This essay examines the definition of Contemporary Literature and Postmodernism.

The brilliance of Contemporary Literature is that personal traumatic experiences and the ensuing hope it can create becomes a shared experience between many individuals. People are connected by their individual traumatic experiences and can relate to one another about the damaging experiences they have undergone in order to reach not only a better understanding about their experiences but also to gain a sense of peace and hope. A great achievement of Contemporary Literature is that there has been the attempt to engage ethically with collective trauma. It is important to understand that the trouble with representing a collective trauma is that it simultaneously bombards the everyday with the grave magnitude of the extraordinary and, paradoxically, converts this extraordinary experience to a generalizable phenomenon across a collective (Rostan 172). In other words, Contemporary Literature uses personal experiences of negative situations to the extent that it triggers other individuals to join in the project of sharing their own experiences. The horrific circumstances people find themselves in are converted into Contemporary Literature and readers and writers alike are able to find themselves through the process of reading. By recognizing that one is not alone in their trauma, one is able to maintain a certain degree of optimism that they are not alone and isolated in the world. Modernism featured individuals who remained isolated. Contemporary Literature strives to celebrate life and bring people closer together despite horrific events. It is important to realize that Contemporary Literature acknowledges the isolation that trauma can bring about and that Contemporary Literature wishes to voice traumatic experiences in order to gain hope. Trauma and Isolation Trauma can isolate individuals but Contemporary Literature seeks to voice trauma in order to purge itself of the negativity so as to reach a level of optimism previously unknown to Modernists. One fine example of individual trauma becoming a shared experience can be seen in Arundhati Roys novel The God of Small Things. In the novel, Rahel and her twin Estha each undergo their individual traumatic experiences: Rahel deals with the loss of her family and the murder of Velutha while Estha deals with the trauma of being sexually abused. Both Rahel and Estha experience their own individual crises but they manage to celebrate their existence despite the tragedy that plagues their lives: the two twins make love together in a way to communicate and to purge their intense despair. The act of making love is a celebration throughout the novel because it symbolizes optimism. When the twins mother Ammu makes love each night to Velutha, they extracted only one small promise from each other: Tomorrow? Tomorrow (Roy 321).The simple word tomorrow sums up the central idea of Contemporary Literature: the love of life despite of its worries and woes will continue for at least the next day. The word tomorrow describes the overall tone of Contemporary Literature as it suggests that life will continue no matter what happens today.

What is Contemporary Literature? Contemporary Literature is a highly complex literary movement that is difficult to define. The best defining achievement of Contemporary Literature that distinguishes it from all other literary movements is the joy of life over the destruction that occurs all around the world. Whether trauma is across nations or is personal, Contemporary Literature seeks to connect individuals to provide assurance that all human beings are not along in their traumatic experiences. Everyone is connected through their trauma and life will continue despite and horrific situation. Life is worth living and being praised in spite of the terrible situations that occur, whether it is the destruction of war, weapons of mass destruction, or the personal traumas of losing family and living through sexual abuse. The previous literary movement, Modernism, surveyed the horrible state of the world and decided that human beings were isolated individuals but literature and other artistic endeavors could save the world. Contemporary Literature follows the legacy of Modernism but departs from some of its idealsincluding the idea that an Utopian existence is possible tomorrow. Contemporary Literature, unlike Modernist Literature, sees the terrible circumstances in the world and decides that literatures goal is not to solve the problems of the world but to connect people together in order to achieve some level of optimism. Contemporary Literature is about finding light in a world of darknessand upon seeing that light, valuing the positive events for surviving in a world in which darkness seems to take hold and thrive.