post-modernism
Self-aware cultural movement
Post-modernism is a late 20th-century movement in art, architecture, literature, and philosophy that rejects the certainties and grand narratives of modernism.
Where modernism sought universal truths and progress, post-modernism embraces fragmentation, irony, and skepticism toward any single authoritative interpretation.
In architecture, it brought back ornamentation and historical references that modernism had stripped away.
In broader usage, post-modern often describes anything self-referential, ironic, or deliberately mixing high and low culture: The film's post-modern sensibility included jokes about its own genre conventions.
Also spelled postmodernism.
Imitative artistic tribute
- bricolageConstruction from available materials
- appropriationUnauthorized claiming or allocation
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- parodySatirical imitation
kitsch · camp · quotation · eclecticism · hybridity · juxtaposition · sampling · remix
Literature aware of itself
- unreliable narratorStoryteller whose credibility wavers
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- nonlinear narrativeStory defying chronological order
- intertextualityConnections between written works
self-referential · Pynchon · DeLillo · Barth · Borges · Eco · magical realism · pastiche
All-encompassing explanatory framework
- relativismContext-dependent truth doctrine
- simulacraInsubstantial likenesses or copies
- hyperrealityRepresentations supplanting the genuine
- BaudrillardPhilosopher of simulated reality
Foucault · grand narrative · incredulity · genealogy · contingency · epistemic humility · Jameson · late capitalism
Disposition toward doubt
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- destabilizingCausing loss of equilibrium
- subversionUndermining established authority
- decenteringShifting away from self-focus
problematizing · interrogating · demystification · hegemony · social construction · identity politics · otherness · marginality
Philosophy challenging textual certainty
- ornamentThing that beautifies
- historicismEra determines truth claims
- façadeFalse outward appearance
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
Grammatology's French author
- signifierMeaning-bearing form
- signifiedExpressed meaning symbolically
- traceMinute remnant or pursue
- presenceState of being somewhere
absence · dissemination · supplement · close reading · slippage · instability
pastiche
Imitative artistic tribute
- bricolageConstruction from available materials
- appropriationUnauthorized claiming or allocation
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
parody · kitsch · camp · quotation · eclecticism · hybridity · juxtaposition · sampling · remix · collage
metafiction
Literature aware of itself
- unreliable narratorStoryteller whose credibility wavers
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- nonlinear narrativeStory defying chronological order
intertextuality · self-referential · Pynchon · DeLillo · Barth · Borges · Eco · magical realism · pastiche · collage
metanarrative
All-encompassing explanatory framework
- relativismContext-dependent truth doctrine
- simulacraInsubstantial likenesses or copies
- hyperrealityRepresentations supplanting the genuine
Baudrillard · Foucault · grand narrative · incredulity · genealogy · contingency · epistemic humility · Jameson · late capitalism
skepticism
Disposition toward doubt
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- destabilizingCausing loss of equilibrium
- subversionUndermining established authority
decentering · problematizing · interrogating · demystification · hegemony · social construction · identity politics · otherness · marginality · multiculturalism
deconstructivism
Philosophy challenging textual certainty
- ornamentThing that beautifies
- historicismEra determines truth claims
- façadeFalse outward appearance
Derrida
Grammatology's French author
presence · absence · dissemination · supplement · close reading · slippage · instability
post-modernismmodernism
Favoring contemporary approaches
objectivism · rationalism · realism · positivism · universalism
post-modernismsincerity
Honest, unfeigned genuineness
earnestness · authenticity · naivety · traditionalism · literalism