Introduction to Postmodernism

Introduction to Postmodernism
SOUND BORING?

Evolution of Western Thought
as Timeline Evolution of Western Thought Modern Theocentric Humanistic Postmodern TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Timeline Your Place in History 14th C Modern Modernism Postmodernism You are here TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Timeline Your Place in History 14th C Modern Modernism Postmodernism Your teachers may have been here You are here TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Frederick Jameson Modernism and postmodernism are cultural formations that accompany specific stages of capitalism 1. Market capitalism: 18th-19th C. Steam locomotive Realism 2. Monopoly capitalism: Late 19th C to WWII Electricity and automobile Modernism 3. Multinational/consumer capitalism Nuclear and electronics Postmodernism

Timeline Modernity RENAISSANCE TO ABOUT 1900 (+/- 30 years) Baudrillard: Early modernity: Renaissance to Industrial Revolution Modernity: Industrial Revolution Postmodernity: Period of mass media The world according to white Anglo-Saxon males from Europe TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Newtonian Order Modernity: Humanism Reason and progress. There is a center to the universe. Progress is based upon knowledge, and man is capable of discerning objective absolute truths in science and the arts. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Newtonian Order Modernity: Humanism Modernism is linked to capitalism—progressive economic administration of world Modernization of 3rd world countries (imposition of modern Western values) TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Acceptance of a New Age What is Modernism? The world according to White Anglo-Saxon males, based upon the mythology of Western Europe, rooted in the Judeo-Christian religion and Greek-Roman philosophy. Western man is superior. Progress, reason and science are the highest manifestations of humanity. Western man was put on earth to modernize the world (e.g., Manifest Density, Columbus). The rest of the world consists of barbarians, and “orientals,” “others.” THAT IS THE MODERNIST VIEW OF THE WORLD LESS REALISM AND NATURALISTIC INTERPRETATION EMPHASIS ON THE SUBCONSCIOUSNESS EXPERIMENTATION IN AESTHETICS HOW DOES POSMODERNISM DIFFER? Not opposite to--an extension of BULLETS POSTMODERNISM

Humanist View of Language
What Is Language? Humanist View of Language as People are the same everywhere. There are universal laws and truths. Knowledge is objective, independent of culture, gender, etc. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

What Is Language? Humanist View of Language as There is a real world out there that we can understand with our minds. Language can depict reality. Language refers to real things / truths. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

What Is Language? Humanist View of Language as I am the center of existence. I, the self, determine meaning. I speak language. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Death of the Old Order Modernism Early 1900s: World War I Worldwide poverty & exploitation PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Death of the Old Order Modernism Early 1900s: World War I Worldwide poverty & exploitation Intellectual upheaval: Freud: psychoanalysis Marx: class struggle Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Nietzsche Picasso, Stravinsky, Kafka, Proust, Brecht, Joyce, Eliot PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Relativism E=mc2 Einstein: relativity, quantum mechanics
The Bending of Time & Space Relativism Einstein: relativity, quantum mechanics Refutation of Newtonian science Time is relative Matter and energy are one Light as both particle and wave Observer effects observation The universe is strange E=mc2 PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Breaking the Rules Modernist Art Cubism Surrealism Dadaism Expressionism PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Questioning of Reason Modernist Art Cubism Surrealism Dadaism Expressionism PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Breaking the Rules Modernist Art Cubism Surrealism Dadaism Expressionism PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

A World with No Center Modernist Literature “Things fall apart, The centre cannot hold, Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” --Yeats, “The Second Coming” PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Breaking the Rules Modernist Literature Emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity Movement away from “objective” third-party narration Tendency toward reflexivity and self- consciousness Obsession with the psychology of self Rejection of traditional aesthetic theories Experimentation with language PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Acceptance of a New Age What is Postmodernism? A term applied to all human sciences — anthropology, psychology, architecture, history, etc. Continuation of modernist view Anti-foundational Does not mourn loss of history, self, religion, center Reaction to modernism; systematic skepticism POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism: Basic Concepts
The End of Master Narratives Postmodernism: Basic Concepts Life just is Rejection of all master narratives All “truths” are contingent cultural constructs Skepticism of progress POSTMODERNISM

The End of Master Narratives Postmodernism: Basic Concepts All versions of reality are SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS Concepts of good and evil Metaphors for God Language The self Gender EVERYTHING! POSTMODERNISM

Language As Social Construct Postmodernism: Basic Concepts Language is a social construct that “speaks” & identifies the subject. Knowledge is contingent, contextual and linked to POWER. Truth is pluralistic, dependent upon the frame of reference of the observer. POSTMODERNISM

Language As Social Construct Postmodernism: Basic Concepts Values are derived from ordinary social practices, which differ from culture to culture and change with time. Values are determined by manipulation and domination. All literature / texts are propaganda. POSTMODERNISM

Objectivist vs .Constructivist
Modernity Postmodern Master narratives Western = progress Family as central unit Authenticity of originals Mass consumption Local narratives; ironic deconstruction of master myths Western = colonization Alternate families Simulacra and hyper-reality Niches; small group identity POSTMODERNISM

