Modernism vs. Post-Modernism
David Joseph Regeczi
and post-modernism. From what I have been able to gather, post-modernism
is a reaction against the liberal assumption that we will one day find a
single history that everyone could agree on.
I don't think that this is quite an adequate definition and was wondering
if anyone had a wonderful example that they could give me to clear up the
differences. Thanks.
David Regeczi | Simon Fraser University - Burnaby, BC, Canada
=================| Undergrad : Dept. of History
dreg...@sfu.ca |-------------------------------------------------------
| A university can give you an education - but it can't
| give you brains. - Torgov
Dan Gannon
>Well, I am still trying to make myself clear on the concepts of modernism
>and post-modernism. From what I have been able to gather, post-modernism
>is a reaction against the liberal assumption that we will one day find a
>single history that everyone could agree on.
>I don't think that this is quite an adequate definition and was wondering
>if anyone had a wonderful example that they could give me to clear up the
>differences. Thanks.
Well, I am not a student of postmodernism, but I have some humor to add.
But first a serious statement: I am a fan of objectivism. It seems to me
that objectivism demolishes post-modernism.
Now for the humor. (Note, I did not write the following.)
-----
Pan Pizza VS. Postmodern Fiction and Criticism
PAN PIZZA POSTMODERN FICTION
AND CRITICISM
--------- ------------------
Traces its nearest Has its roots in France.
ancestors back to <snicker, snicker>
Chicago-style pizza. Chicago,
birthplace of jazz and home to
the Cubs.
Leaves one feeling warm and <snicker, snicker>
full and profoundly satisfied.
Eating pan pizza is a sensual, sexy There is nothing sexy about
experience. Especially when a thread postmodernism, unless you
of mozarella extends from the count the fact that Foucault
tip of the slice to your lower lip, kinda sorta looked like
stretches, stretches, then snaps back Patrick Stewart, only without
against your chin, leaving you and the deeply resonant,
your partner dissolved in giggles, both of car-selling, order-belaying
you recognizing the pizza's foreshadowing voice. Plus like, Foucault's
of the evening's later events. dead.
Baking Pan Pizza is an art, requiring Postmodern criticism requires
careful blending of cheeses, sauces, dough, little more than a facile
and toppings. use of the word
Plus, they bring it to your "problematic".
table in 5 minutes at lunchtime. And like,
it's real cheap even if you don't have a
coupon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
POSTMODERN FICTION PAN PIZZA
AND CRITICISM
------------------ ---------
Post-modernists are fond of That "4 bucks 4 bucks 4
pointing out that while Western bucks 4 bucks" girl in
metaphysics marginalizes the Pizza Hut commercials
masturbation, deconstruction stands gets me hard.
this phallocentric notion on
its head, if you will, and shows that
intercourse is simply another form
of masturbation.
Thus, post-modern criticism becomes
the highest form of sex, surpassing even
self-fellatio and the Mongolian
cluster fuck.
Few people really get the distinction Everyone likes pizza.
between 'differance' and 'difference.
Fewer still care.
Hobbes said, "The life of man in the state Everyone likes pizza.
of nature is nasty, ugly, brutish and short
So are many postmodern novels.
So, incidentally, is Bella Abzug
So are Blair's recent posts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
One last time then:
This is your brain:
sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex
sex sex sex sex sex sex you down with opp? yeah, you know mesex sex sex
sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex
sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex
what time is it sex sex sex sex sex sex I'm starved sex sex sex sex sex
This is your brain on the post-modern novel:
angst
huh?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
-----
(chuckle)
-Dan Gannon
--
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Edward James Kilsdonk
> Well, I am still trying to make myself clear on the concepts of modernism
> and post-modernism. From what I have been able to gather, post-modernism
> is a reaction against the liberal assumption that we will one day find a
> single history that everyone could agree on.
>
> I don't think that this is quite an adequate definition and was wondering
> if anyone had a wonderful example that they could give me to clear up the
> differences. Thanks.
This came up in one of my colloquia back in September. I can
share what we came to agree on. Most of this is from Jim
Gilbert, the cultural historian, although some of it is mine.
If others disagree or would like to add more then I would love
to learn more.
The post-modernism that is most common in history is a
reaction to modernism. Obvious yes, but what is modernism?
Modernism, to me, is a reaction to the progressive or whig
notion of increasing goodness. Instead of a continual progress
towards some higher goal, modernism tends to focus on the
structure and process. In history and in political thought,
modernism is generally considered to involve the tendency to
historicize things, to put them in context while searching for
or imposing a structure on the events. It can be liberating
because anything - not just the old standbys of war, election
and economics - can become the stuff of history. Structuralist
history was most popular in the late 1960's through the early
1980's.
Some examples: Thomas Kuhn's _Structure of Scientific Revolutions_
and particularly the various works that imposed his concept of
paradigm on historical events. Prominent among the Kuhnians
would be J.G.A. Pocock and the fans of the Republican synthesis
in American History. Neil Harris is also a modernist, and his
work is both a good example of the liberating power of
modernism and a very influential non-Kuhnian approach.
A note: When writing history, I would distinguish between
modernism as structuralism and modernization, the increasingly
anonymous, commercial and complex nature of industrial and
post-industrial society.
In art, modernism was paintings that were combinations of
colors and shapes but were not representations of things. In
social thought modernism was often essentialist. In music it
was structure and form, especially Shoenburg and the 12-tone
movement. I consider Phillip Glass a modernist composer.
Post-modernism, then, is simply taking this structuralist
tendency and placing it in context as well. Structure is
questionable, and is historical - and so there are a great many
structures which might be imposed on a historical era.
Modernism reduced reality to structure and self.
Post-modernism destroys the structure and is unsure about the
self. IMHO it is more useful to the historian as a source of
insight than as a complete analytical tool. Fox & Lears' recent
compilation _The Power of Culture_ contains post-modern history
by several of the Yale historians. I have not asked Ed Ayers
if he meant _The Promise of the New South_ to be post-modern,
but it certainly can be read that way.
I believe that Robert Novick's recent book has more on the
application of post-modernism to history. I have not read it
but understand it to be a bear to get through. Hope that at
least some of this is useful to you.
--
RedTed.
Internet: ej...@Virginia.EDU | History does not repeat itself,
BITNET: ejk4e@VIRGINIA | historians repeat each other.