Help with definitions of postmodernism ?

[highway]

Hi dear friend,

I am looking for as much definitions as possible on the term "postmodernism"
for a study project...

Can anybody help me with this?

Thanks in advance...

reply to: 1404...@student.eur.nl

D.Highway

[Bede]

highway <140...@pc-lab.fbk.eur.nl> wrote in message
<6m95ss$1rk$1...@popeye.eur.nl>...

>Hi dear friend,
>
>I am looking for as much definitions as possible on the term
"postmodernism"
>for a study project...
>
>Can anybody help me with this?
>
>Thanks in advance...
>

I am sure that many people here would be only too willing to provide
explanations of what may or may not constitute postmodernism and the
postmodern, but it is a "slippery" concept to grasp with any degree of
finitude.

Is it an historical period, an architectural movement, a critical, artistic,
scientific and cultural response to modernism? Is it that which comes after
modernism, its repudiation, or an intensification of modernism? Perhaps all
of the above. Many people (and theorists) might argue that pomo represents a
period where "anything goes", but if this is the case, then you might also
like to consider the corollary of this position that "everything stays".

I suggest that you take a look at M.A. Abrahms "A Glossary of Literary
Terms" for some starting points in theorising the postmodern, as well as
Terry Eagleton's "Introduction to Literary Theory", both of which contain
elementary historical analyses. Donna Harraway, if memory serves me
correctly, suggests a series of alternate binary oppositions in "The
Biopolitics of Postmodern Bodies" (found in Simians, Cyborgs and Women)
which might be used to theorise some of the critical differences between the
projects of modernism and postmodernism. You also might find it useful to
take a look at Scott Bukatman's Terminal Identities: the virtual subject in
postmodern science fiction for his views on what constitutes postmodern.

However, IMHO it is not fruitful to attempt an understanding of one without
a sound knowledge of the other. My own understanding of both modernism and
postmodernism depends from a background in Textual Theory and Language and
Discourse Studies, so I have a particular perspective on how I accommodate
both concepts within my personal theoretical schema and current research
work.

Hope this helps...I stand ready with the fire extinguisher....

Bede.

>reply to: 1404...@student.eur.nl
>
>D.Highway
>
>