MODERNISM

Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project, St. Louis, Missouri, 1954

MODERNISMMODERNISMMODERNISMMODERNISM

Modern[ism] died in

St. Louis, Missouri on July 15, 1972

at 3.32 pm…

Charles Jencks

The New Paradigm in Architecture: The Language of Post-Modernism

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Portland BuildingPortland, Oregon

Michael Graves (1982)

POSTMODERNISM and YOU!By Ryan Beitz

What is Postmodernism?

It must first be stated that the very term “Postmodernism” in itself is a

highly debated topic.

There exists much debate about whether the conditions described as

Postmodern are at all unique and new, or if said conditions even exist…

(UN/)FORTUNATELY…

For us, the very debate surrounding the term is evidence enough that as

educated people we must consider the ideas associated with the term.

And what’s more, the term has become an indispensable name for a

way of thinking about literature, which clearly concerns us.

So where do/did we start?

Architecture.

On the left we have Modernist architect Minoru Yamasaki’s 1954 Pruitt-Igoe housing projects in St. Louis. It is an example of Modernist style called:International Style.

On the right is a seminal instance of

Postmodern Architecture.

The Portland Building in Portland was

designed by Michael Graves and completed

in 1982.

We started here with architecture because contained within each of these two buildings is the respective ideologies of Modernism and Postmodernism.

The suggestion here is that Postmodernism comes after and out of Modernism. And as architect Charles Jencks suggested, the moment of transition from Modernism to Postmodernism happened July 15, 1972 at 3.32 pm with the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe.

Modernism vs. Postmodernism

Now the exact date here is somewhat irrelevant, as Jencks means more to make a firm point about the death of modernism in general than he has any concern for the exact time.

And we have chosen architecture as a launch point for 2 reasons: first, architecture provides a clear example of the visual aesthetics associated with each movement; and second…

…our first contrast was architecture because architecture is a concrete reflection of the cultural and economic conditions from which it arises.

So, then, we should begin to see that Postmodernism is not purely an aesthetic style, but something more. This something more includes cultural and economic conditions. More precisely, Postmodernism names a change in the cultural and economic conditions that help to constitute the western world.

But what are these changes? How does Postmodernism differ from Modernism?

Well if we recall our thinking about modernism in terms of our study of literature, we might find ourselves at a dead halt.

Literary Modernism and general Postmodern thought share a lot of the same presumptions. But we’ll come back to this.

Literary Modernism

However, if we (briefly) recall, cultural Modernism had its origin in Enlightenment thought. I.e. …

Cultural Modernism

Immanuel Kant1724-1804

G.W.F. Hegel1770-1831

Karl Marx1818-1883

Kant: thought science would usher in human progress by uniting experience and reason…

Hegel: thought history was driving toward utopia (History’s end) by way of a dialectical resolution of all conflict…

Marx: thought all industrial societies resolved conflict by moving through stages of economic systems, such that the end of history was the logical progression from capitalism to communism…

Enlightenment

Kant, Hegel, and Marx all shared a belief in the progress of human kind. That the world’s peoples were in constant motion toward a better future.

Each thinker shared the belief that Universal Reason was the means by which such progress would happen.

From Enlightenment to Modernism

Kant, Hegel, and Marx helped to lay the foundation for our “Modern” way of thinking.

As moderns, we ourselves believed that science and reason could show an objective truth that would free all of mankind from the irrationality of the past.

In modernity, the Industrial Revolution and Capitalism are the manifestations of this Universal Reason.

Modernism

So if science and capitalism are forms of universal truth that Modernism has employed in the name of progress, then what is Post-Modernism?

And further, if we still practice science and capitalism, then how have we moved beyond modernism?

Post-Modernism?

This now is the moment where we can start to get a sense of just what Postmodernism is.

Postmodernism is the name often attributed to the cultural changes that have occurred since Modernism took hold during the 19th century.

These changes can be understood in 3 registers:

Postmodernism.

1. Postmodernity: names the broad changes occurring in the cultural and economic conditions of the Western World since the 19th century.

2. Postmodernism: is the thought that attempts to account for, determine the origin of, and criticize these conditions.

3. Postmodern: can be seen as the name for the individuals living within these conditions, and so also name the art, literature, music, and other cultural activity that we Postmoderns engage in.

The 3 registers of Postmodernism

In understanding Postmodernism it is essential that we get a sense of just what Postmoderns think. The easiest way to do this is compare and contrast Modernism with Postmodernism.

So we’ll start with some terms common to each that oppose each other.

Postmodern Thought

-Progress-The West-Universal Truth-objectivity-Identity-Freedom-Hierarchy-Unity

-Change- Global-Relative Truth-Perspectivism-Difference-Choice-non-Hierarchical-Diversity

MO vs. POMO

What we see in our loose table here is a shift in thinking. Where the Modernists believed in Universal Truth and Reason as key to the progress of a unified human race, Postmoderns question the validity of the assumptions that the Modernist insistence on progress is based on.

Difference

The Postmoderns place a huge stock in the idea that language produces our reality. As a consequence of this, any attempt at universalizing thought is seen as totalitarian or hegemonic. Where the moderns use tools like science, math, symbolic logic, or some other language to communicate ideas and truths clearly, the Postmoderns feel that these truths are being constructed by the very language that structures the method of investigation.

