Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late CapitalismIn his most wide-ranging and accessible work, Frederic Jameson argues that postmodernism is the cultural response to the latest systemic change in world capitalism. He seeks here to crystallize a definition of a term which has taken on so many meanings that it has virtually lost all historical significance. He presents an extensive discussion on the cultural landscape - both ‘high' and ‘low' - of postmodernity, evaluating the political fortunes of the new term and surveying postmodern developments in a range of different fields - from market ideology to architecture, from painting and instalment art to contemporary punk film, from video art and high literature to deconstruction. Finally, Jameson revaluates the concept of postmodernism in light of postmodern critiques of totalization and historical narratives - from the notion of decadence to the dynamics of small groups, from religious fundamentalism to hi-tech science fiction - while touching on the nature of contemporary cultural critique and the possibilities of cognitive mapping in the present multinational world system. This provocative book will be fundamental to all future discussions of postmodernism. |
Contents
The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism | 1 |
Theories of the Postmodern | 55 |
Surrealism Without the Unconscious | 67 |
Copyright | |
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abstract Adorno aesthetic allegory already architecture become bourgeois called characterized classical Claude Simon cognitive mapping concept contemporary critique cultural deconstruction DeMan dialectical discourse distinct economic emergence example existential experience fiction film formal Frank Gehry function fundamental Gehry global grasped high modernism high-modernist historical Historicism human ideology individual interpretation kind language late capitalism least linguistic literary logic longer Marx Marxism material metaphor mode of production modernist Nam June Paik namely narrative nature notion nouveau roman novel object older particular period philosophical photographic political position possibility postmodern postmodern architecture postmodernist problem question radical reading reality reification relationship representation Rousseau Sartre seems semiotic sense situation social society somehow space spatial specific stage structure temporal textual thematic theoretical theory thing thought tion totality traditional transformation turn Utopian virtually whole word