The modern era is classified as the period that began at the end of the First World War. Where huge technological changes have taken place. International companies began to gain strength. They began to "Westernize" with values ​​such as the call for industrialization, personal political rights, democracy, mass knowledge and education, private ownership of the means of production, the scientific method , public institutions, questioning God. , and the independence of women. Then, in 1939, World War II broke out, and when it ended, a new literary period began to form. A new period extending from approximately 1945 to the present is called postmodernism. Postmodernism is difficult to define because there is not much agreement on certain characteristics and importance of postmodern literature. This period consists of a development or break with modernism. Postmodern literature is very well characterized by the fragmented set of ups and downs of culture that represents the absence of tradition in the world of consumerism. Postmodernism is an era where authors reject Western values ​​as only a small part of the human experience in life. Postmodernism celebrates incoherence, fragmentation, and the provisional, whereas modernism does not. The vigor of contemporary literature lies in its cultural diversity, in its enthusiasm for mixing fiction and non-fiction, and in its extraordinary sense of drama. Postmodern literature comments on itself and fearlessly uses images from the past. Fiction writers of this period allow for multiple meanings and multiple worlds in their works. This can be seen in The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger. Jerome David Salinger was the son of...... middle of paper ......elpme.com/assets/11381.html>.« JD Salinger Biography. Biography. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1994-2009. February 28, 2010. Archived from the original on March 20, 2010. .Klages, Mary. “Postmodernism”. English 2010. April 21, 2003. March 15, 2010. Legget, John et al. “Contemporary literature”. Elements of literature: literature of the United States. 7th ed. New York: Holt Rinehart Winston, 2000. 904-906. “madness”. Dictionary.com full version. Random House, Inc., March 27, 2010. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 1991. Shmoop Editorial Staff. “The Rye Catcher.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., November 11, 2008. February 28 2010. .