Linguistic Difference

To simplify, Postmoderns believe that favoring any one way of thinking over another leads to the destruction of alternative ways of thinking about the world, thereby destroying diversity and the possibility of different ways of thinking.

After all, if science is the only truth, what good is literature?

What?

It might be helpful now to take a jaunt through some of the big names in Postmodern thinking. These thinkers range from philosophers and literary critics to economists, psychologists, and linguists.

And with each name, we’ll briefly try to gather how they think about the world. Feel free to peruse their ideas or just glance at their names…

Postmodern Thinkers

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844 – 1900, is a German philosopher considered by many to be the progenitor of Postmodern thought. He is famous for questioning the foundations of western rationality suggesting that the perspective from which one investigates reality shapes his or results. His essay “On Truth and Lies in the Extra-Moral Sense” is considered by many to be the manifesto of Postmodern thought.

Postmodern Thinkers: Foundations

Martin Heidegger, 1889-1976, a German philosopher whose book opus, Being and Time, is considered one of the most influential works of philosophy in history. Heidegger, like Nietzsche, questioned the foundations of Western thought, while providing an alternative way of thinking about humanity’s relation to the world. Heidegger is often considered the father of existentialism, though he rejected French existentialism on the grounds of its Humanism.

Postmodern Thinkers: Foundations

Jacques Lacan1901-1982

Pioneering French Psychoanalyst who

showed how culture and language construct

subjectivity

Jean-Francois Lyotard

1924-1981French philosopher

who wrote The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge

Michel Foucault

1926-1984French Sociologist

who analyzed history to show the way political power has been

wielded to construct truthJacques Derrida

1930-2004

French philosopher &literary critic who

showed how knowledge and

truth “deconstruct” themselves

through language

Postmodern Thinkers of the 60’s

Now that we know who some of the thinkers of Postmodernity are, we would do well to look at some example of Postmodern art.

And to aid in recognizing the change from Modern Art to the Postmodern, we’ll view the styles side by side (as like with Pruitt-Igoe and the Portland Building).

Postmodern Art

Modern Postmodern

In Painting…

< Guernica (1937)Picasso (Modern)

Girl with a Tear III (1977) Roy Lichtenstein (Postmodern)>

Modern PostmodernIn Sculpture…

Something PacificNam June Paik (1986)

(below)

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space Umberto Boccioni (1913)^

Modern PostmodernIn Architecture…

Piazza d'Italia in New OrleansCharles Moore (1978)

Seagram Building in New York Ludwig Mies van der Rohe & Phillip Johnson (1958)

Modern Postmodern

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky1882-1971

Russian Composer

In Classical Music…

Phillip Glass1937-(Alive)

American Composer

Modern Postmodern

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra1915-1998

American Singer

In Pop Music…

Devo1972-Present

American Punk/New Wave

Modern PostmodernIn Film…

The Searchers1956

John Ford

Blue Velvet1986

David Lynch

Literary Modernism and Postmodernism

Now finally, and as most relevant to our course of study, we should clarify the subtle, if existing, differences between modern and postmodern literature.

As we have seen in our studies of literary modernism so far there is the tendency to be highly self-reflective (Proust), to show the break down or dysfunction of social norms (Pirandello), as well as the fragmentation of narrative, questions of identity, the validity of universal truth, etc.

All these things sound very postmodern…

Literary Pomo

What should become (un/)clear is the relationship between literary modernism and postmodernism seems vexed. This is partly because the expression of postmodern thought finds a lot of its basis in the ideas of modern literature. That is Modernist literature has been a sort of trailblazer for cultural thinking, ahead of its time.

We can, however, sort out at least 3 distinct differences between literary modernism and postmodernism we should attempt to recognize.

3 Characteristics of Lit. Pomo

1. Lit. POMO recognizes diversity by attempting to give cultural others their own voice. In modern novel’s like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness non-westerner’s are merely described.

2. Reference and Allusion in Modernist lit. is high brow making references to high culture, like in James Joyce’s Ulysses which has Homer’s The Odyssey as its implied backdrop. Pomo lit. (and architecture esp.) makes references to pop culture, things low-brow, think the Simpsons.

3. Last, the fragmentation persistent in modernist lit. usually has some coherence about it, i.e. the fragmentation ultimately makes a point, has a narrative arch. Pomo lit. wields fragmentation with no coherence, no resolve, no purpose. The narrative arch is gone, no rise and fall. This places the burden of meaning on the reader, he or she must decide for him/herself what is meaningful, if anything at all.

So Modern PostmodernIn Literature…

Heart of Darkness1899Joseph Conrad

Mrs. Dalloway1925Virginia Woolf

Waiting for Godot1953

Samuel Beckett

Ulysses1922

James Joyce

Gravity’s Rainbow1973Thomas Pynchon

White Noise1985

Don DeLillo

Works CitedHabib, Rafey. "The Era of Poststructuralism (II):

Postmodernism, Modern Feminism, Gender Studies."Modern Literary Criticism and Theory: A History. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008. 113-145. Print.

Jencks, Charles. The New Paradigm in Architecture: The Language of Post-modern Architecture. 7th ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Print.

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