Postmodernism in "Natural History"

I have been reading multiple texts on postmodernism in my “Modern Art and Contemporary Culture” class, and as I was reading Natural History by Dan Chiasson, I got the strong sense that his poems express a lot of postmodern ideologies. Kay Ryan would agree with me, because in her New York Times review, “Absolut Pliny,” she describes Natural History as set in a “postmodern landscape.” Some key elements of postmodernism are its preoccupation with simulated reality, skepticism of authenticity, artistic reflexivity, and questioning of truths. Furthermore, postmodernism states that ideas are created by referring to various ideas that already exist, sometimes in a humorous way This creates cultural products that are parodies, collages and remixes. Kay Ryan echoes this idea when she describes Chiasson as “a hip-hop D.J., scratching, remixing and returning to them in later poems.” Therefore, nothing is new, but rather instead an “endless layering of citation” (Siturken and Cartwright, Postmodernism, Indie Media, and Popular Culture, 321). Another aspect of postmodernism is that while modernism felt a sense of progress towards the future, postmodernism expresses nostalgia for the past.

Postmodernism’s concerns of a simulated reality are expressed in “XIX. Georgic (II)”: “the wax | begonias made to look like real ones by an artisan” (47). Chiasson is expressing the blurred line between reality and fake. Nature and reality are slipping from our world as we enter a simulated reality.

Chiasson’s artistic reflexivity is expressed in his references to himself in multiple poems. On page 8, he compares his life to the plot of a Shakespeare tragedy: “My life was tragic, was the plot. Disaster sought me out.” Chiasson inserts himself in the subject matter, making himself both the subject and the writer. He is reflexive in “Four Horaces,” when he writes to himself, which is as frank as one can get. It holds a pessimistic, honest tone about life in lines like “the shoreline is no safe harbor” and “I can’t be cheered” (10). But he also has a tone of hope when he says “but you know, Dan, I’m never lonely, and that’s something” (10). He ends the poem saying “It’s sunny somewhere, Dan. The sun is shining somewhere” (11). By writing a poem to himself, he is making himself both writer and reader.

The postmodernist tendency to question truth is expressed in his references to religion. He questions the authenticity of religion in “I. The Sun” in the line “Onto the surface of the world he stamps | all plants and animals. They are not gods | but he made us worshippers of every | bramble toad” (24). Chiasson is saying that god created believers, but humans only interact with the surface world of plants and animals. This points to the relationship we have with god, suggesting that it may be a one-sided relationship of unrequited love. Again in “XV Randall Jarrell,” he says, “of course the dead do command us, in their way” (43). Chiasson points that our beliefs are shaped and controlled by “the dead,” an image that does not exist, and a social construction.

Postmodernism re-evaluates the past in the context of the present, which gives it creates a nostalgic attitude. We can only “know the past through the fragments of its remnants” (Siturken and Cartwright, Postmodernism, Indie Media, and Popular Culture, 322). Chiasson cuts through different times in history and emphasizes the murkiness of trying to remember the past. In “The Bear”, he says “this is ancient Rome; it is hard to see through | so much time. It makes you wonder how many other beautiful sights are hidden away in time” (31). He is emphasizing that the past is gone, no matter how hard we try to hold on to and remember it. It is so easily forgotten and therefore unable to recall clearly. In “IX From the Life of Gorky (II): “my father’s canary-yellow coffin is already a memory” (37). The father is gone, part of the past, ephemeral and fading from the narrator’s memory.

Chiasson’s candid and straightforward tone creates modern, colloquial language, which is then in interwoven into a more classical language. This remixing creates a surprising, almost humorous effect. Ryan also points out this zig-zagging: “his tone will be antique in one line, then arch, then lyric, then cartoonish.” While Ryan states that Chiasson’s references “to eBay and Absolut” is “to validate his hip card,” I don’t think he is doing this to try to fit into modern culture. Rather, he is a person embedded in it, and is just referencing his present society. In the poem “III. After Party,” Chiasson writes, “I wonder is it a star’s kiss, a star’s trace | from last night’s after party that perplexes me?” (14). In this line, he has a very poetic, figurative, romantic language, but the line “last night’s after party” possesses a modern tone and seems out of place. He does this again in the next stanza: “Those | bruises on you aren’t temporary henna tattoos” (14). Here he has a very conversational tone and references temporary henna tattoos, something traditional in the East, but new in the West.

We see Chiasson questioning truth throughout this book. Curious, rambling questions are sprinkled throughout the poems. I find it amazing that Chiasson’s poetry is able to so strongly express postmodernist ideas.