Powell Postmodernism for Beginners (Writers and Readers)

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Enlightenment.Jim Powell tokes the position

thot Postmodernism is o seriesof "mops" thot help peopfe findtheir woy through o chongingworld. Postmodernism for Beginners@feotures the thoughts of Fo.ucouft oripo*rrono knowfedge, Jomeson on mopping the postmodem,Boudrillord on the medio,jrrvev r1r,1;!ri9 compresion, Derrido on deconsrruction ondil:l::::*9,:Tl::llf:m ir,, r,,i:il, il;,;;;;ffi'i,,n oniro,r such osPt//|4odonno, cyberpunk scFfi, Buddhist ecology *d teledild'nics.BYJlfrt P0wELLII.I.USTRATED BY JOE I.ET

ffi

l s B N 0 - 8 6 3 1 6 - 1 8 8 _ X

people , Yotr're notsubiecf, it proboblyfew grumpydernism is notintellectuoltrory, it isofound /,I crises (of the ['

sure whot Postmodernism is. And if this ,,ere likewouldn't tell you.

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@PHILOSO-PWus $11.95uK t7.99cAN $15.e5

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Writers and Readers Ltd.7O box 29522 , London N1 BFDb e qin @ w ri t e r e a n d r e a d e r s. c o m

Text Copyriqht @1998 JameE N. Fowelll l luelrat ione Copyriqht @1990 Joe LeeconceVt and Deeiqn copyriqht @1998 writers and Readers ?ubl iehinq,lnc.Dook and Cover Deoiqn: Renbe MichaeleCover Art: Joe Lee

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?ublishing FOR BEGINNER9* books aontinuouely sinae 1gT5

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2uC;aaal a y'r-*, y'J"n

ln t roduct ion. . . 1

Postmodernese 6

Whot ls Modernism?. 8

Whot ls Postmodernism? . . . . . .17

f h o b H o s s o n . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7

Jeon-Froncois Lyotord .. . .19

Discourse, f igure .. . . . . . . . .2o

The Postmodern Condit ion... . . . . . . .22

Fredric Jomeson .. . . .3+

Postmodernism: or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism .......31

Jeon Bqudr i l l a rd . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Eor l y Wr i t i ngs . . . . . . . . . 15

"The Orders of Simulocro". . . . . . .18

ln the Shadow of the Si lent Majori t ies . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

On Seduction . . . . . . .65

Amer ica . . . . . . . . .67

The Ecstasy of Communication .. . . . . . . . .69

Modernist Architecture . . . . . . . .72

Postmodern Architecture qnd Art . . . . . . . .77

Chqr les Jencks . . . . . .78

Postst ructuro l ism . . . . . . . .93

Michel Foucoult (ond Boudri lord on Foucqult) . . . . . .94

Jocques Derridq .. . . .96

deconstruction .-. .- .99

Gil les Deleuze ond Fel ix Guottori . . .1o8

Dqvid Horvey . . . . . .115

The Condition of Postmodernity .......116

Postmodern Art i focts.. . . . . . . . .122

Blade Runner.

Cyborgs . . . . . . . . 128

C y b e r p u n k . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 1

Neuromancer . . . . . . .132

Teledidonics, Audioonimqtronic Poporazzi E Nono-Rovers .. . . . . . . .131

Mqdonno . . . . . . 139

lJntitled Film stills (cindy shermon) ...1+2

MTV. . . . . . . 113

B o r b i e - A r t . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + 1

Blue Velvet . . . . . . . . .145

Wings of Desire ...115

Postmodern Environmentol ism .. . .117

Whot is Postmodernism? (ln Retrospect) . . . .118

Refe rences . . . . . . . . . . 158

l n d e x . . . . . . . . . 1 6 o

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An afr,s brochure for almoel

any major univeroit 'y miqht aVVro-

Vriately fealure a Vhot'omont'aqere?reoentinq ils seaeon of cult'ural

offerinqo trom around the world.

The monNaqe mighr feature a

female dancer wit 'h an Eaetr lndian

head, a male Navaho left' leq,

the riqht,leq of an Afro'

American modern dancer,

a Lorso halt'covered by

a suil and r, ie, and t 'he

obher half feet'ooned

wibh eaqle fealhers with

one arm dioplayinq a

eacred Tibet an hand

qeoture, anol'her

muscled arma

poundinq ouf, a

rhyl,hm on a

JaVaneee drum,

and Nwo more female arme in a

lyrical dance ?ooe from lndia.

Cont raet lhis culNural mixing

with Nhe livee of moeT, of the ?eo-

Vle who have l ived on Ihe Vlanet for

mosl of iis hiot ory. Cilizene of the

Middle Agee and membere of pre'

modern 0ribal eocieNiee could l ive

outr Nheir yearo wilhout encount'er-

inq anyone wif,h anot'her god, a

conlrary worldview, differenl folk-

Nalee, dancee or mytrho. lf Ihey

should encount er an indiv idual or

a eociely lhatr wae different, f,hen

trhe straleqy wae No conquer it,

mi l i lar i ly, economical ly and eexual-

ly; Io converL it tro one'e own reli'

gion; or No kil l i t . The very exie'

t ence of the )t'her, Ihe very

?reeence of the Olher,

Voeed a Ihreal lo lhe

o u? ? o e e d univ er e alit 'y

of one'e own beliefe,

ln the Tostmodern

aqe,however, i l ie dif-

ficultr lo qet' throuqh a

d ay wit'h ouI confr onlin q

rnany diff erenl realities.gimVly t 'urn on hhe'N

and you miqhl hear

a world mueic qrou?

oinqinq a blend of lr ieh love eonq,

lndian raqa, heavy-metal anlhem,

M onqol i an 9 u d dhiel ch ant ' - an d

all lo Nhe f,une of peyot'e drume,

qamelane, didqer ido os, p anVip eo,

nooe ffuf,eg, alpenhorns, gilaro

and hambourinee. And all Nhese

eounds may be produced notr by

the or iqinal inef ' rumenf, but elec-

tronically, to a danceable req7ae

(/^

or hiV-hoV beat,, and broadcaet,

worldwide via eaLellite to mill ioneof viewere-Nhe profiIe going f,oeave the Drazilian rainforeet. lnfacf,, qo to a

fundament al-

iet , le lamic

wedding in

an EqyVtian

vi l laqe, and

the bride, eur-

rounded by

elern eldere,

hooded and veiledgo that, no intrud-

to trhe concert,, benealh lhe

hood, throuqh the earVhones of

her minialurized radio. 7he maybe wearing jeane under her

Nraditional skift,,

and have a belly

full of Coca-Cola.

