Postmodernism An Overview

Modernity God, reason and progress Reason is the ultimate judge of what is true, and therefore of what is right, and what is good (what is legal and what is ethical). There was a center to the universe. Progress is based upon knowledge, and man is capable of discerning objective absolute truths in science and the arts. Science thus stands as the paradigm for any and all socially useful forms of knowledge. Science is neutral and objective Modernism is linked to capitalism—progressive economic administration of world Modernization of 3rd world countries (imposition of modern Western values) Newtonian Order TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Language & Truth People are the same everywhere. There is a stable, coherent, knowable self. This self is conscious, rational, autonomous, and universal. There are universal laws and truths Knowledge is objective, independent of culture, gender, etc. The knowledge produced by science is "truth," and is eternal. In a world governed by reason, the true will always be the same as the good and the right (and the beautiful); there can be no conflict between what is true and what is right (etc.). Language is a man-made tool that refers to real things / truths I, the subject, speak language I have a discernible self The self is the center of existence What Is Language? TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Enlightenment/Modernity Modernity is fundamentally about order: about rationality and rationalization, creating order out of chaos. The assumption is that creating more rationality is conducive to creating more order, and that the more ordered a society is, the better it will function (the more rationally it will function). Thus modern societies rely on continually establishing a binary opposition between "order" and "disorder," so that they can assert the superiority of "order." In western culture, then, disorder becomes "the other"—defined in relation to other binary oppositions. Thus anything non-white, non- male, non-heterosexual, non-hygienic, non-rational, (etc.) becomes part of "disorder," and has to be eliminated from the ordered, rational modern society.

Modernism Early 1900s: World War I Worldwide poverty & exploitation Intellectual upheaval: Freud: psychoanalysis Marx: class struggle Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Neitzsche Picasso, Stravinsky, Kafka, Proust, Brecht, Joyce, Eliot Death of the Old Order PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Relativism Einstein: relativity, quantum mechanics Refutation of Newtonian science Time is relative Matter and energy are one Light as both particle and wave Universe is strange The Bending of Time & Space PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM E=mc2

Modernist Art Cubism Surrealism Dadaism Expressionism Breaking the Rules PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

“Things fall apart, The centre cannot hold, Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” W.B. Yeats “The Second Coming” Scientific, artistic and intellectual upheaval Beginning of mass consumption and mass media Horrors of war Depression

Modernist Literature Emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity Fragmentation and discontinuity part of the new modern experience. Movement away from “objective” third-party narration. Psychological realism and stream of consciousness. Obsession with the psychology of self Rejection of traditional aesthetic theories Experimentation with language, form. Mixing high and low forms (popular culture). Breaking the Rules PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Enlightenment/Modernity Modernism 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, in contrast, doesn't lament the idea of fragmentation or incoherence, but rather celebrates it.

Fragmentation *Early modernity: Renaissance to Industrial Revolution * Modernity:Industrial Revolution * Postmodernity:Period of mass media

What is Postmodernism? The Enlightenment project is dead. Acceptance of a New Age POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism: Basic Concepts Life just is Rejection of all master narratives All “truths” are contingent cultural constructs Skepticism of progress; anti-technology bias Sense of fragmentation and decentered self Multiple conflicting identities Mass-mediated reality The End of Master Narratives POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism: Basic Concepts All versions of reality are SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS Concepts of good and evil Metaphors for God Language The self Gender EVERYTHING! The End of Master Narratives POSTMODERNISM

Post-Modernism Skepticism toward any representation of reality that claimed to be universal or objective Focus on the “construction of reality” through language and symbol Emphasis on the local and particular rather than the universal In the arts, a tendency toward parody, pastiche, and an eclectic mixture of styles

PostModern Literature Extreme freedom of form and expression Repudiation of boundaries of narration & genre Intrusive, self-reflexive author Parodies of meta-narratives Deliberate violation of standards of sense and decency (which are viewed as methods of social control) Integration of everyday experience, pop culture Play and Parody POSTMODERNISM

Extreme freedom of form and expression Repudiation of boundaries of narration & genre Intrusive, self-reflexive author

Pastiche Means to combine, or "paste" together, multiple elements Can be used in 2 slightly different ways a form of homage which is accomplished through imitation. medley of items which are imitative in origin. This concept can be found in other arts, not just literature, ranging from architecture to film Across the Universe

Black Humor Grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove is a terrifying comic treatment of the circumstances surrounding the dropping of an atom bomb

Ironic Detachment Strategy for concealing one's feelings by suggesting their opposite "Hipsters are the friends who sneer when you cop to liking Coldplay. They're the people who wear t-shirts silk-screened with quotes from movies you've never heard of.. Theysport cowboy hats and berets and think Kanye West stole their sunglasses. Everything about them is exactingly constructed to give off the vibe that they just don't care."— Time, July 2009 Parody movies: Best In ShowBest In Show

Conspiracy and Paranoia Perhaps demonstrated most famously and effectively in Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and the work of Thomas Pynchon, the sense of paranoia, the belief that there's an ordering system behind the chaos of the world is another recurring postmodern theme. For the postmodernist, no ordering system exists, so a search for order is fruitless and absurd. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon has many possible interpretations. This often coincides with the theme of technoculture and hyperreality. For example, in Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, the character Dwayne Hoover becomes violent when he's convinced that everyone else in the world is a robot and he is the only human.Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Non-linear Narratives A narrative technique where events are portrayed out of chronological order. It is often used to mimic the structure and recall of human memory but has been applied for other reasons as well. Christopher Nolan is a writer/director who favors non- linear narrative. Some examples are: Following (1998), Memento (2001), The Prestige (2006), and Inception (2010).Inception

Mettanarative A master story, to do with an archetypal plot referred to by "lesser" specifically situated narratives. Whenever a character starts to address its audience, it can be considered mettanarative.. Like in Saved By the Bell,Saved By the Bell Zack periodically calls “time out” and talks to the camera.

Top 10 Works of Postmodern Literature Postmodernism has become widely recognized as a movement consisting of an epic scope, innovative techniques and wide ranges of psychological and intellectual impact. We will now view a list of the top 10 Postmodernism books. (Choices have been decided upon by overall excellence rather than impact.)10 Postmodernism books

PostModern Literature Parody, play, black humor, pastiche Nonlinear, fragmented narratives Ambiguities and uncertainties Conspiracy and paranoia Ironic detachment Linguistic innovations Postcolonial, global-English literature Fragmented Identities POSTMODERNISM

ModernityPostModern History as fact Faith in social order Family as central unit Authenticity of originals Mass consumption Binary Oppositions POSTMODERNISM n Written by the victors n Cultural pluralism n Alternate families n Hyper-reality (MTV) n Niches; small group identity

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