Modernity Postmodern History as fact Distinct social classes Traditional religions High culture Seriousness of intention and purpose; middle class “earnestness” Written by the victors Unclear basis for social unity New Age, non-denominational Blurring of high and low Play, irony, challenge of official seriousness, subversion of earnestness POSTMODERNISM

Modernity Postmodern Chicago architecture Picasso “Birds and bees” Martha Stewart Nationalism Las Vegas, Los Angeles Andy Warhol Condoms in school “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” Globalism POSTMODERNISM

An Epochal Shift in Thinking
Postmodernism “The narrative is unravelled, the author is dead, the Enlightenment project is toast, and history is history.” “An epochal shift in the basic condition in being.” --Geoffrey Nunberg POSTMODERNISM

Liberal Humanism: View of Literature
Purpose of Literature Liberal Humanism: View of Literature The author is the origin of the text. Good literature is of timeless significance. The text will reveal constants, universal truths, about human nature, because human nature itself is constant and unchanging. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Purpose of Literature Liberal Humanism: View of Literature A literary work is "sincere," meaning it is honest, true to experience and human nature, and thus can speak the truth about the human condition. What is valuable in literature is that it shows us our true nature, and the true nature of society, without preaching What critics do is interpret the text (based largely on the words on the page) so that the reader can get more out of reading the text. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Postmodern Perspectives
Poststructuralism as Challenges the tidy order of structuralism The self and gender are social constructs No grand narratives All truths are local, cultural and contingent Pluralism versus foundationalism We live in a stream of unending discourses comprised of slippery signifiers without signifieds I am not what I think I am

Postmodern View of Language
The Observer is King Postmodern View of Language Observer is a participant/part of what is observed. Receiver of message is a component of the message. Information becomes information only when contextualized. POSTMODERNISM

Postmodern View of Language
The Observer is King Postmodern View of Language The individual (the subject) is a cultural construct. Consider role of own culture when examining others. All interpretation is conditioned by cultural perspective and mediated by symbols and practice. POSTMODERNISM

Postmodern View of Literature
The Observer is King Postmodern View of Literature There are no universal truths. All literature is propaganda (you have to consider the hidden agenda of the author). The author is dead. He/she is like a radio tower that merely picks up the signals of local cultures. The reader/viewer creates the artistic experience. There are no rules or established boundaries. Perfectly okay to mix high brow and low brow, and “beg, borrow and steal” (intertextuality). It’s only art—don’t take it so seriously. Okay to play with time and break the artificial barrier between the writer and reader, the filmmaker and audience. POSTMODERNISM

Postmodern Film & Literature
Play and Parody Postmodern Film & Literature Extreme freedom of form and expression Repudiation of boundaries of narration & genre Intrusive, self-reflexive author Parodies of meta-narratives Deliberate violation of standards of sense and decency (which are viewed as methods of social control) Integration of everyday experience, pop culture POSTMODERNISM

Postmodern Film & Literature
Fragmented Identities Postmodern Film & Literature Parody, play, black humor, pastiche Nonlinear, fragmented narratives Ambiguities and uncertainties Conspiracy and paranoia Ironic detachment Linguistic innovations Postcolonial, global-English literature POSTMODERNISM

Feminist Literary Theory
Madness, Holiness & Poetry Feminist Literary Theory Masculine symbolic order represses feminine semiotic order. Semiotic open to men and women writers. Semiotic is “creative”--marginal discourse of the avant garde. Raw material of signification from pre-Oedipal drives (linked to mother) Realm of the subversive forces of madness, holiness and poetry Creative, unrepressed energy POSTSTRUCTURALISM

I Am Woman Feminist Literary Theory Challenges Judeo-Christian icons of woman. Balancing act: live within Lacan’s symbolic order of patriarchal laws without losing uniqueness. Women can produce own symbols and language. Multiplicity of female expression. “To break the code, to shatter language, to find specific discourse closer to the body and emotions, to the unnamable repressed by the social contract.” Kristeva POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Queer Theory as Gender and sexuality not “essential” to identity.
Queer Ideas Queer Theory as Gender and sexuality not “essential” to identity. Socially constructed. Mutable and changeable. Self shaped by language, signs and signifiers. Self becomes a subject in language, with more multiplicity of meaning. Sex as (1) animal instinct and (2) socially constructed behavior shaped by ethics/morals. Western ideas of sexual identity come from science, religion, economics and politics and were constructed as binary oppositions. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Deconstructing Sex Queer Theory as Queer theory deconstructs all binary oppositions about human sexuality. Encourages the examination of the world from an alternative view. Allows for the inclusion of gender, sexuality, race and other areas of identity by noticing the distinctions between identities, communities, and cultures. Challenges heterosexism and homophobia, in addition to racism, misogyny and other oppressive discourses while celebrating diversity. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Postcolonialism As. Attempts to resurrect colonized cultures.
The Myth of the Orient Postcolonialism As. Attempts to resurrect colonized cultures. Deconstruct Western view of third-world nations as “otherness” Edward Said: “Orientalism” was an artificial word constructed by the West to talk about and the East (Typical binary opposition). Empire-building nations used literature as power. Ingrained Western myths & phallic logocentricism in colonized people. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Postcolonialism as Denied richness of diversity within cultures.
American Tragedies Postcolonialism as Denied richness of diversity within cultures. “Totalizations” or stereotypes are based upon nostalgic experiences of colonizers. Attempt to “rebuild a present” (since past is lost)--and come to grips with lack of identity. A weapon of resistance and subversion. Written in hybrid language. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

