How to Understand Postmodernism

Understand the difference between Modernism and Postmodernism. Modernism began with the Enlightenment and is defined by individualism and hails the triumph of science and rational thought over tradition and superstition.

Understand that postmodern theory is dependent on the idea that physicists were unable to come up with the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) in the 1970s that was proposed as a possible theory to explain everything. Stephen Hawking hopes for the discovery of this theorem.

Understand that postmodern theory has been useful in explaining the "cultural logic of late capitalism."

Understand that postmodernism rejects the idea of the autonomous individual and objectivity in favor of the anarchic collective and subjectivity. There is no one theory or perspective that defines everything; there are many sets of ideas (particularly about what is beautiful), all of which are equally valid.

Understand that postmodernism celebrates the self-reflexive. A postmodern artist not only puts forth ideas, he or she recognizes and attempts to understand how gender, class, sexual orientation and race influence those ideas.

Understand that postmodern art is characterized generally by collage or pastiche. Prefabricated patterns put together in a new and different way characterize this school.

Understand that postmodern literature is characterized by a playing with the convention of forms, the recognition of the inevitable loss of origin in the age of mass production, the rejection of plot and character as meaningful artistic conventions and the rejection of meaning itself as delusory.

Know that, inherently, postmodernism is contradictory and defies definition.

Read the leading theorists: Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Nancy Scheper-Hughes.