# What IS Postmodernism anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613 "2002-11-25T06:47:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MusicJunkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MusicJunkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MusicJunkie)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/1 "2002-11-25T06:47:39Z")
I’m afraid i’ll sound awfully ignorant but that can’t be helped. Everywhere I look there is postmodernism. From postmodernist comedians to postmodern comic books. Just the other day I was shocked to find that one of my favorite writers is postmodern. (Haruki Murakami if you care.) I gather it’s a sistem of analysis based on culture. I hear irony is a great part of that. Okay, wich culture, what kind of irony and am I even right about those last two? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![alex\_arg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@alex\_arg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alex_arg)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/2 "2002-11-25T06:52:13Z")
Well all i know is that my highschool ethics book said that while modern teenagers looked for comunitarism (Just another brick in the wall…) postmodern teenagers look for individualism. ---
**Author:** ![quicken78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/919ad9/32.png) [@quicken78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quicken78)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/3 "2002-11-25T07:38:09Z")
what is art? ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/4 "2002-11-25T08:22:53Z")
This question has been answered already in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=17710) and this [one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27609). ---
**Author:** ![starman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@starman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/5 "2002-11-25T11:13:30Z")
A good example of postmodernist literature is ‘History of the World in 13 1/2 chapters’ by Julian Barnes. Does away with minor things such as plot, characters etc. Seems pretentious and rather pointless to me. one of the least enjoyable books I have read for a while. -Oli ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/6 "2002-11-25T12:57:55Z")
“its wierd for the sake of being wierd” - Moe Syzlak ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/7 "2002-11-25T14:32:56Z")
It’s been a long time since I took Derrida and Foucault. But here are the details I can remember. Postmodernism is largely founded on cultural and moral relativism. No one culture or moral code can have any claim to objectivity. Postmodernism is heavily wrapped up with deconstruction – which questions the assumptions behind things. A couple of popular assumption by professors who describe themselves as postmodern are that history is dead and literature has no meaning. There is also the assumption that everything is culturally constructed. That’s most of what I can say without bringing this into great debates. I’m not a fan of the philosophy at all. In my experience postmodernism encourages a cynical, morally relativistic point of view, and is responsible for a lot of bad literature. _shudders at the thought of reading Alain Robbe-Grillet’s work again_ ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/8 "2002-11-25T17:04:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamish \* > **In my experience postmodernism encourages a cynical, morally relativistic point of view, and is responsible for a lot of bad literature.** Oops, someone got a C in pomo lit. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/9 "2002-11-25T17:20:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamish \* > \*\* . There is also the assumption that everything is culturally constructed. > > \*\* But, of course, as Steven Pinker points out, culture, itself, is constructed by humans. It doesn’t descend upon us from outer space. We are born with the capacity to create and interpret culture. So, what does this do to that assertion? Maybe nothing, but the conversation intruiges me. Is that ironic? Not only that, but one of the apparent tenets of this brand of philosophy, or whatever it might be called, is an icky self-centeredness. Well, at least I’m not schizophrenic, are we? ---
**Author:** ![eponymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e0b2c6/32.png) [@eponymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eponymous)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/10 "2002-11-25T19:17:20Z")
I am by no means an expert on postmodernism, but I think a place to start would be in trying to understand the following (paraphrased) statement by Jean-Francois Lyotard (seen by many as a postmodernist, although I don’t think he necessarily considers himself one): “Postmodernism’s attitude is one of incredulity towards all metanarratives.” As a start, try these sites: [http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html](http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html) [http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc\_data/postmodern.html](http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/postmodern.html) [http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/436/pomo.htm](http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/436/pomo.htm) [http://www.users.voicenet.com/~grassie/Fldr.Articles/Postmodernism.html](http://www.users.voicenet.com/~grassie/Fldr.Articles/Postmodernism.html) Here’s also a list of book’s that I found useful: [Primer to Postmodernity](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1577180615/qid=1038251808/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-9823757-1259940) by Joseph Natoli [Introducing Postmodernism](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1840460563/qid=1038251362/sr=1-25/ref=sr_1_25/104-9823757-1259940?v=glance&s=books) by Richard Appignanesi, et al [Post-Modernism and the Social Sciences](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691023476/qid=1038251555/sr=1-73/ref=sr_1_73/104-9823757-1259940?v=glance&s=books) by Pauline Rosenau [Postmodernism, Or, The Logic of Late Capitalism](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0822310902/qid=1038251153/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/104-9823757-1259940) by Fredric Jameson ---
**Author:** ![eponymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e0b2c6/32.png) [@eponymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eponymous)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-postmodernism-anyway/138613/11 "2002-11-25T19:22:48Z")
Bah, Sorry, book links don’t work. Just do a Google search on the titles and authors and you should be given links to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and other book retailers.