she is free, does she no longer seek to die? The person who tried to impose life on her has
died from drowning, and the person she was trying to kill in her belly is still alive. The idea of
suicide is ruled out forever. No repeats. The young man is dead, the fetus is alive.

5. ________ - Everything has changed. Instead of diving down beneath the water, she raises
her head and breathes deeply to collect her strength. He is already in front of her. It’s a young
fellow, a teenager, who hopes to be famous, to have his pictures in the papers. He just keeps
repeating, “Stop! Stop!” He’s already reaching a hand toward her, and she, rather than
evading it, grasps it, grips it tight, and pulls it (and him) down toward the depths of the river.

B. Postmodernism

Directions: Write N before the excerpt if it is a proof of postmodernism and O if you think
that it is not a proof of postmodernism. If you wrote N, write your reason for saying so on
the blanks provided after the statement.

1. _______ - If a man (or an era) sees the breasts as the center of female seductive power, how
does one describe and define the particularity of that erotic orientation? He improvised an
answer: sanctification of woman, the Virgin Mary suckling Jesus, the male sex on the on its
knees before the noble mission of the female sex.

2. ________ - “Quit your apologies! What do you know about life, my little idiot! Can I call you
idiot? Yes, don’t be angry; in my own opinion, you are an idiot! And you know where your
idiocy comes from? From your goodness! Your ridiculous goodness!”

3. ________ - “And you’re wrong. The person who apologizes is declaring himself guilty. And
if you declare yourself guilty, you encourage the other to go insulting you, blaming you,
publicly, unto death. Such are the inevitable consequences of the first apology.”

4. ________ - “I saw the infinite spread of its branches come down like a gigantic cloudburst,
and – understand me – what I was dreaming of wasn’t the end of human history, the
abolition of any future; no, no, what I wanted was the total disappearance of mankind,
together with its future and its past, with its beginning and its end, along with the whole
span of its existence, with all its memory, with Nero and Napoleon, with Buddha and Jesus.”

5. ________ - Alain was silent; then he said, in a quiet voice: “What is it that you feel guilty
for? For not having had the strength to prevent my birth? Or for not reconciling yourself to my
life, which, as it happens, is actually not so bad?”
C. Be Your Own Kind of Animagus

The Harry Potter Series is a known 21st century European literature written by JK Rowling.
Part of its fame as 21st century European literature is its use of magic which includes the
presentation of Animagus. An animagus is a witch or wizard who could transform into an
animal appropriate to his/her skills and abilities and back to human form at his/her will.
Now your task is to illustrate your own kind of animagus fit to your skills and abilities.
Below your animagus illustration, answer the questions stated.

1. What special ability do you have as an animagus? (3 points)

2. When do you find it appropriate to transform to an animal and transform back to

human? Why do you think so? (3 points)

3. What special role do you play as an animagus when it comes to caring for the
environment? (3 points)