Postmodernism

Strictly speaking, the postmodern is alleged to be a historical departure from the modern owing to the supposed collapse of the latter. Postmodernism is, in effect, a cultural and aesthetic style, or theory, thought to be necessary to the alleged postmodern dispensation. Postmodernism is, thus, put forth as a deviant parallel to late modernism and is to be distinguished from avant-garde modernism. In respect to consumer culture, it is possible to say that the avant-garde is one attempt to salvage a high modernist aesthetic from the fragmenting effects of mass culture, which is often assumed to be a prominent postmodern effect if not aesthetic. Properly speaking, one may use “alleged” to modify “postmodern” not because there is no merit to postmodernism but because it is too early in the history of its development to assess its staying power.

Whether the postmodern can be the basis for an “ism” remains therefore an open question. There are, to be sure, many who think of postmodernism as a uniquely French-influenced brand of social theory and, thus, as a theoretical if not a purely ideological practice. Others contend that this attitude is sincerely held but illogical, therefore, mistaken. For there to be a post to the modern, there needs be an honest account of what the modern is (or was) and especially so for those devoted to postmodernism as a successor to modernism.

The first rule of postmodernism, the theory of an alleged historical departure, is that postmodernism is not what one may think in two respects. It is not what people think it is, and it is not a matter of thought (or theory). Nothing can be mere thought. Thoughts, hence theories, are always and necessarily historically conditioned. Thought, to be sure, reaches [Page 1124]beyond historical fact, but its reach can never exceed its grasp. As a result, postmodernism always depends on the historical question of the postmodern, as the postmodern hinges, historically, on the history of the modern. What is (or was) the modern? When did it begin? Why would anyone suppose it may be ending? If ending, is it really coming to its end or merely transforming itself into something else?