Modernism/Postmodernism
By Peter Brooker
April 1992
Pearson Education / Longman
ISBN: 0582063574
280 pages
$57.50 Paper original
The concepts of 'Modernism' and 'Postmodernism' constitute the single most dominant issue of twentieth-century literature and culture and are the cause of much debate. In this influential volume, Peter Brooker presents some of the key viewpoints from a variety of major critics and sets these additionally alongside challenging arguments from Third World, Black and Feminist perspectives.
His excellent Introduction and detailed headnotes for each section and essay provide an indispensable guide to interpreting the many different opinions, and prove to be valuable contributions in their own right.Contents
General Editors' Preface
Acknowledgements
Editor's Preface
Introduction: Reconstruction.
Part One:
Modernist positions
1. George Lukaacs, from ". Bertolt Brecht from 'The Popular and the Reaslistic.'
2. Walter Benjamin, from 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.'
3. Theodor Adorno 'Letter to Walter Benjamin.'
4. Peter Burger,'Avant-Gaarde and Engagement.'
Repositioning Modernism
5. Marshall Berman, 'The 20th Century: the Halo and the Highway.'
6. Raymond Williams, 'The Metropolis and the Emergence of Modernism.'
7. Jean Radford, from 'Coming to Terms: Dorothy Richardson, Modernism and Women.'
8. Houston A Baker, from "Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance."
9. Laleen Jayamanne, Geeta Kapur and Yvonne Rainer, from 'Discussing Modernity', Third World and "The Man who Envied Women."
Part Two:
Postmodern Narratives
10. Jurgen Habermas, 'Modernity - and Incomplete Project.'
11. Jean-Francois Lyotard, 'Answering the Question: What is Postmodernism?'
12. Jean Baudrillard, from 'Simulacra and Simulations.'
13. Frederic Jameson, 'Postmodernism and Consumer Society.'
Popular Capitalism and Popular Culture:
14. David Harvey, from 'The Constitution of Postmodernity'. An Enquiry into the Origins of Social Change.
15. Ian Chambers, Contanimation, Coincidence and Collusion, Pop Music, Urban and the Avant-Garde.
A Feminist Postmodernism?
16. Julia Kristeva, 'Postmodernism?'
17. Laura Kipnis, from Feminism: the Political Conscience of Postmodernism?'
Black Culture and Postmodernism:
18. Cornel West from 'An Interview with Cornell West Anders Stephanson.'
Post Modernist Fiction:
19. Umberto Eco, 'Postmodernism, Irony, the Enjoyable.'
20. Linda Hutcheon, 'Telling Stories: Fiction and History.'
21. Carlos Fuentes, 'Words Apart.'
Notes on Authors
Further Reading
IndexReview
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"Brooker's anthology is a balanced compendium of edited texts...the anthology could easily form the set reading for a fairly inclusive and careful 'overview course' on the various components of the 'problematic' of postmodernism."
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