A Global Battle: THE OBJECTIVISTS vs. THE CONSTRUCTIVISTS
Battle of World Views Postmodernism A Global Battle: THE OBJECTIVISTS vs THE CONSTRUCTIVISTS POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism OBJECTIVISTS My Way
“When I said during my presidential bid that I would only bring Christians and Jews into the government, I hit a firestorm. How dare you maintain that those who believe in the Judeo- Christian values are better qualified to govern America than Hindus and Muslims?' My simple answer is, `Yes, they are.'” from Pat Robertson's "The New World Order" POSTMODERNISM

Metaphors Kill Postmodernism People were burned at the stake for believing there was more than one version of reality. POSTMODERNISM

God is Not Dead Postmodernism Our public schools have become a postmodern battleground. POSTMODERNISM

We Live in the Middle Postmodernism We all slip and slide between the objective and constructive views: (modern) (postmodern) 1. We live in a world of naïve realism. 2. But when we think about things, or have to explain our views, we become constructivists. POSTMODERNISM

God is Not Dead Postmodernism You can be a Christian (or Buddhist, or Hindu, etc.) in the postmodern world. But not a fundamentalist? POSTMODERNISM

Celebrating Diversity
Postmodernism THE HOPE OF POSTMODERNISTS: The deconstruction of foundational views will lead to a recognition and acceptance of a pluralistic worldview. Create a truly global civilization. POSTMODERNISM

Postmodernism is Globalism
THE IRONIC REALITY OF POSTMODERNISM: Consumerism and technology are the driving forces of globalization. Jameson was right: economics rule! But there remain fundamentalists who continue to resist the force. Others are nostalgic for the good old days of nationalism, family values, organized religion…and belief in universals. It’s only a theory! POSTMODERNISM

Modern or Postmodern? POSTMODERNISM

Modern or Postmodern? A gay Southern Baptist who practices Buddhist meditation and believes in the Big Bang theory. POSTMODERNISM

Modern or Postmodern? POSTMODERNISM

Literary Theory

Agenda LITERARY THEORY New Criticism Archetypal / myth criticism
Marxist / ideological Psychoanalytical Structuralism & semiotics Poststructuralism Deconstruction theory Cultural materialism Feminism Queer theory Postcolonialism

Why Study Literary Theory?
How does language work? How should we interpret a film or work of literature? Is the work an objective view of reality, or the “biased” view of the author? Are there hidden meanings? Is there “one” meaning, or is meaning dependent upon the “positions” of the author and reader?

Three Perspectives Literary Theory THE AUTHOR

Three Perspectives Literary Theory THE AUTHOR THE TEXT

Three Perspectives Literary Theory THE AUTHOR THE TEXT THE READER

Celebrating Diversity
Literary Theory Different constructs of reality “Lenses” through which we see the world ? POSTMODERNISM

Ancient History Aristotle ( B.C.) as POETICS: Mimetic Theory (learn through example & representation) History represents the particular Poetry represents the universal Complete and unified action, beginning middle and end, short memorable stories Good plot: reversal of fortune Anagnorsis: recognition of an unknown truth Tragic mimesis: Great characters that evoke pity and fear Comedy: Flawed characters

Purpose of Literature Liberal Humanism: View of Literature The author is the origin of the text. Good literature is of timeless significance. The text will reveal constants, universal truths, about human nature, because human nature itself is constant and unchanging. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

Purpose of Literature Liberal Humanism: View of Literature A literary work is "sincere," meaning it is honest, true to experience and human nature, and thus can speak the truth about the human condition. What is valuable in literature is that it shows us our true nature, and the true nature of society, without preaching What critics do is interpret the text (based largely on the words on the page) so that the reader can get more out of reading the text. TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING

The Sanctity of the Text
New Criticism as The meaning is within the text “Scientific,” objective way of analyzing literature A work of literature has an organic structure View literature as a valid form of knowledge and as a communicator of truths inaccessible via scientific and other discourse Author’s intentions are irrelevant TEXTUAL THEORY

Hidden Structures Structuralism Hidden universal forces governing human behavior: Saussure, Levi Strauss, Freud, Marx, Search for underlying hidden structures Science: grand unifying theory Psychology Sociology Anthropology: universal archetypes Language & linguistics PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Ferdinand de Sausurre (1857-1913)
Structural Linguistics Ferdinand de Sausurre ( ) as Course in General Linguistics (1916) General structures by which language, myths and literatures work. Language is a system of signs. STRUCTURALISM