Tick u? anyNew A7e maq-azine, and you

will find the

Vyoleriouo

and Unknown

eold in a thoueand

f orme-Vey chic ch annel inge of

die emb o di e d epi rite, D u d dhi st,

Taoietr and Hindu medit atr ion

Iechniques, N alive Americ an

sweaf, baths, cryot alo and herbe,

el e cNr o ni c m e di latr i o n m a chi n ee

and exot ic Vot ione.Your tyVical

New A7er eeee no conl,radiclion

in aLt endinq a Quaker meeting in

f,he morning, eabinq a Zen macro-

biotic breakfaet, sitting tor Chi-

neee Taoietr medihalion, eatinq

an Indian Ayurvedic lunch, doinq

a Chero-kee sweatr before Tai Chi,munchinq down a eoyburger for

dinner, dancinq in a full-moon

wiNchinq ceremony with her neo-

Taqan Goddee; 7rou?,

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

ing male 7aze wil l Vollut e her-

Aay oecretly be l ioleninq

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

and Ihen cominq home

and makinq love wilh her

New Aqe boytriend accordinq

to Hindu Tanlric princiVleo.

All rhe world's culL,ureo,

rit,u alg, race6, dalab ankg,

mylhe and musical mot'ifs

are int ermixinq like a omor-

qaebord in an ea(chquake,

And Nhis hodge-Vodqe of

hybrid imaqeo io qlobal,

froo dinq t h e trradil ional

mao6 media, and also Cyber-

o?ace-a e?ace ever-

IIIIIIII

blossoming wilh new univereee

and realit'ieo, and which io beinq

Vrobed by an ever-ex?andinq

Vopularion of cYberpunks and

cyb er oh arnano wh o-l i ke

elect r onic r at's b urcowing

eidewayo Nhrouqh a

vaef., interconnecled

series of elecNronicgewer6, cellarg, ?ao-eaqewayo, caverne,

quttero, and lun-

nels-are capable of

naviqaNinq from cyber'

sil,e Io cyber'eite via

an almosl infinit'ely int'er-

linked caf'aloque of codee.

ln obher words, we live in-

creaoinqly in a world of in-

t erc onn e ct'e d diff er en c e9-t'=iil

l*)--'

dif f erenceo amVli f i ed and mult ip l ied

at,Ihe oVeed of eleclricity. No

-{,F lonqer is there one moraliNy or mph

or r iNual or dance or dream or phi looophyor conceVl of eelf or qod or culNure or eVyle of

ar| t h at, V r e d omin aIee.The exVlosion of new communicahions technoloqieo and

lhe continuing fragmenlaf,ion of culrures inro lhoueande ofl iwle culluree has torced us tro view our world as simult ane-ouely exVandinq and ehr inkinq. And juer as the unexVlored

Naw world of earlier cenluriee had ite exVlorerl who setouN on voyaqeo of diecovery, bringing back new ma?e,

which were conet anf,ly beinq re-drawn ae ever newreqione were Vrobed and chaft,ed, tha New yostmod-

ern W o rl d-?o ef,mo d ern Ke ality-h ao itemapmakers and explorero.

The maVmakere of Vaet cenf,urie; euVerim-

Voeed a fictif, iouo qrid u?on the qlobe-Nhemeridians-trhe l inee of latitude and lonqi-

tude. They chafr,ed narcow straiNs, f ar-f lunq exoNic archipela7oo, dark cont.i-

nenle, ?revail ing winde, wavee andc u r renle. ?imil a rly, 7o ehm o d ernintell ecf,u ale-Vhil o e o ph ere an d ih e -

orief,e-have att emVted No maV

te chn olo qi e e, ec o n omi ee, cyb er -

e?acee, mediaeca?ee.

But not everyone lhinkeinf,ellectrua I ly ab out, all

f,he chanqee f,haf, are'r,akinq place.

These Tostmodern arbieLl or architecf,s sim?ly lake

nof,e of the new nix of meeeaqee, oymbole, cullureo

and media, and then creale a video, 6onq, Vaint inq

or bui ldinq thal ref lecle lhe Toetmodern condiNion,

We wil l be exVlorinq lhe lhouqhto of some of theee

" m a?m akere" and " explorero," Nhege TogNmodern

inLellecNuals and arNieNe, in lhe ?aqee trhal follow,

But woit o minute! lf Post-

modern thinkers hqve some

reolly new ideos mopping

the contours of our times,

why hoven't I heord of these

ideos before?

A major reaoon ie t.haI Toet'

modernese ie euch a di f f icul l lan-

quaqe lo underofand-and moef,

booke on Toelmoderniem are

wrif,f,en in lhie parl icularly ob-

6cure Lonque.

For inelance-lel 'e eu??oee you

live in Lhe 197Oe, and you want to

eay "The way while guys Nreal

Third World women ae 6ex objecte io

sha l low and d iequel inq. "

The fire| thinq you have lo do

lo lranelaf,e i l into Tostmodeneee

is f,o make f,he gent ence et op mak'

inq eenee.You do f ,h ie by eubsf, i -

IuLin q my etreri ous ?oet mo d ern

buzzworde or Vhraeee for ordinary

words that do make eenee. For

ingf,ance "whif,e 0uy6" can prof-

i lably be reVlaced by the Vhraoe"Vhal locraLic and VanoVIic ( in Lhe

Fouc aul t ian e enee) O ead-Whire'

