Postmodernism emerged after World War II as a reaction against modernism, which upheld the potentially restorative and integrating power of literature. Postmodernists do not attempt to correct or remedy the chaos and cacophony of language, but rather they imitate and often celebrate it. Many postmodernists, for example Samuel beckett and Peter handke, emphasize the alienation of the individual in the modern social environment and seem highly aware of the domineering presence of technology—computers, telephones, faxes, weapons of mass destruction—in daily life. Although the intellectual beginnings of postmodernism are often identified with the French school of structuralist criticism, the aesthetic ideas of postmodern writers and artists can be found in contemporary works around the globe.
Postmodernist works often combine elements of diverse genres, such as television, cartoons, and music, that have a potential appeal to popular culture, and they often challenge the ideological assumptions of contemporary society. Opposing the notions of mimetic representation, postmodernists agree that language has its own singular reality.
The postmodern movement is identified with its own critical theories, namely deconstruction and cultural criticism. Cultural criticism questions the notions of “high” and “low” cultures and tends to treat all works of art, from comic books to statues, as equally legitimate cultural expressions. Deconstruction (often referred to as poststruc-turalism), the postmodern movement primarily based on the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930- ), questions the notion of a single, unified meaning in a literary work. Through an act of close reading, the deconstructionists attempt to show that texts are self-contradictory and lack a single, unified center.
The postmodern movement is by no means limited to the arts. Our notions about the relationship between ideology and power underwent dramatic change based on the work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-84). Julia Kristeva (1941- ), a psychoanalytic gender critic, changed our notions of femininity and its relationship to arts. Psychology also experienced dramatic changes, primarily in the field of psychoanalysis. Jacques Lacan (1901-81) refined Sig-mund freud’s ideas about the relationship of language, gender, and psyche.
In certain ways, postmodern thinkers demonstrate that the line between science and arts is not as self-demarcating as some would like it to be. Many postmodern scientists question the notion of a single, unified reality. The artificial intelligence expert Marvin Minsky (1927- ) insists that computers can think. Chaos theory, developed by the chemist Ilya Prigogine (1917- ), disrupts our concept of a unified universe. Currently, many postmodern thinkers are examining the role of computers and hypertext in our understanding of epistemology. These ideas closely relate to our changing understanding about the structure of language and discourse.
Postmodernism has influenced virtually every genre of literature, theater, and film. Even of greater significance, postmodernism has confronted our epistemological conceptions about language, image, and signs.
Works about Postmodernism
Appignanesi, Chris. Introducing Postmodernism. New York: Totem Books, 2001.
Docherty, Thomas, ed. Postmodernism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Eagleton, Terry. The Illusions of Postmodernism. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
Grenz, Stanley. A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996.
Heartney, Eleanor. Postmodernism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
