Sunday, January 24, 2010
Postmodernism For This Beginner
I hope I am not alone when I say that I never fully caught on to the meaning of postmodernism, or what a postmodernist's ideals really are. I know we only skimmed the surface of the what postmodernism really is in class, but I did not always understand even the beginners' information. I found another person who felt the same way I do about postmodernism, and the book Postmodernism for Beginners on a postmodernism blog that I read. This blogger stated, "I am by no means going to pretend to understand Postmodernism. Nor will I pretend to understand the tenets of most of the individuals associated with Postmodern thought. But this book seems like a good summary. I respect the fact that it unashamedly attempts to plainly state ideas that generally scurry behind grammatical obfuscation." I agree with what this blogger stated. The book we read did try to explain postmodernism in simpler terms than many other books can describe. The Compact Oxford English Dictionary refers to postmodernism as "a style and concept in the arts characterized by distrust of theories and ideologies and by the drawing of attention to conventions." This is mostly how I understand postmodernism, especially the distrust of theories and ideologies part. What I think the central part of postmodernism is is the theory of narratives and the truth of lies. The part that appeals to me the most is the idea that religions are only narratives that people choose to believe in in order to have some meaning or direction in life. I don't completely understand what we learned about postmodernism, but from what I have been able to comprehend, the central part to me would be the idea of narratives and meta-narratives since they are rooted everywhere, in every culture throughout history. I hope I'm right >.
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Oh, WOW! You didn't understand the whole idea of it, but I thought you did. In class, most of your comments were pretty good and have an ideal about the topic. Well, you were the last person that I would think that didn't get it. Well I agree with what you said about the first 18 weeks of school in Lit. First of all, I still don't fully understand it to which it applies. But I do see why it works and what's it pointing out. So at least I have something, and hopefully you have the same thing too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree with the term from the dictionary. Postmodernism does do that but i think that's the right way. In AP Phys. Mr. Howerton talked about the growth in a language and its productivity. So I guess that Postmodernism is just the growth of our literature and that's good for it.
Well, nice job with your blog. :D
It seems like you understand postmodernism more than you give yourself credit for. Don't hesitate to say what you THINK it is because a postmodern thinker wouldn't argue that you were completely wrong. I also want to add that i like how you took up about 5 lines in a quote of someone elses blog lol! its ok i don't judge it was a good quote, i agree as well because i can't say i can explain it as well as jim powell or domiguez can either!
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