MODERNISM AND POST MODERNISM

Submitted By
Sada Ullah
Roll No. 59207

Submitted To
Dr. Khalil Ur Rehman

DEPARTMENT OF PAKISTAN STUDIES

HAZARA UNIVERSITY MANSEHRA
2020

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Modernism ................................................................................................................................. 3

Modernism in Literature ............................................................................................................ 3

Modernism in Other Arts And Architecture .............................................................................. 4

The Birth of Postmodernism ...................................................................................................... 4

Postmodernism........................................................................................................................... 5

Postmodernism and Modern Philosophy ................................................................................... 5

Postmodernism And Relativism ................................................................................................ 7

Modernism vs. Postmodernism.................................................................................................. 8

References ................................................................................................................................ 11

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Modernism

In literature, visual art, architecture, dance, and music, Modernism was a break with the past
and the concurrent search for new forms of expression. Modernism fostered a period of
experimentation in the arts from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, particularly in the years
following World War I.

In an era characterized by industrialization, rapid social change, and advances in science and
the social sciences (e.g., Freudian theory), Modernists felt a growing alienation incompatible
with Victorian morality, optimism, and convention. New ideas in psychology, philosophy, and
political theory kindled a search for new modes of expression.

Modernism in Literature

The Modernist impulse is fueled in various literatures by industrialization and urbanization and
by the search for an authentic response to a much-changed world. Although prewar works
by Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and other writers are considered Modernist, Modernism as a
literary movement is typically associated with the period after World War I. The enormity of
the war had undermined humankind’s faith in the foundations of Western society and culture,
and postwar Modernist literature reflected a sense of disillusionment and fragmentation. A
primary theme of T.S. Eliot’s long poem The Waste Land (1922), a seminal Modernist work,
is the search for redemption and renewal in a sterile and spiritually empty landscape. With its
fragmentary images and obscure allusions, the poem is typical of Modernism in requiring the
reader to take an active role in interpreting the text.

The publication of the Irish writer James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922 was a landmark event in the
development of Modernist literature. Dense, lengthy, and controversial, the novel details the
events of one day in the life of three Dubliners through a technique known as stream of
consciousness, which commonly ignores orderly sentence structure and incorporates fragments
of thought in an attempt to capture the flow of characters’ mental processes. Portions of the
book were considered obscene, and Ulysses was banned for many years in English-speaking
countries. Other European and American Modernist authors whose works rejected
chronological and narrative continuity include Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein,
and William Faulkner.

The term Modernism is also used to refer to literary movements other than the European and
American movement of the early to mid-20th century. In Latin American literature,

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Modernismo rose in the late 19th century in the works of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera and José
Martí. The movement, which continued into the early 20th century, reached its peak in
the poetry of Rubén Darío. (See also American literature; Latin American literature.)

Modernism in Other Arts And Architecture

Composers, including Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern, sought new
solutions within new forms and used as-yet-untried approaches to tonality. In dance a rebellion
against both balletic and interpretive traditions had its roots in the work of Émile Jaques-
Delcroze, Rudolf Laban, and Loie Fuller. Each of them examined a specific aspect of dance
such as the elements of the human form in motion or the impact of theatrical context and helped
bring about the era of modern dance.

In the visual arts the roots of Modernism are often traced back to painter Édouard Manet, who,
beginning in the 1860s, broke away from inherited notions of perspective, modeling, and
subject matter. The avant-garde movements that followed including Impressionism, Post-
Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Constructivism, de Stijl, and Abstract
Expressionism are generally defined as Modernist. Over the span of these movements, artists
increasingly focused on the intrinsic qualities of their media e.g., line, form, and colour and
moved away from inherited notions of art.

By the beginning of the 20th century, architects also had increasingly abandoned past styles
and conventions in favour of a form of architecture based on essential functional concerns.
They were helped by advances in building technologies such as the steel frame and the curtain
wall. In the period after World War I these tendencies became codified as the International
style, which utilized simple geometric shapes and unadorned facades and which abandoned
any use of historical reference; the steel-and-glass buildings of Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe and Le Corbusier embodied this style. In the mid-to-late 20th century this style
manifested itself in clean-lined, unadorned glass skyscrapers and mass housing projects.