Male eublecL-Voeil ione," Thie is

b ec auee, in Tosf'mo derneoe,

quye no lonqer exiet. TheY

h ave b ecome " eubject'- V oei-

l ion6," The same qoee for

women. Therefore Nhe

ohraee "Third World

women" neede to be

queoifred uV t 'o "pool'-

co lon ia l female eub-

1ecN-poeif, ione." The

phraoe "T,he way"

could proVerly

be rendered ae"lhe hegemonic

(mie)reVreeen-

LaI ion and delval '

orizaLion of." As

you can eee, 7ogl,'

moderneee rel iee

u?on ue ing ae many

elaehee and hyphene

and oarentheseg and

whal,ever other kinde of

marks you r comput er can

make ae ?oe6ible. Thue lhe

word "ohal low" ehould cor-

recLly be rendered ao "a

texLually (ra)in ecribed praxie

of pre- diee emin ale d, (counI'er)

e ubv e r eiv e ' d e othl e 6 o n e 6 o," '

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--

,l /ra--_---,

l , / . \/ , / \' / l

To be perteclly corcecf', your frnal

t ranelat'ion should sound some-

Nhinq like t'his: "The hegemonic

(mi e)reVreo ent alion an d

delvalorizalion of t'he alwaye-

alre a dy mult i- (d e) / g en d ere d

plur iv o c al i t i ee an d (de) c en'

Iered delconstrruct'ed

and dialoqical ly Vrob-lematized ludic eimu-

lacra of abeentlpre-

infinile bewildermenf'. Then you look

Nhem in Nhe eye, cornpaooionaf'elY,

and Nell trhem lhat' Ihe Vlurivocalambiqui t iee of (non) meaninq in-

herent in their queeLion obviouely

subvefr t 'he Voooibil i ty of your

deliverinq lo Nhem Nhe kind of

cheaV and low-down Vhallocrat' ic,and loqocenlric Vatrriarchal hoq-

wallow of an anewer which they are

c aV able of underet'andinq,

lgl well t'm not so sure I under-stond whot Postmodernism

is. And is it POSTmodernlSM,

postMODERNism, PoStmOdErN'

ism, post-modernism or

Postmodernism?

Itr hae been wriT'Ien in all

Nho s e w ay o. 7o et'mo dernism- as

Lhe "pool"' Vref ace imVlieS, i6

eomelhinq Ihat, fol lowe modern'

ism, However, peoVle who Lhink

about, euch thinqo ae Tost'-

moderniom don'tr aqree whet,her

Toetmodernism is a break from

moderniam or a cont inual ion

of modernism-or bot'h. ln fact,

they don'f, even aqree as t'o

whal moderniem is, much lese

Toetmodernism.

)/ senl poelcolonial

female oubject'-Vooi'

Iions, by hyVer-

erof,icized and

orienNalized

phallocralic

and VanoVIic(in lhe Fou-

caulhian eenoe)

)ead-Whit 'e-Male

eubjecl-Vooitrion

discourse, ig a Nex-

tually (re)inetibed

Vraxie of Vre-dieeemi-naL,ed, (count er)eub-

v er siv e d eplhl e e sn e o e,"

@ *not!!??

E And if anyone aoke youwhaN all lhal meane, you juel

behold T,hem wilh a qaze ot

UhWell, whot is modernism?

rH lvloderniem ie a blanket, Lerm

, for an exploeion of new eLylee and

trende in the arLe in the f i ret hal f

of the zolh cenlury. lf lhe modern

era had a cenlral imaqe-i t wae

LhaT, of a k ind of non- imaqe-a

Void-and if the era had a quo-

Iat ion that, eummed i t , a l l up, i l was

lr ieh Voet, Wi l l ia m SuI ler YeaLs's l inee:

But whot things fell oport in the modern ero? What center

could not hold?

E What fell apart in Lhe modern era were xhe values of the ltthcentury, the Aqe of Enligh;f,enment,,

Trobably the main value of lhe aqe,

of Vrogreoe.

aleo known ae bhe Aqe of Keaeon.

beeides reaoon, wae lhe idea

ln f ,he l9th cenlury bhinkere became oVl imist ic Ihat by ueinq Nhe

univereal valuee of ocience, reaaon and loqic, they could qet rid of all

Ihe myihs and holy ideas f,hat keVf humanity from ?roqreoeinq, They

fel t th is would evenLual ly f ree humani ly f rom mieery, rel ig ion, euperot i -

f , ion, al l i rcat ional behavior, and unfounded bel ief . Humani ly would thue

?roqreee Lo a elaf,e of freedom, happineee and proqreee.

Francis hacon eaw ?roqreee t akinq I,he form of a wiee,

elhical and ecience-minded el iLe who would be Nhe

guardiane of knowledge and who,

thouqh l iv inq ouf ,e ide Lhe communi -

l,y, would neverthelese inffuence i l.

Marx aleo believed in

?roqreee, and envieioned a

Ulopia, 7ul Marx'e UloVian

vieion wae of a ?er-ect, world brouqhtr

aboul by a maLe-

r ia l iet , ecience,

Other bhinkere,

however, were nol, Eo

oVtimietic. Edmund

9urke wae diequeted wilh

Nhe exceooeo of the French

Revolution. And lhe Marquie de

1ade, lhe qreaf,-qranddaddy of 3/M,

exVlored the pervereitiee of eexual free-

dom-Vainting a dark Victrure of hu rnan l iber-

al, ion. The eociologiet Max Weber VroVheeiedlha| lhe future would be an iron Vrieon of reaeon

and bureaucracy,

E Well, moybe Yeots ond oll the

skeptics were right. lt look os if things

did foll oport. Whot did Science,

Reason ond Progress get us, ofter oll?

The zOth century hos been nothing if

not o dork, Kofkoesque nightmore of

rqtion-olly odministered deqth comps,

deoth squods, Auschwitz, World Wqrs

I ond l l , Hiroshimo, Nogosoki, ecologi- ,,)),col disqster-ond vorious systems of /,'),

totolitorionism. And oll in the nome \s

of the Enlightenment vqlues of Science,

Reoson, Liberotion, Freedom ond

Progress !

I I I I I t..n'I I, n" t,,*. ;t, t.-E.:tl I

7uI I haven'|, even lold vou

abouf, the biggeet, ekeptic of

a l l - Ih e G erm an ?h i lo e oVh er

Friedrich Nietzsche. N ief,zeche

had no lolerance for Enl ighl-

enmenf, values. Keason? Uni-

v er e ality? M o raliry? 7r o qreee?

