John wrote:
"Never thought I'd be writing a defence of post-modernism,
but I think it's important to distinguish between work which
is self consciously post-modern and makes sure we realise it
by referencing classics of modernism - e.g .James Sallis's
work - and stuff that just happens to be postmodern because
life is pretty postmodern - e.g. most post Tarantino crime
fiction set in a world in which life copies the Sopranos and
vice versa. It's a distinction that may be easier to
understand if you look at music. There's plenty of
intellectual postmodern art-rock and there's also hip hop
which is utterly postmodern - in that it takes an established
art form, dismantles it and puts it back together in a new
fashion, while providing a self-referential commentary - but
rarely avowedly intellectual."
I agree. I'd also say it's important to make a distinction
between postmodern works, self-conscious or otherwise, and
postmodern criticism. You can read and appreciate works by
Sallis, O'Connell or Lethem without ever having heard of,
much less read, Lyotard, Foucault or Baudrillard.
Mark
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