The Birth of Postmodernism

In the late 20th century a reaction against Modernism set in. Architecture saw a return to
traditional materials and forms and sometimes to the use of decoration for the sake of
decoration itself, as in the work of Michael Graves and, after the 1970s, that of Philip Johnson.
In literature, irony and self-awareness became the postmodern fashion and the blurring of

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fiction and nonfiction a favoured method. Such writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon,
and Angela Carter employed a postmodern approach in their work.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism, also spelled post-modernism, in Western philosophy, a late 20th-century

movement characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion
of reason; and an acute sensitivity to the role of ideology in asserting and maintaining political
and economic power.

Postmodernism and Modern Philosophy

Postmodernism is largely a reaction against the intellectual assumptions and values of the
modern period in the history of Western philosophy (roughly, the 17th through the 19th
century). Indeed, many of the doctrines characteristically associated with postmodernism can
fairly be described as the straightforward denial of general philosophical viewpoints that were
taken for granted during the 18th-century Enlightenment, though they were not unique to that
period. The most important of these viewpoints are the following.

1. There is an objective natural reality, a reality whose existence and properties are
logically independent of human beings of their minds, their societies, their social
practices, or their investigative techniques. Postmodernists dismiss this idea as a kind
of naive realism. Such reality as there is, according to postmodernists, is
a conceptual construct, an artifact of scientific practice and language. This point also
applies to the investigation of past events by historians and to the description of social
institutions, structures, or practices by social scientists.
2. The descriptive and explanatory statements of scientists and historians can, in principle,
be objectively true or false. The postmodern denial of this viewpoint—which follows
from the rejection of an objective natural reality is sometimes expressed by saying that
there is no such thing as Truth.

3. Through the use of reason and logic, and with the more specialized tools provided
by science and technology, human beings are likely to change themselves and their
societies for the better. It is reasonable to expect that future societies will be more
humane, more just, more enlightened, and more prosperous than they are now.
Postmodernists deny this Enlightenment faith in science and technology as instruments
of human progress. Indeed, many postmodernists hold that the misguided (or unguided)

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 pursuit of scientific and technological knowledge led to the development of
technologies for killing on a massive scale in World War II. Some go so far as to say
that science and technology and even reason and logic are inherently destructive and
oppressive, because they have been used by evil people, especially during the 20th
century, to destroy and oppress others.

4. Reason and logic are universally valid i.e., their laws are the same for, or apply equally
to, any thinker and any domain of knowledge. For postmodernists, reason and logic too
are merely conceptual constructs and are therefore valid only within the established
intellectual traditions in which they are used.

5. There is such a thing as human nature; it consists of faculties, aptitudes,

or dispositions that are in some sense present in human beings at birth rather than
learned or instilled through social forces. Postmodernists insist that all, or nearly all,
aspects of human psychology are completely socially determined.

6. Language refers to and represents a reality outside itself. According to postmodernists,

language is not such a “mirror of nature,” as the American pragmatist
philosopher Richard Rorty characterized the Enlightenment view. Inspired by the work
of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, postmodernists claim that language is
semantically self-contained, or self-referential: the meaning of a word is not a static
thing in the world or even an idea in the mind but rather a range of contrasts and
differences with the meanings of other words. Because meanings are in this sense
functions of other meanings which themselves are functions of other meanings, and so
on they are never fully “present” to the speaker or hearer but are endlessly “deferred.”
Self-reference characterizes not only natural languages but also the more specialized
“discourses” of particular communities or traditions; such discourses are embedded in
social practices and reflect the conceptual schemes and moral and intellectual values of
the community or tradition in which they are used. The postmodern view of language
and discourse is due largely to the French philosopher and literary theorist Jacques
Derrida (1930–2004), the originator and leading practitioner of deconstruction.

7. Human beings can acquire knowledge about natural reality, and this knowledge can be
justified ultimately on the basis of evidence or principles that are, or can be, known
immediately, intuitively, or otherwise with certainty. Postmodernists reject
philosophical foundationalism the attempt, perhaps best exemplified by the 17th-

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 century French philosopher René Descartes’s dictum cogito, ergo sum (“I think,
therefore I am”), to identify a foundation of certainty on which to build the edifice
of empirical (including scientific) knowledge.