Al l theee Enl ight enmenf, pre'

leneee meanf, nolhinq tro him.

He eaw the world ae the dance

of the deolructively crealive

and creatively deef,ructive god

Dionyeue-the dance of the

Will to Tower-and Dionyouo

wae hie model of how lo acL in

Ihe chaotic eLorm of l i fe. Any

man who acf,ed in euch a way

would be a Superman.

411l v

And Nietzeche hit thenail right on t,.he head.

Afr,er all, many

ZOt h- century IuV ermen h ave

?roven lhaf, you have to deotroy

in order f,o create: Hitler, Vao,

1halin, etc. Nief,zeche aleo ?ro'claimed Ihe "Oeabh of God" as

well as trhe dealh of Chrietian- morali ly and met aphyoico. With

one wave of his VhiloeoVhical wand,

the central oymbols, insNilutions

and beliefe of Weslern cullure,

which had already euffered a

lremendous blow by lhe Aqe of

Ke aeon, die a?? e ared-?OOF-

like a maqician's rabbiT, into the

dark folds of a cloak.

notr dr i l l holee in lhe wal le of our

houses and hallow lhese hollowe,

w orohiVpinq t hem earneol ly

with lhe worde "O rmy Holy Hole,

oave mel),l"

No. We live in a cull,ure

lhat, esNeems ?reeence over

absence, icon over non-existence,

voluVNuoue virqin over vacant,

vacuum, wholes over holesl And

ye|,, where we Vreviouely had a

cent er-wheNher in Christrian reli-

q ion or in f ,he

ideale of eci-

ence and

?roqreoo-euddenly

we had nothinq,

IS NOTI{IN6$nmtD?

What remained were only dark

waveo of Nothin7neee-a Void.

Nature, however, abhorg a vac-

uurr, and we Wegf,ernerg, unlike

Ouddhie|,e and Taoietre, do nol

toleraie voids very well. We do

)ome modernjof'g, euch as Heminqway, creaf,ed worke of arr f,hatrex?reeeed a kind of Vaeeive recoqnitrion of this lack of a center. ln hieehofr, eIory "A Clean,Well-lighted ?lace,"one of hie charac-f,ere, a waitrer,

reworks f,he

Lord'e Trayer

and the Hai l

//tt ' / t ' t

Mary-eubetritrut-

inq "nada" (or"nolhing" in gVanieh)

atr oiqnif icanf, Vlacee:

rc,c,trA 7'7A_9'7\\ y v L f

I v t v v v J

l f modern thinkere could no lonqer bel ieve in a

Chrielian God, Chrislian moralif,y, or scienlifc ?ro7reoo-if Ihere wao

no lonqer a cenlerlo\Neetern culture-it was neceooary Xo find a new

one for, aft,er all, we don'I like voids. And il wae Nief,zsche-who had

proclaimed t 'he deabh of Enliqhlenmenl valuee, God and Chrisl ian

moraliby-Ihat, ehowed the way. Alf,houqh he had deVrived Weetern

culture of a centrer, he only did so by Vuttinq eomething elee in i ls

place-nof, only the idea of a guVerman who ie beyond qood and evil

buN aleo ar| beyond qood and evil. Thue, amonq all Nhe fraqment alion

and chaoe, amidel everythinq fall inq aVafi,, modern arAists beqan tro

look for oome et ernal value trhat wae beyond all the chaos,

Theee arl ieNe adoVted Ihe heroic, almosl )uVerhuman role of

rediscovering lhe eeeence of humanily, of f indinq an eNernal value

beyond all lhe chaoe, of f i l l inq in Nhe Voot-NielzecheanVoid in various

wayo. ln a world withoul a cenf,er, aeslhelics-

atb-became centrral, Afr for arL'o sakel Modern

V aint , in q w a s ab o uN V aint in q- e el f - ab e o rb e d, e el f -

?oeee6eed, exVlorinq ite own Vrimary Voeeibil i-

| / t iee: all pooeible inheractione bef,ween

V erc eVt.ion, memory, idenlify.

O ohemi an, av anf,- q ard e, exV erim enlin q

wilh Iradit ional qenree and otylee-

modern a(bisf,e, who brouqht mod-

ern arD to ite fullesl

bloeeoming eome-

Iime be|,ween 1910

and the 193Oe,

rall ied around poet

Ezra Tound'e ballle

cry "Make it new," eeeinq Nhemgelvee a6

creators of the new ralher than as

?reoervere of old cultrural forme,

)uch aft became a way t o reVreoenl

Ihe eNernal in Ihe mideV of chaos. Cubiem drew

ineViration from lhe eimVle qeometries of

Af ri c an o c ulVhur e, d em aleri alize d obje cte, b r e aki n q lh em

down int o trheir baeic geomelric forme, Cubistr afrieT,s

Vaint ed, ag Ticagoo Vut, il,, "nof, what, you oee, but what

you know is fhere."

NrW

sensil ive youlh seek-

inq tro eecape the

confinee of hie

Cathol ic uVbrinqing in

Dubl in, ie baeed on

trhe ancient, Greek

mfih of the hero

Oaedelue af,tremVtinq

No eecaVe the Laby-

rinIh. Thue, it, has a

rnyDh at it s cenler.

One oymbol IhaI

atlem?f,ed f,o fill in

Ihe Void lhal had

been left by Ihe"deal,h of God" wao

the oymbol of the

machine. Toel Ezra

Tound eaw worde ae

machines. The VoetWilliam Carlos

Wil l iams said Nhat

the whole Voem ie a

machine made uV of

worde, Modern archi-

tecle f,houqhl ot

houses ae machinee

for l ivinq in. ln facl, all

of society wae be-

cominq more machine-

like: bureaucraNic,

Nechnical, raf, ional,

From thie kind of

machine4ike ef f ic iency

aro6e war machines

ao ?owefiul ae Ihey

were effrcient ln ltaly,

Ihe war machine of

lhe )u?erman ltAus-

sol in i . ln Germany,

)uVer-

man

Hitler's

Nazi

Nrains ran

on f, ime,

deliverinq

the i r human

carqo lo deabh

campe like

Auschwitz and

buchenwald. These

cam?o Nhemselves

drew u?on moderniet

p lann inq and arch i -

Nectural Vrincipleo.And lhe Nazl war

machine had iIs own

cent er-Nhe myth of

Ihe SuVer Race-f,he

euVeriority of blue-

eyed, blond members

of the Aryan race.

