Postmodernism

Jean-Francois Lyotard:
The Postmodern would be that which in the
modern invokes the unpresentable in
presentation itself, that which refuses the
consolation of correct forms, refuses the
consensus of taste permitting a common
experience of nostalgia for the impossible,
and inquires into new presentations--not to
take pleasure in them, but to better produce
the feeling that there is something
unpresentable.

 Postmodernism presents a set of complex

philosophical and theoretical issues.
One way to begin thinking about postmodernism
is by thinking about modernism, the movement
from which postmodernism seems to grow or
emerge.
As you know, modernist literature tends to share
certain characteristics. From a literary
perspective, the main aspects of modernism
include*:
*

The following notes on modernism and modernity versus postmodernity are taken from Mary
Klages Page at http://www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html

Modernism:
an emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity
in writing; an emphasis on HOW perception
takes place, rather than on WHAT is perceived.
a movement away from the apparent objectivity
provided by omniscient third-person narrators,
fixed narrative points of view, and clear-cut
moral positions.
a blurring of distinctions between genres, so
that poetry seems more documentary and
prose seems more poetic.

Modernism, cont.:
an emphasis on fragmented forms, discontinuous
narratives, and random-seeming collages of different
materials.
a tendency toward reflexivity, or self-consciousness,
about the production of the work of art, so that each
piece calls attention to its own status as a production,
as something constructed and consumed in particular
ways.
a rejection of elaborate formal aesthetics in favor of
minimalist designs and a rejection, in large part, of
formal aesthetic theories, in favor of spontaneity and
discovery in creation.
A rejection of the distinction between "high" and "low"
or popular culture, both in choice of materials used to
produce art and in methods of displaying, distributing,
and consuming art.

 Postmodernism, like modernism, follows most of

these same ideas, rejecting boundaries between
high and low forms of art, rejecting rigid genre
distinctions, emphasizing pastiche, parody,
bricolage, irony, and playfulness.
Postmodern art (and thought) favors reflexivity
and self-consciousness, fragmentation and
discontinuity (especially in narrative structures),
ambiguity, simultaneity, and an emphasis on the
destructured, decentered, dehumanized subject.

 But--while postmodernism seems very much like

modernism in these ways, it differs from
modernism in its attitude toward a lot of these
trends.
Modernism, for example, tends to present a
fragmented view of human subjectivity and
history, but presents that fragmentation as
something tragic, something to be lamented and
mourned as a loss. Many modernist works try to
uphold the idea that works of art can provide the
unity, coherence, and meaning which has been
lost in most of modern life; art will do what other
human institutions fail to do.

 Postmodernism, by contrast, doesn't

lament the idea of fragmentation,
provisionality, or incoherence, but rather
celebrates that.

Modernity vs. Postmodernity

Following Frederic Jameson, there is
another way to conceive the relationship
between modernism and postmodernism,
and this is to recognize them as distinct
cultural formations.
Modernity is fundamentally about order:
about rationality and rationalization,
creating order out of chaos

Modernity vs. Postmodernity (cont.)

The ways that modern societies go about
creating order have to do with the effort to
achieve stability.
Lyotard equates that stability with the idea of
"totality," or a totalized system.
Totality, and stability, and order, Lyotard
argues, are maintained in modern societies
through the means of "grand narratives" or
"master narratives," which are stories a culture
tells itself about its practices and beliefs.

Modernity vs. Postmodernity (cont.)

Postmodernism then is the critique of grand
narratives, the awareness that such narratives
serve to mask the contradictions and
instabilities that are inherent in any social
organization or practice. In other words, every
attempt to create "order" always demands the
creation of an equal amount of "disorder," but a
"grand narrative" masks the constructedness of
these categories by explaining that "disorder"
really is chaotic and bad, and that "order" really
is rational and good.

Modernity vs. Postmodernity (cont.)

Postmodernism, in rejecting grand

narratives, favors "mini-narratives,"
stories that explain small practices, local
events, rather than large-scale universal
or global concepts. Postmodern "mininarratives" are always situational,
provisional, contingent, and temporary,
making no claim to universality, truth,
reason, or stability.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown*
Master Narratives and metanarratives of
history, culture and national identity as
accepted before WWII (American-European
myths of progress). Myths of cultural and
ethnic origin accepted as received.
Suspicion and rejection of Master Narratives
for history and culture; local narratives, ironic
deconstruction of master narratives: countermyths of origin.
*

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Faith in "Grand Theory" (totalizing
explanations in history, science and
culture) to represent all knowledge and
explain everything.
Rejection of totalizing theories; pursuit of
localizing and contingent theories.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Faith in, and myths of, social and cultural
unity, hierarchies of social-class and
ethnic/national values, seemingly clear
bases for unity.
Social and cultural pluralism, disunity,
unclear bases for social/national/ ethnic
unity.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Master narrative of progress through
science and technology.
Skepticism of idea of progress, antitechnology reactions, neo-Luddism; new
age religions.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Sense of unified, centered
self; "individualism," unified identity.
Sense of fragmentation and decentered
self; multiple, conflicting identities.
Hierarchy, order, centralized control.
Subverted order, loss of centralized
control, fragmentation.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Faith in "Depth" (meaning, value,
content, the signified) over "Surface"
(appearances, the superficial, the
signifier).
Attention to play of surfaces, images,
signifiers without concern for "Depth".
Relational and horizontal differences,
differentiations.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Crisis in representation and status of the
image after photography and mass
media.
Culture adapting to simulation, visual
media becoming undifferentiated
equivalent forms, simulation and realtime media substituting for the real.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Faith in the "real" beyond media, language,
symbols, and representations; authenticity of
"originals."
Hyper-reality, image saturation, simulacra
seem more powerful than the "real"; images
and texts with no prior "original". "As seen on
TV" and "as seen on MTV" are more powerful
than unmediated experience. Dichotomy of
high and low culture (official vs. popular
culture).

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Knowledge mastery, attempts to
embrace a totality. Quest for
interdisciplinary harmony. The
encyclopedia.
Navigation through information overload,
information management; fragmented,
partial knowledge; just-in-time
knowledge. The Web.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism:

A Breakdown (Cont.)
Seriousness of intention and purpose,
middle-class earnestness.
Play, irony, challenge to official
seriousness, subversion of earnestness.