8. It is possible, at least in principle, to construct general theories that explain many

aspects of the natural or social world within a given domain of knowledge e.g., a general
theory of human history, such as dialectical materialism. Furthermore, it should be a
goal of scientific and historical research to construct such theories, even if they are
never perfectly attainable in practice. Postmodernists dismiss this notion as a pipe
dream and indeed as symptomatic of an unhealthy tendency within Enlightenment
discourses to adopt “totalizing” systems of thought (as the French philosopher
Emmanuel Lévinas called them) or grand “metanarratives” of human biological,
historical, and social development (as the French philosopher Jean-François
Lyotard claimed). These theories are pernicious not merely because they are false but
because they effectively impose conformity on other perspectives or discourses,
thereby oppressing, marginalizing, or silencing them. Derrida himself equated the
theoretical tendency toward totality with totalitarianism.

Postmodernism And Relativism

As indicated in the preceding section, many of the characteristic doctrines of

postmodernism constitute or imply some form of metaphysical, epistemological, or ethical
relativism. (It should be noted, however, that some postmodernists vehemently reject the
relativist label.) Postmodernists deny that there are aspects of reality that are objective; that
there are statements about reality that are objectively true or false; that it is possible to have
knowledge of such statements (objective knowledge); that it is possible for human beings to
know some things with certainty; and that there are objective, or absolute, moral values.
Reality, knowledge, and value are constructed by discourses; hence they can vary with them.
This means that the discourse of modern science, when considered apart from the evidential
standards internal to it, has no greater purchase on the truth than do alternative perspectives,
including (for example) astrology and witchcraft. Postmodernists sometimes characterize the
evidential standards of science, including the use of reason and logic, as “Enlightenment
rationality.”

The broad relativism apparently so characteristic of postmodernism invites a certain line of

thinking regarding the nature and function of discourses of different kinds. If postmodernists

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are correct that reality, knowledge, and value are relative to discourse, then the established
discourses of the Enlightenment are no more necessary or justified than alternative discourses.
But this raises the question of how they came to be established in the first place. If it is never
possible to evaluate a discourse according to whether it leads to objective Truth, how did the
established discourses become part of the prevailing worldview of the modern era? Why were
these discourses adopted or developed, whereas others were not?

Part of the postmodern answer is that the prevailing discourses in any society reflect the
interests and values, broadly speaking, of dominant or elite groups. Postmodernists disagree
about the nature of this connection; whereas some apparently endorse the dictum of the
German philosopher and economist Karl Marx that “the ruling ideas of each age have ever been
the ideas of its ruling class,” others are more circumspect. Inspired by the historical research
of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, some postmodernists defend the
comparatively nuanced view that what counts as knowledge in a given era is always influenced,
in complex and subtle ways, by considerations of power. There are others, however, who are
willing to go even further than Marx. The French philosopher and literary theorist Luce
Irigaray, for example, has argued that the science of solid mechanics is better developed than
the science of fluid mechanics because the male-dominated institution of physics associates
solidity and fluidity with the male and female sex organs, respectively.

Because the established discourses of the Enlightenment are more or less arbitrary and
unjustified, they can be changed; and because they more or less reflect the interests and values
of the powerful, they should be changed. Thus postmodernists regard their theoretical position
as uniquely inclusive and democratic, because it allows them to recognize the
unjust hegemony of Enlightenment discourses over the equally valid perspectives of nonelite
groups. In the 1980s and ’90s, academic advocates on behalf of various ethnic, cultural, racial,
and religious groups embraced postmodern critiques of contemporary Western society, and
postmodernism became the unofficial philosophy of the new movement of “identity politics.”

Modernism vs. Postmodernism

The term "Postmodern" begins to make sense if you understand what "Modernism" refers to.
In this case, "Modernism" usually refers to Neo-Classical, Enlightenment assumptions
concerning the role reason, or rationality, or scientific reasoning, play in guiding our
understanding of the human condition and, in extreme cases of Postmodern theory, nature
itself. Postmodernism basically challenges those basic assumptions.