9o one Vroblemwith moderniem is

thal science and rea-

eon didn't juel create

?roqre6e-Nhey cre-

ated AuechwiLz and

Hiroehima. And Nhere

were olher Vrob'leme-aftietic oneo.

Modern

arL and lit er-

af,ure became

increaeingly diff iculf

No underetand.

Moderniam -

became Hiqh mod-

ern iem. Hiqh mod-

ernism peaked in

1922, wilh the

Vublication of

Jamee Joyce'oUlyeeee and

T,9. ElioN'o "The Wastelandl'

ln bolh Ulyeeee and Finne-

ganb Wake, Joyce exVerimenled

with a sNream- of- conscioueneee

elyle, plunqin7 the reader within

Ihe fluid, ehiftr inq free-flow of hie

characNere' ?oychee.E]iol' g "W aetelan d" exV eri-

menNed with a fraqmenied poetry

full of l i terary, hieNorical and

mytholoqical t idbire from around

the world-depiclinq a soul and a

eociety in fraqmenNalion and

deeV air, eeekinq reinleqraf,ion, a

new cenf,er. 1of,h Joyce and Eliof,

rejected lhe etraiqhttorward, and

ralional ffow of the et ory or

lheme. They aleo rejecLed Nradi-

t i on al ch ar acT,er dev el o Vm enl,

f avoring inet ead a fraqmenled

otyle. Dul Ihis disl ike of conven-

t ional characler develoVment and

the celebration insf,ead, of Vrvvaf,e, eubjecNive ex?erience added

tro the t endency of moderniem'e

arf, iels, assembled in emall

qrou?e in ?aris, Oerlin, Kome,

Vienna, London, New York,

Chicaqo, CoVenha7en, Munich or

Moscow, t o view lhemselvee as an

exiled, alienahed cultural eliLe.

ln "The Metamorphoeie" lhe

wrif,er Franz Kafka eymbolized

Nhie alienation of the arl, jet wilh

Nhe imaqe of a huqe human-eized

buq NraVVed in an abeurd human

environmenl. Such afrieIs creaf,-

ed works eo challenqing and weird

tha| Nhey could only be appreci-

ated by a narrow audience. This

only fufi,her added tro lheir

elit iet imaqe.

Modern afr,, in fac|,, wao eo

far-ouI thal it, divided culture

into "Hiqhbrow" and "Lowbrow." Il,

excluded the middle class, who

could not, undereland iI, and qave

riee No a kind of "Vrieolhood" of

echolars and crif, ice. Their job wa6

and ie f,o explain moderniem'e

myof,eries, To read James Joyce'o

Ulyeeea, T.9. ElioN'e "Waeteland"

or Ezra Tound'o "Cantoo" ie an

advenf,ure,You need a quide,

ae Nhough you were explorinq

the Amazon.

E rhen how does Postmodernism differfrom Modernism?

E there ie lirrle aqreemenr on Nhe eubjecl, Varf,ly becaue"TooT,modernism"- whalever il is-is an aNIemVI No

of what ie qoing on now-and we can oee Ihe Vreeenlonly in retrosVect,,

)ne Toetmodern theorieL,lhab Hassan, offere a Nable of differenceo

beT,ween the Nwo movemenf,g;

TostmodernismForm (,coniuncf,ivel cloged) <" " " " " " "> Antiform (digjuncbivel o?en)

Modernism

{ . . . . a a . . . o o o o o }

{ . . o o . . . . . . o o o o }

Hierarchy { o o e . . . . . . o o o r o } AnarchvAfL Obieet/Finighed Work {oooo... . . .o..o} TrocegglTertormance/

Tresence

Ha

Abeence

Cenlerin{ o o . . . . . . . o o o o o }

{ o o o o a a a . . a o . . o } Diepereal

TexIllnt efreKYKoot lDephh { o o o o . . . . . . o o o o } Rhizome/7ufiace

(T?L 267-0)

, ' :,g7

Thue, where

and Joyce

Yeaf,e, Eliot

eouqhr f ,o

reoLore a deep new cenT,er. a new

eenoe of Vur?oee, a newl eenee of deeign, form

and deVth, a new eenee ' of gr imordial or iq in in

m$h,ToetmodernieLe of len eee no reaoon for a

cenLer, lnelead Lhey f avor a decenLering-a ?layof chance, anT, i form, and euf iace. Accordinq Lo

lasean, whereae f ,he imaginaLions of mod'

ernieLe euch ae Joyce, Ticaoeo and El io l were

conslel latr ing around new cent ere, new coherenlgf,ruclureg, 7ogT,mo dernieIg often creat e, com-

?o6e, or ?a in I ent r i re ly by chance-ep i l l inq or ;throwinq painl on canva;eee, randomly deter '

mining the qiLch and duraLion of mueical

noLee in a melody, eeeking Io de-define arf,-

lo create non-arf, or anf,i-arf,. For Haegan,

John Cage ie a Toelmodern compoeer who

advocalee comp oeition by chance-by

e imVly Lurn ing on Lhe microVhonee and

recordinq random, everyday oounds,

.p'.1

l:trf '

. t

7

E lt oll sounds pretty chootic. lt's no wonder thqt we need"mop'mokers," intellectuols to chort the depthless new world

without q center. Who ore some of these "mop-mqkers"?

THE MA?- MAKERgl ^?or tant 7oetmodern Th i nkers

E Jean-Francois Lyof,ard wae born inFrance in 1924 and trauqht in Alqeria,Brazil and California, before becoming

profeeeor of philoeophy aN Ihe Uni-

veroity of Taris in 1968. ln 1985 he

became direct or of the Colleqe lnt erna-

I ional de Thi looophie.

