Deliberate deadpan earnestness can itself be a postmodern technique

Evidence

The writer Robert Macfarlane has called Sebald a ‘postmodern antiquarian’, and the indeterminate status of The Rings of Saturn – is it autobiography, a novel or a travelogue? – points to a certain playfulness, but this never emerges at the level of the book’s content. It was necessary for Sebald to remain po-faced in order for the ‘antiquing’ to be successful. — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 505

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what ‘postmodern antiquarianism’ means: ironic playfulness disguised by po-faced form.
• XREF: connects to: Dialogue can characterize people through hyperbole and deadpan absurdity — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 374

Broader Connections

• Dialogue can characterize people through hyperbole and deadpan absurdity #exemplifies (0.85) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 374