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Modernism (or Enlightenment Postmodernism (or The Post Truth Era?)
Empiricism and Humanism)
Reason and science provide Reason and science are Ideologies in the Nietzschean
accurate, objective, reliable or Marxist sense: simply myths created by man.
foundation of “knowledge”
Reason transcends and exists Cultural Relativism: Reason itself is a specific
independently of our existential, Western tradition (ideology) competing with other
historical, cultural contexts; it is traditions, like faith and other cultural means of
universal and “true”. knowing.

Freedom in the form of democracy Cultural Relativism: Democracy and capitalism are
and free markets are the natural specific Western traditions (ideology) competing with
extension of universally true, other traditions (China and Russia especially challenge
reasonable beliefs. "We hold these this assumption.
truths to be self evident...." Also, democracy and capitalism, like all ideologies,
are often used to colonize foreign cultures (ie Belgian
Congo, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan) or subjugate
women etc.
Science is an objective means of Nope. Science is ideology. "The concept of global
understanding the natural world warming was created by and for the Chinese in order
and its application can improve our to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." --
lives. Donald Trump
"A majority of people have been paid to say that man
is causing the climate to warm up [...] they only get the
money if they come up with the right result." Rush
Limbaugh
Reason will lead to universal truths “…no eternal truths, no universal human experience,
all cultures will embrace. no universal human rights, overriding narrative of
human progress” (Faigley, 8).
Language is transparent; a one to Language is fluid and arbitrary and/or rooted in
one relationship between signifier Power/Knowledge relations. Meaning is fluid and
(word) and signified (thing or arbitrary. Meaning is “messy”.
concept).

In sum: Truth exists independent of In sum: Truth may exist independent of human
human consciousness and can be consciousness but there is no objective means of
known thru the application of nailing it down.
Reason. All Postmodern conclusions lead from this
All Enlightenment conclusions assumption.
lead from this assumption.

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Existence of stable, coherent The “self” is a myth and largely a composite of one’s
“self”, independent of culture and social experiences and cultural contexts.
society.
Identity is fluid and performative. There is no true
Identity is static: one either is one's definition of self or even gender; we put on identities
racial, ethnic, national or gender as masks or perform our "selves" exactly as do actors
identity (the traditional view) or on a stage.
one has an innate identity which
should be separated from social
influences (Rousseau's romantic
view).
Modernist Feminism: Women are Postmodern Feminism: The categories male/female,
oppressed by patriarchy and can masculine/feminine are themselves culturally
use Reason to achieve both constructed and/or Ideology. Gender roles are
independence and regain their culturally relative in all cultures and contexts.
“authentic selves”.
Modern literature and film: Post Modern literature and film: realism is no more
Realism. "real" than fantasy. Game of Thrones or the Xmen is
no more fantastic or fictional than The Office Breaking
Storytelling should mimic a Bad.
Lockean ideal of how we We are free to tell stories any damn way we want to.
experience the natural world.

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References

1. Habermas, Jürgen. “Modernity: An Incomplete Project.” 1980.

2. Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Inquiry into the Origins of

Cultural Change. Cambridge MA & Oxford UK: Blackwell, 1990.

3. Herman, David. “Modernism versus Postmodernism: Towards an Analytic

Distinction.” Poetics Today, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1991.

4. Jameson, Fredric. “Foreword.” In The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge,

by Jean-Francois Lyotard, pp. 7-23. University of Wisconsin Press, 1983.

5. Jameson, Fredric. “Postmodernism and Consumer Society.” 1984.

6. Kant, Immanuel. “An Answer to The Question: What is Enlightenment?” Konigsberg

in Prussia, 1784.

7. Langford, Lary. “Postmodernism and Enlightenment, or, Why Not a Fascist

Aesthetics?” Substance, Vol.21, N.1, Issue. 67, 1992.

8. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. “Answering The Question: What Is Postmodernism?”

University of Minnesota Press, 1986.

9. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. “The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge.” Theory

and History of Literature, Volume 10, 1984.

10. Robinson, William. “Theories of Globalization.” 2007.

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