For some 15 yeare he wae associa|,ed

bariem, which, amonq other trhinqe, criNicized

3 ovi eI- elyl e communiem. AlNh o uqh Ly otard

became djs i l lueioned with social iem and

Marxiem ao early as 1964,Vheevente of the studenL revolt

in ?arie, in May of 1968,

confirmed his

unregf,.

with a leflieN qrou? called goaialism or Bar-

Discouroe, figure and dripping wilh deeire. Like

much modern painNinq, dreame

are fragmenf,ed. ln lheir attempV

to make unconocioue matrerial

vieual, dreame dierupt Lhe kind of

l inear awareneee NhaN lanquaqe

requiree. The visu al, f i qure- m akinq

nabure of the unconecioug,Ihou7h

at work within lanquaqe, dioruVte

languaqe, dieruptrs t rhe rat ional

@

Goo

o

ln 1971 we

find him

beginn inq a

Ionq, VoeI-Maxist,

period in

which he is qiven

No th ink inq

about,

:\=^--\\

ft\

,!i/ttt,

Vhi loooVhy, lanquaqe and Nhe arts.

His book Diecouree, figure, ar7uee

with Ihe conceVt, Vut, forAh by

Jacqueo Lacan IhaI lhe uncon-

ecious mind is l ike a language,

lnstead, Lyohard eu4qeots tha|

Ihe unconscious is not so much

like a lan7uaqe ae it ie visual and

f iqural , l ike 6he f iqureo one draws

or Vainte. Languaqe, after all, ie

flat, Lwo dimensional. l l reVreeeeo

desire. Dreamo, on Nhe olher

hand, are vieual , f i7ural , a l ive wi lh

three- dimeneion al dre am fi qureo,

order of lanquaqe,Thie ie becauee

the fiqural naf,ure of Nhe uncon-

ecious ie diff icultr Io reVreeent in

lanquage,

The fiqural reeieNe reVreeentra-

tion in T,he same oenoe f,haN lhe

Holocausl reeist o reVreeentrabion.

At, AuschwiNz lhe Nazis would

drown ouf, the ocreamg of the vic'

t ime in the death cam?o by play-

inq muoic loudly. 7imi lar ly, t o

atlemptr t o reVreeent Auechwif,z

in lanquaqe-t o reduce the

degradaf,ion, deaf,h and et ench

lo a conceVN-drowne outr the

ecreame, Accordinq Lo Lyotard, itr

is therefore neceeaary thal f,he

H olo c ausf, rem aine imm emori al-

Ihat, iN, remaine beinq lhal which

cannot be remembered-but aleo

Ihal which cannot, be forgotten,

Thus, any art, af,lemVling to reV'

reeenl the Holocauet ehould con-

t inue to haunl ue wi lh i te inabr l iNy

No reVreeenN T,he unreVree entable,

to oay f,he uneayable. lf, should

conf, inue No haunt ue with the

feelinq trhaI there ie eomelhinq

Of,her t h an re?reoent alion.

LyoNard offers Ihe examVle of

Vaeaccio'e Trinity, painf,ed on Ihe

walle of 1anf,a Varia Novella, in

Florence, which dieplaye both

medieval and Kenaieeance ele-

menle, 3y alt.emVtinq lo preoenN

trwo imVoooibly differenl eras, Lhe

paintrinq 6eeme T,o eay Ihal f,here

io alwayl an Otrher which cannol

be truly reVreeented.

Anot her examVle Lyotrard

offers is Cezanne'e Mont

9 a i nt-Vi cto i rr- a eimulf, an -

eou6 aI,IemVI Io preoenL

Nwo differenT, modee of

vieion: vieion wif,h a distinct,

focal cenler and vieion which

ie Ver iphera l , d i f fuse, ind ie-

tincN. Aqain, f,wo heteroqe-

neoue elemenf,g.

It r t l

trl Heterogeneous?Tn Yes. Helero'qeneoue rneano

"rnade up of dissimi-

lar elementra,"

ToeLic melaVhor

accom?l iehea the

eame. When I eay "my

love ig a roge" I am

invoking a hef,eroqe-

neou6 difference.

Aft,er all, a rose and

my love may have very

liVlle in common.

Oecauee all f,hese

works of arfi bring our

attention Eo f,he

Ohher, to a radieal

difference, they are

polirical.

The TostmodernCondition

ln 1974, the year

Toetmodern noveliel

Thomae Tynchon'e

Gravityb Rainbow,

won Lhe Naf,ional

Sook Award, "sfreak'

inq" became a fad in

Ihe UniLed SIalee,

lrAama Caee of the

7overnment,. The

repo(D eurveyo the

sf,atrus of science and

f,echnolo6,y, and hae

become oomethinq

thal for lhe past

few decadee eci- Nffi

Klanguaqe, l inquie- i l i l ,

ence hae increas- ((n

ingty inveoNiqaLed N

Lo deaf,h

on a eandwich,

and a )oviet

probe f,ouched down

on Mare, Lyof,ard

qained int ernaf, ional

fame for The Poat-

modern Condition: a

report on knowledge,

an accounl commig-

sioned by lhe Counci l

of Univerei t ies

of lhe Quebec

etoraqe, daf,a banks,

and Vrobleme of

tranelation from one

comput er languaqe T,o

anof,her. He Vro-claimed Nhat, f,'hese

Nechnoloqical chan7eo

would have a major

imVacX on knowledqe.

fhus, in 1974 he

Vredict ed that, no

knowledge wil l eurvive

Ihat cannol be

and etoraqe of infor-

mat ion wi l l no longer

depend on ind iv idua le ,

bul on compuT,ere.

lnformalion will be

produced and eold.

Nalione will

fight for

informaf,ion

lhe way

Ihey ueed to

fight, for Lerri-

fory. lnformaf,ion

wi l l z ip around f ,he

globe aL f,he epeed of

electriciNy, and Veo'ple will try No et eal

it. The role of the

sf,af,e will grow weak-

er. Taking lhe place of

eLalee, huqe mulf, ina-

Nional corporaNione

will dominaNe.