Ferdinand de Sausurre (1857-1913)
Structural Linguistics Ferdinand de Sausurre ( ) as REALITY SIGNIFIED (Meaning) SIGNIFIER > < SIGNIFER > (Sound or written word) STRUCTURALISM

Binary Oppositions Ferdinand de Sausurre SIGNIFICATION—relationship between signifier and signified BINARY OPPOSITIONS The “difference” in the relationships between signifiers that create “value” MAN WOMAN SOUL BODY REASON EMOTION CITY JUNGLE STRUCTURALISM

Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-)
The Savage Mind Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-) as French anthropologist Took Saussure’s theories about language and applied them to the study of myth and culture Refused to see Western civilization as unique Savage mind = civilized mind STRUCTURALISM

Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-)
The Savage Mind Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-) as 30 years studying North and South American Indians Man obeys laws that are inherent in the brain Myths are not made by an individual—but by the collective human consciousness STRUCTURALISM

The Grammar of Myth Claude Levi-Strauss Every culture organizes knowledge into binary pairs Different myths are all variations on a number of very basic themes A kind of grammar for narratives inherent in the human mind STRUCTURALISM

Claude Levi-Strauss LANGUAGE predates the individual
The Same Old Stories Claude Levi-Strauss LANGUAGE predates the individual REALITY is a product of language Jonah and Christ are the same story Thus all myths are timeless STRUCTURALISM

Language Creates Us Structuralism Language and culture produce subjects (the “I” is decentered). Language “produces” reality. We can only think through language. Binary oppositions signal the values within the structure system of a language. STRUCTURALISM

Structuralism Structuralism decentralizes the individual.
Language Creates Us Structuralism Structuralism decentralizes the individual. Meaning is not a private experience. Product of certain shared systems of signification. STRUCTURALISM

Myths & Archetypes Archetypal Criticism as NORTHROP FRYE, Anatomy of Criticism (1957) Literature formed an objective system that could be analyzed “scientifically” Laws = archetypes, myths, genres are basic structures (universal patterns) Four narrative categories: Comic Spring Romantic Summer Tragic Autumn Ironic Winter PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

The Universal Conscious
Archetypal Criticism as NORTHROP FRYE, Anatomy of Criticism (1957) All these patterns spring from the COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS to reveal universal archetypes Myth Hero is superior Romance Superior in degree Tragedy and epic Superior in degree but not to others Comedy and realism Equal to rest of us Satire and irony Inferior STRUCTURALISM

Archetypal Criticism NORTHROP FRYE, Anatomy of Criticism (1957)
Archetypal Genres Archetypal Criticism NORTHROP FRYE, Anatomy of Criticism (1957) Tragedy About human isolation Comedy Human integration Three recurrent patterns of symbolism: Apocalyptic Demonic Analogical STRUCTURALISM

Myth as the Ultimate Truth
Archetypal Criticism JOSEPH CAMPBELL ( ) Ten Commandments for Reading Mythology 1 Read myths with the eyes of wonder: the myths transparent to their universal meaning, their meaning transparent to its mysterious source. 2 Read myths in the first person plural: the Gods and Goddesses of ancient mythology still live within you. STRUCTURALISM

Myth as the Ultimate Truth
Archetypal Criticism JOSEPH CAMPBELL ( ) 8 Know your tribe! Myths never arise in a vacuum; they are the connective tissue of the social body which enjoys synergistic relations with dreams (private myths) and rituals (the enactment of myth). 10 Read between the lines! Literalism kills; Imagination quickens. STRUCTURALISM

IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM
Class Struggle Karl Marx ( ) as Communist Manifesto Saw capitalism as a driving force of history Predicted that it would conquer the world Lead to globalization of national economies and cultures Would divide world between “haves” and “have-nots” Class struggle Advocated abolition of private property, traditional marriage, concentration of political power in the hands of the proletariat IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM

Power to the People Karl Marx ( ) FAILED TO SEE: Capitalism’s ability to gain proletarian support by gradually enfranchising them Social contracts that overcome shortcomings Welfare, Social Security Growth of an economically “content” middle class Socialism created oppressive, authoritarian states Working class did not share in wealth Class vs. class too simplistic Multiple subclasses (women, environmentalists, etc.) IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM IDEOLOGICAL

Silent Ideologies Karl Marx ( ) APPLICATION TO LITERARY THEORY: “Hermeneutics of suspicion” Focus on what the text hides (ideology is silent) Hegemony: “A pervasive system of assumptions, meanings and values…that shapes the way things look, what they mean, and what reality is for the majority of people within a given culture” (Antonio Gramsci) How characters are shaped and controlled by economics IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM IDEOLOGICAL

Text as Power Karl Marx ( ) Questions a Marxist literary critic would ask: Who was the text written for? Is it a “power play” on the part of one class to dominate another? What is the underlying ideology? Does the main character affirm or resist bourgeoise values? Whose story gets told? Who is left out? In what way are characters or groups of people “commodified”? IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM IDEOLOGICAL

PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM
Repressed Truths Sigmund Freud ( ) as KEY CONCEPTS: Id, Superego, Ego Resolution of Oedipus complex > the Self Repression Dreams: displacement and condensation (metaphor and metonomy) Neurosis and psychosis Transference PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Suspicious Texts Sigmund Freud ( ) as The “text” represses its real content. Patterns of language beneath the surface that betray repressions, obsessions, neuroses, etc. Dreams and imagery (especially sexual) PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Suspicious Texts Sigmund Freud ( ) as Reader functions as psychiatrist, listening for verbal play in which the “patients” are saying more than they realize. Author: Text reveals “secret life” and psychological struggles of the writer. Characters: Look for psychological motives PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Postmodern Perspectives
Poststructuralism as Challenges the tidy order of structuralism The self and gender are social constructs No grand narratives All truths are local, cultural and contingent Pluralism versus foundationalism We live in a stream of unending discourses comprised of slippery signifiers without signifieds I am not what I think I am

Language Is Us Jacques Lacan ( ) as French psychologist May 1968: Student and worker protests at Sorbonne University re Vietnam War and policies of conservative French government Offered new way of thinking about individual and society Ideas that overcame limitations of existentialism and Freudian psychology Built upon structuralism (language) PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Language Is Us Jacques Lacan ( ) as Freud The ego is real and autonomous Oedipus complex real and biological Little attention to man as a social being Lacan The ego is an illusory social construct Oedipus complex a metaphorical explanation of mother > symbolic Consciousness is structured by language and society Significance of language PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Language Is Us Jacques Lacan ( ) as Language (and thus culture) constructs our sense of self . Our unconscious is just not inside us. It is formed by language which is outside us. Language, our parents, the unconscious, the symbolic order represent the OTHER. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

We Want Our Mothers Jacques Lacan ( ) as IMAGINARY PHASE: One with mother (Pre-Oedipal) MIRROR STAGE: We recognize a separate being in mirror, feel “lack” for mother; recognition of OTHER but not SELF SYMBOLIC (Oedipal crisis): Understand symbols; Father rules; we learn language; unconscious is formed; emergence of desire. REAL: Understand our place in the physical world; conscious of our perennial “lack”; real lies beyond language; accept we can never know it. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

The Unconscious As Other PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM
Jacques Lacan ( ) as Humans continue to look for an imaginary wholeness and unity. Ego is a function of a subject that is always dispersed, never identical with itself, strung out along a chain of discourses. I stands for the ever-elusive subject which will always slip through the nets of any particular language. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Jacques Lacan ( ) as Ego is a moment in time in the discourse of language. The unconscious is outside us. It exists between us and others. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Jacques Lacan ( ) as There is no separation between self and society. Society inhabits the individual. Our “selves” are socially constructed. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Jacques Lacan ( ) as We constantly negate our identities. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Jacques Lacan (1901-81) as I am the quest for myself.
The Unconscious As Other Jacques Lacan ( ) as I am the quest for myself. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Jacques Lacan ( ) as We have a perpetual lack of wholeness. PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Jacques Lacan ( ) as By implication, he is saying: No universal truths The signifiers of a language do not point to universal signifieds, but other signifiers Our identities are socially constructed An author is just another socially constructed self that “picks up signals” from the symbolic order and relays them Psychological/philosophical foundation to poststructuralism and postmodernism PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Rejection of Essentialism
Poststructuralism as POSTMODERN LITERARY THEORY Not a unified school: A group of theoretical positions Self-reflexive discourse that is “aware of the tentativeness, slipperiness, ambiguities and complex interrelations between texts and meanings.” (Lye) Rejects: Totalizing view All phenomenon under one concept Essentialist concept Reality independent of language Foundationalism Stable signifying systems rooted in human thought POSTMODERNISM

Poststructuralism (Summary)
All Truths Are Cultural Poststructuralism (Summary) as HUMANISM The individual is sacred. The mind as the realm of meaning. Universal laws and essences. Inherent universal meanings that precede the text. POSTSTRUCTURALISM The “subject” is a cultural construct. Mind created from interactions as situated symbolic beings. Truth is “local”; language creates reality. Meaning is intertextual, determined by social discourse; changes with history. POSTMODERNISM

A Rose is Not a Cow Poststructuralism as Must consider psychological, cultural, ideological, gender and other “power positions” of author, characters, intended readers. Words are an endless chain of signifiers, pointing to nothing but themselves. < SIGNIFIERS > < SIGNIFIERS > < SIGNIFIERS > POSTMODERNISM

The Author Is Dead Roland Barthes ( ) as Transition between structuralism and poststructuralism Semiologist One of first to analyze mass media and consumerism as manipulators of reality “The author is dead.” The text is a “multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash.” PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

The Reader As “Writer” Roland Barthes ( ) as The reader “produces” a text on his or her own terms, forging meanings from “what has already been read, seen, done, lived.” OK to view literature from many perspectives: existential, psychoanalytical, Marxist, etc. Sees less distinction between literary and non- literary texts. PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Down with Descartes Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Deconstruction is a theory of reading which aims to undermine the logic of opposition within texts. Skeptical postmodernist Attacks fundamental principles of Western philosophy Influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger Attacks from a structuralist foundation Agrees that meaning is not inherent in signs Strongly disagrees with bifurcation of structuralism POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as STRUCTURALISM is inherently flawed:
The Dangers of Dualism Jaques Derrida (1930-) as STRUCTURALISM is inherently flawed: Argues that all STRUCTURES have an implied center. All systems have binary oppositions. One part more important than another (good/evil, male/female). Reinforces humanist idea that speaker/subject more important. Reinforces real self as the origin of what is being said. This is logocentricism—basic to all Western thought since Plato. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as BASIC THEMES
Language is Slippery Jaques Derrida (1930-) as BASIC THEMES By deconstructing, basic units of logic are shown how they contradict themselves. Sees all writing as a complex, historical cultural process rooted in the relations of texts to each other and in the institutions and conventions of writing. Language operates in subtle and often contradictory ways. Certainty will always elude us. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as THE SELF AS FICTION
Viv Le Difference Jaques Derrida (1930-) as THE SELF AS FICTION “Our self-presence is a fiction, we are in a constant state of differing and deferrence. As our center is not really a center, our self-presence is a fiction we create to disguise the play of opposition and displacement within which we live.” POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as BASIS OF DECONSTRUCTION
What’s the Difference? Jaques Derrida (1930-) as BASIS OF DECONSTRUCTION Focuses on difference (from essay “differance”) All signs have difference Open up a space from that which they represent They defer—open up a temporal chain, or participate in temporality; meaning always delayed POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as BASIS OF DECONSTRUCTION
What’s the Difference? Jaques Derrida (1930-) as BASIS OF DECONSTRUCTION Every sign repeats the creation of time and space Difference is ultimate phenomenon in universe—which enables and results from being Difference is at the heart of existence, not essence POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as LANGUAGE & MEANING
What’s Black Is White Jaques Derrida (1930-) as LANGUAGE & MEANING A meaning is always temporal and part of a network of meanings, part of a chain of meanings in a chain or system to which it belongs which is always changing. What a sign differs from becomes an absent part of its presence (TRACE). Opposites already united. They depend upon each other for meaning. They are the alternating imprint of one another. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as INTERTEXTUALITY:
Ecriture Jaques Derrida (1930-) as INTERTEXTUALITY: All texts refer to other texts (just as signs refer to other signs). No interpretations are final. The authority of any text is provisional. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Signifier Signifier Signifier
No Final Signified Jaques Derrida (1930-) as STRUCTURALISM Signified Signifier DECONSTRUCTION Signified Signifier Signifier Signifier POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Man can find truth in nature.
Under Erasure Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Man can find truth in nature. : The decision to read a signifier or a text as if its meaning were clear, with the understanding that this is only a strategy POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY
Richness of Language Jaques Derrida (1930-) FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY Meaning circulates by difference, by being other. It is creative and inventive. Affirms multiplicity, paradoxes, richness of our life . Frees ourselves from tyrannies of univocal readings. Opposes humanism, which puts man at the center. One can talk about ideas and work with views that man is at the center only by placing them “under erasure.” Closer to reality, less artificial POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Destruction is Good Jaques Derrida (1930-) as "If anything is destroyed in a deconstructive reading, it is not the text, but the claim to unequivocal domination of one mode of signifying over another A deconstructive reading is a reading which analyses the specificity of a text's critical difference from itself." POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) as DECONSTRUCTIVE INTERPRETATION:
The Unsaid Truth Jaques Derrida (1930-) as DECONSTRUCTIVE INTERPRETATION: Find binary opposition and implied center. Refute claims. Find contradictions, self-imposed logic that is faulty. Focus on what text is saying is other than what it appears to be saying. Look for gaps, margins, figures, echoes, digressions, discontinuities. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Male Domination Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Exclusions and repressions as important as what is said—in fact are more central: they point to the contingency of a central part. What is not said provides clues to author’s real views of power. Male Western authorities have encoded within their work silence about women and others (rationalized exploitation of others without knowing it). POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Rousseau’s Nobel Savage
Deconstructing Rousseau Rousseau’s Nobel Savage as BINARY OPPOSITIONS Nature / culture Health / disease Purity / contamination Simplicity / complexity Good / evil Speech / writing ASSUMED CENTER Nature is good WHAT HE IS REALLY SAYING Theme of lost innocence Naïve romantic illusion Western guilt over colonization POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Fuzzy Reality Jaques Derrida (1930-) as Some literature that recognizes the highly mediated nature of our experience, and are playful, ironic, explicitly intertextual and deconstruct themselves may be closer to reality. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jaques Derrida (1930-) Nietzsche influence:
Language as Metaphor Jaques Derrida (1930-) Nietzsche influence: Language is radically metaphorical in nature Every idea originates through an equating of the unequal Metaphors are essentially groundless All assumptions must be questioned Must consider vast plurality of “wills to power” POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Michel Foucault (1926-84) Views language in the framework of power
Language is Power Michel Foucault ( ) Views language in the framework of power Denies Marxist concept of class oppression Denies all grand schemes Power is found only in discourse All social relations are relations of power Everyone oppresses others through discourse Everything we say, think, read is regulated by the world in which we live POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Prisoners of Discourse
Michel Foucault ( ) Metaphor: Panopticon (19th English prison design: people feel they are being watched at all time) Surveillance, regulation and discipline All-knowing God Freud’s superego (monitor of desires) Big Brother (files, computer monitoring) Power becomes system of surveillance which is interiorized Social engineering and psychological manipulation POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Prisoners of Discourse
Michel Foucault ( ) Society disciplines populations by sanctioning the knowledge claims of various micro- ideologies--education, medicine, criminology Anti-Marxist: Does not believe in any total single theory State and class power overrated The “subject” is the locus of multiple, dispersed and decentered discourses Anti-humanist POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Michel Foucault (1926-84) APPLICATION TO LITERATURE:
Silent Censorship Michel Foucault ( ) APPLICATION TO LITERATURE: We are never totally free to say anything we want: Some have privileged right to speak (experts) Rituals, doctrines and traditions What is the source of the discourse? What are the regulating institutions or ideologies? How are discourses controlled, selected, organized and redistributed? POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998)
Modernity is Dead Jean-Francois Lyotard ( ) Collapse of grand narratives: “The supreme fictions we tell ourselves about ourselves.” Classless society (Marxism) Freedom of humanity Total unity of knowledge Democracy through capitalism POSTSTRUCTURALISM

