Snow White is considered a part of the "postmodernist" movement in literature and is treated as an example of a "postmodern" novel. Postmodernism, although difficult to define in exact terms, is an aesthetic, literary, and philosophical movement that became emerged prominently in the mid-1960s. There is no single identity or marker that defines postmodernist work. Instead, it is a loose method of grouping together art and literature that analyzed or portrayed a "postmodern" reaction to late capitalism. A growing distrust of mainstream media, information, and politics is prevalent throughout postmodern works, as well as a desire to experiment with established form and challenge standard techniques or structures. Postmodern art is often playful or humorous, making fun of the institutions it portrays or using heavy irony to illuminate certain hypocrisies. Postmodern literature tends to experiment with one or several components of standard novels—plot, character, style—and seeks to reimagine it.
Snow White is postmodern through both content and form. Its technical form is experimental and exemplifies the postmodern tendency to reject traditional patterns of writing. Barthelme's "collage" of different sections and styles that evade meaning are a total departure from narrative convention. The novel has an indeterminate narrator, features a loose plot, and jumps around topics; it questions every component of a classical novel and creates something completely new by manipulating those components. It also subverts the fairytale tradition and illuminates the genre's constrictive nature.
Barthelme's use of humor, parody, irony, and skepticism make his novel a "postmodern" work. Through humor, Barthelme illuminates contradictions within American society. He highlights religious hypocrisy, criticizes bourgeois materialism, satirizes the American political system and the presidency, and constructs a fairytale that perverts (literally, in places, with lewd humor and crude references to sexuality) figures that many readers hold dear, like Snow White and the seven dwarves. Barthelme pushes the reader into discomfort as they are forced to reckon with a novel that is not like any other novel they are familiar with on a technical level. This skepticism towards structures and desire to experiment with structures through humor aligns Barthelme's novel with the essential tenets of literary postmodernism.
