Customer Reviews

Introducing Postmodernism

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love the Introducing series. They are excellent study guides for topics that may be unfamiliar. They are generally not to detailed but provide a good jumping off point for further research.

Introducing Postmodernism was a bit vague, but i guess so is postmodernism itself. To completely understand the book, you first must have an idea what postmodernism is, and if you have such an idea, you don't really need a postmodern study guide.

It gives alot of examples of postmodernity in society without actually stating what postmoderninsm is, but who CAN acctually state what postmodernism is?

It discusses everyone from Stephen Hawking to Madonna, everything from "Cyberia" and genetic cloning to Disneyland and karaoke.

It might give you some ideas if you have to write a paper, than again it just might frustrate you and cause you to spin off into cyberspace.

I really enjoyed the unique approach that this book took towards explaining post modernism in a straight forward non-academic manner. The book reads like Mad Magazine does Post Modernism. It is illustrated throughout and you know what...It's zany, fun, and delightful.. You would have to be a real sourpuss or maybe on of those three or four people who don't like Mad magazine, the Marx Brothers, or the Three Stooges not to enjoy it.

Many readers are put off by the very idea of serious works being reduced to a comic book format. I'm not. My experience with the Classic Comic Books of old was a good one and helped stimulate me into a more conventional direction later on. It should be admitted, however, that some serious topics are more suited to that format than others. In this case, the authors' section on postmodern art is well suited as it traces the evolution of visual styles over the preceding decades. There is much to learn here. But this asset, I'm afraid, is simply outweighed by the other two sections. These deal with topics that likely defy the most skillful of conversion attempts. Put briefly, rendering the postmodern theory of these two sections into skimpy simplifying text along with none-to-helpful graphics is almost like rendering quantum theory into a serious discussion between Ren & Stimpy. The material is simply too refractory. The authors' effort represents an honorable failure; and a task made no easier by the fact that the rhetoric of many of PoMo's leading exponents has itself been exposed as empty and inflated. (Sokal & Bricmont's, *Fashionable Nonsense*) Still, whatever its ultimate worth, I think PoMo is worth pursuing since it does capture the Zeitgeist of two key contemporary trends: consumerism and globalization. More text, however, is required by any effective introduction. So, at your own risk.

Introducing Postmodernism is a basic introduction to Postmodern thought. As it is a basic introduction, it does not go very far into depth on any one aspect of Postmodern thought. Still, it clearly represents the main aspects of Postmodernism namely, legitimization, reproducibility and hyper reality. Before reading this book I had no idea what Postmodernism was, now at least I have some idea. The book includes a useful list of books for further reading at the end. Also, you can read about some of the main thinkers in other totem books for example Introducing Derrida.

The most wonderful aspect of this book is that it works on two levels. The comic-styled illustrations make even the hardest of concepts a joy to follow. And yet, it provides enough hard-hitting facts about the development of modernism into postmodernism that even those with college degrees will enjoy it. This is a great start for those trying to understand the concepts of postmodernism and its effect on the world around us.

The artwork and text make this such a joy to read that I didn't want to put the book down until I had finished it. And like the very nature of postmodernism, it left me with enough thought-provoking ideas to want to question how I look at art or the world. It didn't try to pass itself off as the only authority on the matter, yet it did provide a great overview with research into the past that went beyond the standard notions of textbook history.

"A skepticism towards all meta-narratives" according to... Jacques Derrida, I think... This is about all the elaboration that is done on the subject of what post-modernism IS. With regards to what a meta-narrative is, it apparently refers to a fully general philosophical theory, concerning (e.g.) all knowledge-claims; all justificatory strategies; all moral values, rights, and obligations; all instances of injustice;
Apparently this 'theory' differs from nihilism, but if that is what defines it, I don't see how.
If you actually want to learn about post-modernism, this is not a book I could recommend; internet resources have been much more useful. The section on modern art history and the crisis of expression was interesting, as well as some other random factoids that apparently relate to post-modernism. On the whole though, I'd say this is a work totally devoid of substance, and and as I learn more I'm inclined to assign the same description to post-modernism itself. For a similar, comical, and much more scathing review, see the one below entitled "Trash" by 'a reader'.

Enjoyable, accessible, and hard to put down for anyone who is interested in the development of the humanities in the 20th century. Unlike most books on the subject, this book recognizes the depth and often contradictory and confusing notions of what exactly it means to use the word "postmodern." I would say it's essential for those interested in philosophy, art, social theory, etc. And it's funny, entertaining, and probably most importantly, unpretentious, all without sacrificing informative depth. A sigh of relief, and a breath of fresh air for anyone who wants a stimulating and light-hearted introductory study of postmodernism.

