Re: I: what is postmodernism? (fwd)

>Here's an attempt I made to define postmodernism once. Corrections and
>criticisms appreciated, should anyone here be so inclined.

>>This word is used in different though related ways in different
>>disciplines. It actually started off as a term that applied to an
>>architectural style.

WRONG. That's the myth. Or do you mean "widely applied"? An earlier
reference may be found in an essay by Leo Steinberg in _Other Criteria_ I
don't have the book here to be more exact. Someone else has traced earlier
uses of the postmodern(ism/ity)

>>One last point: we should not think of "postmodernism" as an exclusive
>>possession of the "left." The term (in the sense that we are discussing it
>>here) was first introduced by historians like Toynbee and sociologists like
>>Daniel Bell. They *describe* the postmodern condition, but *deplore* it.

Precisely my point above.

But largely on the whole, very good, very useful.




Partial thread listing: