Product Description

Postmodernism has been a buzzword in contemporary society for the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this Very Short Introduction Christopher Butler challenges and explores the key ideas of postmodernists, and their engagement with theory, literature, the visual arts, film, architecture, and music. He treats artists, intellectuals, critics, and social scientists 'as if they were all members of a loosely constituted and quarrelsome political party' - a party which includes such members as Cindy Sherman, Salman Rushdie, Jacques Derrida, Walter Abish, and Richard Rorty - creating a vastly entertaining framework in which to unravel the mysteries of the 'postmodern condition', from the politicizing of museum culture to the cult of the politically correct.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9991 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

About the Author
Christopher Butler is Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, and is the author of many books, including Early Modernism (OUP, 1994).

Customer Reviews

Not an exposition but a critique
Though this is accessible, it is much more useful as an introductory account of Butler's own views (incidentally, highly critical of "postmodernism") than of so-called postmodern thought itself. It might be more advisable, then, to read a more sympathetic introduction (say Catherine Belsey's excellent "Poststructuralism" in the same series) before moving on to the more hostile views of Butler, Eagleton, et al.

Postmodernism for beginners (but, aren't we all...)
Postmodernism is a tricky thing to define. According to Christopher Butler, 'it is certain of its uncertainty', and he intentionally writes 'about postmodern artists, intellectual gurus, academic critics, philosophers, and social scientists...as if they were all members of a loosely constituted and quarrelsome political party.' Butler draws on the work of Derrida, Jameson, Barthes, Althusser and Foucault to provide an intellectual basis for the idea of postmodernism, but does not confine his study to critical and literary theory. The idea of postmodernism is one that has spread into politics and other social sciences, art and the humanities, and even the hard sciences in many ways.

Because postmodernism is more of a method or discourse than a set theory (at least so far as typical Anglo-American concepts of theory would have it), Butler worries that some of postmodernism is lost in translation - owing so much to the French intellectual foundation, and owing much to nuance and subtle readings, the translation of postmodern ideas has been slow to be exactly transferred. This is also in part due to the resistance of English and English-speaking intellectual constructs to permit some of the linguistic aspects of postmodernism in any easy way.

One of the key issues of postmodernism is the idea of grand narratives and metanarratives, and changing the way one uses text, language and symbolic items to interpret the world. This is where deconstruction and reconstruction come into play. Butler addresses these issues in terms of philosophy, history, art and expression, as well as ethical and political theory. He claims that the ideas of postmodernism tend to be more successful in the ethical and political realm, dealing with issues of identity, selfhood, difference and autonomy, all of which tend to be linguistically constructed and supported.

Butler quotes Jameson as seeing the postmodern as 'the disappearance of a sense of history', in culture and in philosophy. The question of Pontius Pilate, 'What is truth?' gets played out again and again in postmodern circles in ways the early Romans and Christians would never have thought. Butler worries for the postmodern condition, stating 'Postmodernists are by and large pessimists.' He says that postmodern thinkers are better at deconstruction than construction/reconstruction, and worries that much of what postmodernism inspires is bleak and dark.

Some reviewers of this text have noted a bias against postmodernism in Butler, which is probably a bit misplaced. Butler is biased against some of the outcomes of postmodernist thinking, and goes a bit further in this Very Short Introduction that perhaps is best in describing what might be the outcome of the logical extreme. Still, this is a very good introduction to the underlying principles of postmodernist thought, with some of the applications in various disciplines of the underlying framework.

A little negative frankly
Postmodernism belongs to that select section of terminology that leaves many critics feeling rather sick. And often with just cause. The definition of postmodernism changes noticeably depending on what area one uses it in. i.e either literature, sociology, architecture etc.
I do pity anyone who takes on the task of writing a book on the subject. I do believe however that one should refrain from such a negative outlook when writing a review as this book claims to be. It did leave me wondering whether a group of pro-postmodernist critics had commited some horrible molestation of Mr Butler or perhaps his mother.
The book therefore became more about Mr Butler's opinions rather than about the subject. Rein it in a bit please, else no one will learn anything.