7ul havinq eaid

a l l th ie about ,

Lhe direct ion

of ecienf,ific

knowledqe,

Lyolard adde

lhat, scienhific

knowledge ie noN

lhe only k ind of

knowledqe. Hie

int,ereot, iN Iurno ouf',

is nof, so much in oci-

enlif ic knowledqe and

Ihe scientif ic met'hod,

?er oe, but, in how sci-

enNific knawledge and

melhod leryibimize

lhemeelves-how

they make them-

selvee believable and

f,rusNworIhy, And al

this Voint, Lyotard

makes a disf,inctrion

between ecienlific

talk and narcaT,ive

t alk. Of couree he

doeen'N uge f.,he

word "Nalk," He

u6eo ocienlifrc"digcouroe" and

n a r r af,iv e " di I c a ur g a ."

tranelat ed into com-

Vuter lanquaqe-inf,o

quanlitiee of informa-

Eion. Learning wi l l no

lon7er be aseociaf,ed

wihh hhe lraining of

minde-wiNh leach-

ere f,raininq eluden|,s.

For f,he tranemieeion

t l t t

El Norrotive?In Yee. I will qive you eomeexamplee IhaI LyoLard doee noluee, buL which helV exVlain hief,heory. When membere of theWinnebaqo tribe ei|, around a

fire and hear a chanl of how

Ihe world was created by

thought, or Nhe boshon-

0o, a 1anf,u Iribe, ':.,

chanl how Nhe qod

Dumba vomiled

fofDh lhe Moon :

and ?lare,

or when

the early

JaVaneoe

heard a

chanN

about f,he

formatrion

of Heaven

and EarAh

from a

Trimordial S\Eqq-theyare l isf,en-

inq to narcative, to poVular st o-

riee, mythe, legendo and t ales.

And euch mylhe leqit imize

ih em s elv e e-m ake Nh em e elv e e

believable-juot, in the t ell inq. And

atr Nhe eame T,ime bhey leqitrimize

lhe eociety in which Ihey are lold.

The teller of trhe mfih doee not,

have I,o argue or ?rove,like a sci-

entiet, when he chanNe Ihe otory

of Oumba vomitinq f,he Voon and

the 1f,ars, Verely in VefiorminqLhe myth, in lhe vibrations of 6he

chanT,, the beat,, the rhyT,hm-lhe

6en6e of naf,ural t ime is dieeolved

and Ihe awareneoo oVene t o

mythic l ime: No narcalive time.

Accordinq to Lyot ard, nureery

rhymeo and eome repetitive forme

of cont em?orary music aNIempI

t o enNer Nhe same o?ace of mylh-

ic f, ime.

The chant er of the mfih leqil-

imizes iN eimVly by etatinq:

24

*'He"e is fher^tylh o0 Bvtvv} )a,

Vot tifirtg fhe l.{oonavr| Sfatrg, atS l'Veatlwatys hecrA if

charrfe,A. lwillchar'rf if fo yoh irrr,try fr4vrr. LiSf er\."

He then chants the myth.

When he is finiehed he eaya:

*'He"e enAs fheu'ryfh o* Butr,"rbat.

The u^ath who hatsIcl"l*anfed if lo

yoh iS Pontgo."

The narrat or has authority f,ochant f ,he chanl becauoe he haoheard it chant ed himeelf, Anyonel ie len ing qa ine the oame author i -ly merely by l ietening, lt ie even

claimed IhaI the chanl hae been

chanled forever, thal gumba Him-

eelf wae Ihe firel one t o chanV

r ,he chan t . The mfuh , l he chanLer ,

lhe audience, al l form a kind of

social bond-a social qroup lhal

leqi t imizee i leel f f ,hrouqh the

chantr ing of lhe

mfih.The myf,h

requiree no

authorizaf,ion or

Ieqi t imizatr ion

other /- "v"

lhan

iloelf.

The

mwhdefinee

what hae ttluilWr\

the r ighl \ro be eaid and

\ ' (

done in Nhe cul lure. \7uf , accord inqto t

Lyotard, ecientific die-

couroe ie a differenl kind

of lanquaqe qame I ,han nar-

ral, iv e diec oure e-th an myth.

5 cient i f ic diecouree c annollegit imize iteelf.

t *oand

Lwo

I

)r^{

i ( g

T;;* J,6;1J

Ihe work of the Vhilooopher Ludwiq

WiVLqenef,ein. ln hie early workWittrgenstidn

looked for f,he pertecf,, loqical languaqe

that could of,ale everylhinq wilh clarif,y

and Vrecieion. Any of,her u6e of lan-

quaqe-euch ae tel l ing a joke, reci t ing

poetry, or chanf,inq lhe

mfih of Sumba-he

would have 6een ae

meaninq leee.

7uI lhen he changed h ie mind. He

be6an Lo eee LhaL Lhere are many

differenL languaqe qame6 thaN we

?l ay, F or inetanc e-?r ayinq,

oinqinq, Ie l l inq jokee, qoeeiVinq,

awearinq, makinq a promiee, taking

a vow, Wonouncinq a couple man and wife, f ,e l l inq

a l ie. Science ie a differenf, kind of lanquaqe qame from thaV of mylh,

l l cannot, legil imize i leelf or validat e if,eelf by i le own ?roceduree.ln the lanquaqe qame of ecience f ,he scient ie l makee denola'

Live gf,af,emenl,g rather than myT,hical ones.

t l \ t

El Denototive stotements?In A denotative sLaf,ement ig one ouch as "'Moon'

ie a f,erm trhatr denof,es a material body (oafell i fe)

' which rolaleo and orbita around lhe planel

EarIh wilh a uniform and known eVeed and at'

a defrnile dislance, according f,o known New-

f,onian (or Eineteinian) law6."

Do you meqn to

soy thot NASA

scientists, in

order to legitimize

the moon-shot,

chont the myth

of how Bumbq

vomited the

Moon?In No. Accordinq to

Lyolard, ecience has

deVended upon two

ot.her narcaNives. The

firet ie polif,ical, the

e ec on d, Vhil o o o Vhi c al.

