Perspectives

Literary period

Zadie Smith’s short story “The Lazy River” was first published in 2017 in The New Yorker magazine and holds postmodern characteristics. The postmodernist literary movement experienced a rise in the post-World War II era and gained popularity all throughout the late twentieth century. However, postmodernism is still a popular literary style used by many authors today. Postmodernist works can be recognised through themes, context, and narrative techniques.

The work shows many traits which are common to twenty-first-century literary works. For example, the text has a social setting which refers to contemporary problems in Spanish society, such as exploitation and immigration. It has political, social, and philosophical nuances, as it raises questions about the consequences of recent events. The theme explores a grim r...