It’s All Over, Karl Jean-Francois Lyotard ( ) The end of the Enlightenment project POSTSTRUCTURALISM

It’s All About Me Jean-Francois Lyotard ( ) Art removed from life (neither sacral or courtly) Individualistic fragmented society is here to stay No one can grasp all that is going on Capitalism created hedonism, narcissism, lack of social identity POSTSTRUCTURALISM

The Battle for Bytes Jean-Francois Lyotard ( ) Computerized knowledge has become the principle force of production From the “building of minds” to the acquiring of knowledge as a product that can be bought and sold Knowledge as a commodity that nations will fight over Multinational corporations breaking down sovereignty of nations POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Small is Beautiful Jean-Francois Lyotard ( ) Big stories are bad Little stories are good POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Fragmentation of Truth Jean-Francois Lyotard ( ) APPLICATION TO LITERATURE: Beware of grand narratives “Truth” is in fragmentation, montage, mini-narratives Avant-garde, non-organic art ‘the historic norm” (Adorno) “The only possible authentic expression of alienation in late capitalistic society.” View discourses as language games (none are privileged) People (characters) are “nodes” where pluralistic lines of discourse intersect POSTSTRUCTURALISM

You Are What You Consume
Jean Baudrillard (1929-) Cultural materialist Consumer objects = signs that differentiate the population Our postmodern is no longer real. It is a simulation of the real. Mass media & consumerism have created a new myth of reality that we accept as real We live in a state of hyperreality McLuhan: The medium is the message POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Jean Baudrillard (1929-) America is a spectacle.
The Myth of America Jean Baudrillard (1929-) America is a spectacle. An illusionary paradise. TV is the world. Advertising gives consumers illusion of freedom. “All is well” is the party line. Illusion perpetuated by media & culture. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

The Second Sex Feminist Literary Theory SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR ( ) The Second Sex Questioned the “othering” of women by Western philosophy. Rediscovery of forgotten women’s literature. Revolutionary advocacy of sexual politics. Questioning of underlying phallocentric, Western, rational ideologies. Pluralism: gender, sexual, cultural, ethnicity, postcolonial perspectives. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Gender As a Social Construct Feminist Literary Theory Exorcise the male mind. Deconstructs logocentricism of male discourse. Sees gender as a cultural construct. So are stereotypes Focus on unique problems of feminism: History and themes of women literature Female language Psycho-dynamics of female creativity POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Feminizing Freud Feminist Literary Theory JULIA KRISTEVA (1941-) Psychologist, linguist & novelist Influenced by Barthes, Freud & Lacan “Dismantles all ideologies,” including feminism Does not consider herself a feminist Disagrees with “patriarchal” views of Freud and Lacan. Maternal body source of language and “laws” (not paternal anti-Oedipal drive). POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Madness, Holiness & Poetry Feminist Literary Theory Masculine symbolic order represses feminine semiotic order. Semiotic open to men and women writers. Semiotic is “creative”--marginal discourse of the avant garde. Raw material of signification from pre-Oedipal drives (linked to mother) Realm of the subversive forces of madness, holiness and poetry Creative, unrepressed energy POSTSTRUCTURALISM

