Perspectives

Literary period

The short story “It’s Beginning to Hurt” by James Lasdun is a postmodern work of fiction. Some features of literary postmodernism are the fragmentation of the text and the non-traditional structure of the narrative. We see this fragmented structure in Lasdun's text, as it is broken up by the use of flashbacks. 

Another feature of literary postmodernism is the focus on the inner struggles of the characters. In his story, Lasdun focuses on Mr Bryar’s struggles and the trauma caused by the death of his former mistress, Marie. Moreover, postmodernist literary works often rely heavily on symbolism, a feature which is also seen in “It’s Beginning to Hurt”. In the story, Lasdun uses plenty of symbols – such as the salmon, the stock room, and the train – to show how the main character deals with the events in his life. 

Finally, postmodernist literary...