Originally Posted by
Tiay
aw vash! you could help me with my essay then :|
Knee surgery?
well I hope all goes well.
To understand postmodernism, you need to understand the narratives Western societies told themselves about the meaning of life *before* this era (God is all-knowing, all powerful; our lives have a sense of purpose, blah blah blah), and how it came to be that those narratives quit working. It is rather hard to define, but entirely transformed the way the western world looks at reality, taking a more subjective (rather than objective) view towards pretty much everything. Freud played a role by introducing modern psychology, Darwin's theory of evolution played another. Some people also consider Karl Marx to have been instrumental for his position that people operate solely for selfish reasons. The works of these three men tore apart the nice story Western society (a white, Christian, patriarchal society) had been telling itself, causing generations after WWI/WWII to question the meaning of life. There no longer exists a single narrative that is uniformly embraced. With regards to the effect this movement had on literature, you will find that stories began to be told from alternative points of view - rather than stories being focused on a white male perspective (for example) you will get stories told from the position of black Africans (Things Fall Apart) or women, or other "minority" points of view. I am not as knowledgeable about the effect on the art world, but I would imagine this explains in part the genius of Picasso and the like. I hope that helps.
Gribble - funny story, and I thank you because I needed the laugh badly.
Question: Does anyone but Tiay and myself find Postmodernism interesting?
Last edited by vashti; 04-03-07 at 07:37 AM.
Relax... I'll need some information first. Just the basic facts - can you show me where it hurts?