I Am Woman Feminist Literary Theory Challenges Judeo-Christian icons of woman. Balancing act: live within Lacan’s symbolic order of patriarchal laws without losing uniqueness. Women can produce own symbols and language. Multiplicity of female expression. “To break the code, to shatter language, to find specific discourse closer to the body and emotions, to the unnamable repressed by the social contract.” Kristeva POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Binary Equals Feminist Literary Theory as ALICE JARDINE, Gynesis (1982) Woman as a binary opposition Man/woman Rational/irrational Good/evil Implied male logocentricism The concept of jouissance POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Helene Cixcous as Critic, novelist, playwright
The Joy of Jouissance Helene Cixcous as Critic, novelist, playwright Picks up where Lacan leaves off Denounces patriarchal binary oppositions. Women enter into the Symbolic Order differently. Deconstructs patriarchal Greek myths . Femininity (jouissance) unrepresentable in phallocentric scheme of things. Favors a “bisexual” view. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Deconstructing Sigmund
Helene Cixcous as Women are closer to the Imaginary. Women more fluid, less fixed. The individual woman must write herself. Feminine literature: not objective; erase differences between order and chaos, text and speech; inherently deconstructive. Admires Joyce and Poe. Men can produce feminist literature. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Deconstructing Sigmund
Luce Irigaray as Expose patriarchal foundations of Western philosophy & psychology. Women are more than defective men. Western culture, identity, logic and rationality are all symbolically male. Mother-daughter relationship has been unsymbolized. Language as elusive, shifting, undogmatic. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Queer Theory as Gender and sexuality not “essential” to identity.
Queer Ideas Queer Theory as Gender and sexuality not “essential” to identity. Socially constructed. Mutable and changeable. Self shaped by language, signs and signifiers. Self becomes a subject in language, with more multiplicity of meaning. Sex as (1) animal instinct and (2) socially constructed behavior shaped by ethics/morals. Western ideas of sexual identity come from science, religion, economics and politics and were constructed as binary oppositions. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Deconstructing Sex Queer Theory as Queer theory deconstructs all binary oppositions about human sexuality. Encourages the examination of the world from an alternative view. Allows for the inclusion of gender, sexuality, race and other areas of identity by noticing the distinctions between identities, communities, and cultures. Challenges heterosexism and homophobia, in addition to racism, misogyny and other oppressive discourses while celebrating diversity. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

A Political Challenge Queer Literature as Queer activism seeks to break down traditional ideas of normal and deviant, by showing the queer is what is thought of as normal, and the normal is queer. Queer theory reconstructs knowing and understanding by challenging tradition. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Coming Out Queer Literature as Unmasks signs of homosexuality in “old” literature. Reveals how cultures construct negative identities of homosexuals. A political form of academics (change views) Views sexuality as a complex array of social codes and forces, individual activity and institutional power. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Postcolonialism As. Attempts to resurrect colonized cultures.
The Myth of the Orient Postcolonialism As. Attempts to resurrect colonized cultures. Deconstruct Western view of third-world nations as “otherness” Edward Said: “Orientalism” was an artificial word constructed by the West to talk about and the East (Typical binary opposition). Empire-building nations used literature as power. Ingrained Western myths & phallic logocentricism in colonized people. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Postcolonialism as Denied richness of diversity within cultures.
American Tragedies Postcolonialism as Denied richness of diversity within cultures. “Totalizations” or stereotypes are based upon nostalgic experiences of colonizers. Attempt to “rebuild a present” (since past is lost)--and come to grips with lack of identity. A weapon of resistance and subversion. Written in hybrid language. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Now What? So? The white Western male view of the world is dead, along with the Enlightenment project. There are no universal narratives, truths or systems. All truths are local and contingent. The Hegelian view of history as progress is a myth. The self, gender, identity, et al, are social constructs. We now have a new set of “lenses” to view the world. We understand the importance of being suspicious (literature is not necessarily sincere). POSTSTRUCTURALISM

So? All systematic thought and authorities are suspect.
Now What? So? All systematic thought and authorities are suspect. Discourse is power. Poststructuralism attacks “authority” by subverting the structure of language. Strong political undertones of pluralism: Feminism Postcolonialism Gay rights Globalism POSTSTRUCTURALISM

So? Literary theory: New set of “lenses” to view the world
Now What? So? Literary theory: New set of “lenses” to view the world Different “takes” on the truth POSTSTRUCTURALISM

The Dangers of Postmodernism
Proceed with Caution The Dangers of Postmodernism Can lead to intellectual nihilism & cynicism. From the comfortable foundation of humanism to absolute relativism and pluralism Whose lens is “correct”? Who says so? Is humanism really all that bad? It’s all theory. How do we use theory? Apply all to all texts? Glib, hip intellectualism. POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Proceed with Caution Where do we go from here? Has the progress of history come to a dead-end? (as Foucault and Lyotard suggest) Have we reached the point of self-defeating moral relativism? Jameson: We need narratives, and some sort of history We need to re-endow the individual History, literature have important functions Sarup: We need to keep the Enlightenment project alive POSTSTRUCTURALISM

“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” Adrienne Rich
as Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen, Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. They do not fear the men beneath the tree; They pace in sleek chivalric certainty. Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool Find even the ivory needle hard to pull. The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand. When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by. The tigers in the panel that she made Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid. POSTPOSTMODERNISM?

Introduction to Postmodernism

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