Postmodern Fiction Timeline

1945
Germany surrenders
U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; W.W. II ends
"The Lost Weekend," directed by Billy Wilder

1946
Nuremberg war trials begin
Churchill's Iron Curtain speech marks the beginning of the cold war
ENIAC, first fully electronic digital computer
"It's a Wonderful Life," directed by Frank Capra

1947
"A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams
Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers
Marshall Plan
Independence of India from the British Empire

1948
Harry S. Truman elected president
Gandhi assassinated in India
"Number One" by Jackson Pollock
Transistor invented
Columbia introduces first 33 1/3-rpm 12" record
"Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano" by John Cage

Check out the rest at the site for Norton's Anthology of Postmodern American Fiction. It also features sample syllabi and suggested reading lists.

From the introduction: "'Postmodern' authors. We selected specific authors (or texts) for inclusion because they had already been labeled 'postmodern' by a consensus of critics, scholars, and general readers too significant to ignore. These authors and texts include men and women like Donald Barthelme and Kathy Acker, novels such as Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, and short stories such as William Gass's 'In the Heart of the Heart of the Country.'"