Modern/Postmodern: Society, Philosophy, Literature

Description

Modern/Postmodern: Society, Philosophy, Literature offers new definitions of modernism and postmodernism by presenting an original theoretical system of thought that explains the differences between these two key movements. Taking a contrastive approach, Peter V. Zima identifies three key concepts in the relationship between modernism and postmodernism - ambiguity, ambivalence and indifference. Zima defines modernism and postmodernism as problematics, as opposed to aesthetics, stylistics or ideologies. Unlike modernism, which is grounded in an increasing ambivalence towards social norms and values, postmodernity is presented as an era of indifference, i.e. of interchangeable norms, values and perspectives. Taking an historical, interdisciplinary and intercultural approach that engages with Anglo-American and European debates, the book describes the transition from late modernist ambivalence to postmodern indifference in the contexts of philosophy, literature and sociology. This is the ideal guide to the relationship between modernism and postmodernism for students and scholars throughout the humanities.

Peter V. Zima is Professor of General and Comparative Literature and Director of the Institute of General and Comparative Literature at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria.

"Peter V. Zima's Modern/Postmodern presents a valuable synthesis and overview of the debates surrounding the postmodern in the fields of philosophy, social theory, the arts, and history. Systematically making distinctions between the modern and the postmodern, Zima provides a comprehensive analysis of existing debates and his own original contributions in a book rich with insight." - Douglas Kellner, University of California, Los Angeles, USA, author of Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Postmodernism and Beyond and co-author with Steven Best of The Postmodern Adventure.