This book has a lot going for it, especially in this new 'compact' format with the Marilyn Monroe cover. It's nice to read a text when you can practically feel the enthusiasm of the creative team infuse every page, and this is clearly a labour of love. Nonetheless, it seems that the intoxicating enthusiasm that the author and artist have for their subject has meant that they have attempted far too much- this not only covers the history of Post-Modernism, but semiotics, structuralism, post-structuralism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis, to name but a few areas. In doing so, this book tends to homogenise a vast array of thinkers: I'm a bit uncomfortable with the labeling of Foucault as post-modern (although I recognise I am in the minority) as his themes of the body, biopolitics, the history of sexuality, and surveillance seem to be a different catalogue of themes from meta-narratives, simulacrum, reproduction, and double-coding. This is not to say that Post-Structuralism and Post-Modernism are not linked, but I would rather have spent more time in this book with the Frankfurt School, Jameson, Habermas, Lyotard, Baudrillard and Bauman and really teased out more of their academic projects. For those completely new to the subject, many seem to prefer Teach Yourself Postmodernism (TY Philosophy). For those mystified by Lacan, Kristeva, the structuralists, the post-structuralists, and so forth, I would recommend Terry Eagleton's astonishingly good Literary Theory: An Introduction. In this particular series of books, I preferred Critical Theory: A Graphic Guide, although the art is not as good: for those new to the field, these books are so cheap that it might be worth your time buying both. As it stands, this is an enjoyable -if slightly impenetrable- graphic guide that perhaps is better 'dipped into' than read cover-to-cover. If you're at University and doing a class that touches on these difficult thinkers then you could do a lot worse than this as an introduction to an often tricky subject.

The positioning of the female voice as a flighty flibbertigibbet who has to be continually shushed by the male voice irritated me.

Ironic because the breaking down of authoritarian, controlling structures is very much intrinsic to postmodern discourse.

Let me first note that this review isn't for the print book but rather for the 2-hour audio presentation, which is a very different animal. Instead of just narrating the book, the presentation uses actors playing characters, sound effects, music samples, and interviews. In other words, the presentation format is itself postmodern, which I imagine was quite intentional. For the most part, this unusual approach works, though a significant negative is that some of the actor's accents were so strong that I had a hard time understanding them.

The presentation starts with postmodern art, which I think was a mistake, since both art and postmodernism are each seperately plenty amorphous, so trying to combine them makes it doubly hard to clarify what postmodernism is. As a result, my evaluation of this presentation had dropped to 3 stars at the half-hour mark, and was flirting with 2 stars by the one-hour mark. But things started to improve after that, as much of the fog cleared during the second hour, so I was able to (barely) give 4 stars by the time I reached the end. However, 1 star is a bonus for the creative presentation, leaving only 3 stars if one were to judge this presentation based solely on clarity in introducing postmodernism.

Personally, my sense is that the hallmark of postmodernism is a foundationless and dynamic pluralism in ways of knowing, ideas and worldviews, and forms of expression (artistic or otherwise - or maybe everything is artistic?). This is why it's so hard to pin down what postmodernism "is." The whole point is that postmodernism is the name for a situation in which there's no single prevailing worldview (or "meta-narrative"), rather than being a worldview itself.

Some positive aspects of this situation are that we have diverse and ever-changing menus to choose from, we can express individuality by mixing ingredients with more freedom, and we generally open new vistas for creativity and enriching experiences in all spheres of life (arts, humanities, science, theology, etc.). This might even enable genuine progress in some arenas (eg, science, technology, and social organization), which is somewhat ironic since many consider the idea of progress to be contrary to the ethos of postmodernism.

But some negative aspects are that building consensus can be very difficult (even with respect to basic values and standards), we may be too quick to disregard worthy traditions and important lessons from the past, and groundlessness and instability can be fragmenting and disorienting, potentially to the extent that we run the risk of altogether losing our grip on reality. In that regard, to those hyperintellectuals who assert that the virtual and real are blurred together, let me just bluntly point out the significant difference between virtual death (eg, in a video game) versus real death (eg, losing a loved one). Let's please remember that inability to firmly pin down reality doesn't mean there is no (objective) reality.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I've given this presentation 4 stars, so I suppose I can recommend it, but keep in mind that clearer introductions to postmodernism are available, so this presentation might not be the best place to start.