If post-modern writing reflects reality at all, it reflects it like a shattered glass, disjointed and dangerous. John Cheever, Kurt Vonnegut, Shirley Jackson, Saul Bellow, Thomas Pynchon, and Tillie Olson are a few of America's post-modern writers. In the 1970's and 1980's, a mode of writing known as Minimalism became very popular. Minimalism presents what is often a bare, simplified snapshot of some event, insisting that the reader imagine the rest of the circumstances and guess about their impact. Minimalism can be characterized by ordinary subject matter, straightforward narratives, slightness of story, and characters who don't think out loud.
Minimalism reflects a number of contemporary thoughts.
First of all this style reflects the growing complexities of the world by refusing any attempts at explaining the presented reality to the reader. Minimalism also reflects the post-modern idea that the story does not exist without the reader. Since the story takes place n the reader's mind, the reader needs to create the story as much as the writer does. Raymond Carver, Anne Beattie, Amy Hemple and Mark Strand are writers that use techniques of minimalism.