White Noise

Postmodernism is a very hard to define genre of literature. Postmodernism is mainly defined by the common characteristics that are found within so called postmodern texts. Postmodern work relies heavily on the idea of metafiction. Metafiction is defined as “a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion.” Metafiction plays on the relationship between the fiction found in the text and the reality surrounding that fiction. Common characteristics and themes that can be found in postmodernist work include irony, black humor, fragmentation, minimalism, and paranoia. Authors associated with the post-WWII movement of postmodernism include, but are not limited to, Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, John Fowles, and Angela Carter.
Don Delillo’s 1985 novel, White Noise is a great example of a postmodernist piece of literature. The novel can be dubbed postmodern due to the fact that it shares several of the traits found in the school of postmodernism. The first of these is the use of irony in Delillo’s novel. A great example of irony in the text can be found with the first reference to “white noise” in the book. A smoke detector goes off in the kitchen when Jack is talking to Babette. This is ironic because it is ignored by the characters and usually a smoke alarm means life and death for people, and to go even further, a smoke alarm going off can mean either it detects a problem or is dead itself with a dying battery.
Black humor is another theme of postmodernism that is prevalent throughout the text. The beginning of chapter six begins:

"Heinrich’s hairline is beginning to recede. I wonder about this. Did his mother consume some kind of gene-piercing substance when she was pregnant? Am I at fault somehow? Have I raised him, unwittingly, in the vicinity of a chemical dump site, in the path of air currents that carry industrial wastes capable of producing scalp degeneration, glorious sunsets?"

This self-questioning by the character of something so ridiculous is comical as they assert funny reasons for the result of hair loss. It is “black humor” because it draws humor out of something that is commonly not funny, in this case, activities that lead to birth defects. This excerpt can also be seen as an example of the theme of paranoia. The character is stressing something as inconsequential as hair loss.
Fragmentation is a technique common in postmodernist work and White Noise is no exception to this rule. The diatribe that kicks the novel off is an example of fragmentation found in the novel: “…soccer balls, hockey and lacrosse sticks, bows and arrows; the controlled substances, the birth control pills and devices; the junk food still in shopping bags—“ This fragmentation in the form of a list presents a variety of ideas to the author all at once. It is through these characteristics of White Noise that we can classify Delillo’s text as a postmodernist book.

Sources:

Postmodernism - Postmodernism In Literature And Art (http://science.jrank.org/pages/10807/Postmodernism-Postmodernism-in-Literature-Art.html)

Postmodernism (http://www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html)