The first, narrative

ecience reliee u?on

in order No leqif,imize

itself ie

qeneralized cribical

inNell e ct-in f a ct, f,h e

very idea of an

intellectual-was

a Vroduct of

lhe Enl iqht -

enmenl, lnlel-

lectuals were

cal led

"'VhiJoooVhers

In France lhey

were called

because

lhe qreat

thinkere

of the

e?4,

men ,such ,onf

a 9

' philoeophee,

where they

enjoyed 6reaf,celebrity and

Vreotiqe, and

do to thio day.

associat'ed wilh the

l9rh century, trhe

Enliqhtenment and the

French Revolution. The

l9th century was also

called the Aqe of Rea'

6on,-in France Le

Sibcle dee Lumibre*

Volr,aire, Rougseau,

buffon, Condi l lac and

DideroV, applied rea-

son to every area of

lif e: reli qion, mor alitry,

polit ice, eocial l i fe,

The idea of a place

in oociety for a kind of

Reject rellgiouo

authorlt'yl Down with

old lhinge like meta-

phyoice, ignorance,

oup erotit ion, int oler-

anae and paroahial-

ism! Let,t'lhe ratlional

faculties of t,lhe mind,

wedded to ecience,

advance knowledge to

ever expanding viotasl

Let reason unloak the

laws of nature and

usher in an ofiimletic

agel Let the praaliaal

disaoverlee of eoience

allow men and women

to get, on with t,he

?ro?er busineee of

eeeking happlneeel

And happineee meano

p olitlical freedo ml Let,

lhe happiness of hu-

manity on earth mean

the libert'ythe liber-

ation of humanity!

All this meano ?rog-reesl Let science and

reaoon bring ?rog-rese and treedoml

Joined to f,his

French poli l ical nar-

rative of freedom is

a German narrative:

Heqel'o VhiloooVhy of

Ihe Unity of all

Knowledqe. For Heqel,

knowledqe played an

essenlial VarL in

the gradual evolu-

t ion of Nhe human

mind from iqnorance

to f,olal being.

both Nhe French

Enliqht enmenf, narra-

l ive and the German

knowledqe narcabive

are what, Lyotard calls

metanarcatives or

grand narrativeo, biqgtories, glorieg of

mythic proVorLione-

thal claim tro be able

to account for, exVlain

and eubordinate all

lesser, l i t t le, local nar-

rat ives.)ome other

melanarralives are

lhe philoooVhiee of

Marxigm or t,he narra-

tive of Chrisl ian salva-

tion. Thus f,he narra-

f,ive of a successful

Mare exVedition in

which a 3" x 3" nano-

rover lande on the

-11O Celsius surface of

lhe Vlanet to qenerate

and tranemit back No

Earth diqit al imaqee

of the Mare-oca?e,-

ie a litlle narcalive

Nhat io Vaft of the biq

ot ory-Nhe met anar-

raiive-of f,he free-

dom, trhe l iberalion of

humanity (French),

and the af,t ainment of

a ?ure, self-conscious

eViri l-the Unity of all

Knowledqe (German).

-J./

So porodoxicolly, science octuolly

depends upon these two grond norrotives

for legitimizotion.

That'e right,. buI lhe Vroblem-accordinq to

Lyotard-ie thal eince World War l l , peoVle no lonqer

believe in Lhese two grand meNanarratrivee. AfLer all,

aVplying science and reaeon Io Lhe conelruclion of qae

chambere and efficienl railroad schedules, Lhe

Nazie exterminaled mi l l ione of human beinqe. Did

theee VeoVle exVerience freedom and l iberaLion?

And did ocience fulf i l l Aegel'e narcaNive ol increaeing

knowledqe? No. For Vhyeice has led ue No Nhe realizabion

lhaf, elec|,rono can f,ravel I,wo differenf, palho Nhrouqh

6?ace eimullaneouely-or ?aee from one orbil No

anolher withoul croeoinq f,he eVace in beNween. A VaradoxlAnd how can we unfold the Unity of all Knowledqe if our

Nhought proceeeee are notr even able tro comVrehend

how Lheee Ihinqe haVVen?

Oecause of disbelief in Nhe meNanarca-

l ives trhat had leqil imized ecience, science

no lonqer playe Nhe role of a hero lhat,

would lead us elowly loward full freedom

and abeolut e knowledqe.

4 f Y '

@ ,u* if scientific reseorch is no longer obout finding Truth-thenwhqt is it obout?

Eqoe6

When ecience encount er6 ?aradoxes, such as the elechron ,r,hat,

oVVooihe directione eimu\,aneouoly, it, abandone iNe search for' decidable truths and eeeks Io legitrimize itself through

performativity. Science otopo aokinq,"What kind ofresearch will unfold the lawe of nature? " and be7ino

aekinq, "What kind of reeearch will work best?"

i- And t o "work be6t" meano "What kind of

research can qenerate more of the eame kind

of reaearch? Can it perform? Can it producemore of the oame kind of research?" 9o ecience

ie no lonqer concerned witrh truth but, wiT,h ?er-f o r m ativiNy-V e rto r mi n q-V r o d u ci n q m o r e of th e

oame kind of research, becauee the more researchyou Vroduce,Ihe more Vroot you Vroduce and the

more you are oeen ao beinq riqht, the more moneyand power you getr.

9o when Veople no lon7er believe in lhe metranarca-l ives trhat,legitrimize ecience, science ie then forced

No leqilimize iloelf-juef, as Ihe myth of Dumbavomitinq the Moon and 7trars leqil imizeo itoelf byitself. bolh science and VeoVle chantinq the bumbachant, can then oay,

\e Ao whatf we Ao,becarhse fhatf's fhe

wary we A,o it"

Then whot's the differencebetween the two, qfter qll?

In The difference, for LyoIard, ie

LhaN where tradil ional eocietiee

are under the eVel l of one domi-

nanN narraf,ive, ouch as the mfuh

of Dumba, TosNmodern oociely ie

a oocief,y in which no one narca-

tive-biq or l i t l le-no one lan-

quaqe qame dominaf,ee, ln Tosl-

modern societrieo many

micronarralives are jammed

toqether. And bhis carnival of nar-

raNivee reVlacee the monoli lhic

?regence of one metanarratrive.

But doesn't this meon the dis-

oppeoronce of our universql

system of meoning? Doesn't

this just creqte q void?

Yes, Dut, thie void ie f i l led in

by ewirling qalaxiee of little eto-

ri e e-l i t t l e mi cr o n arc af, iv e s. T h e

void ie filled in by a kind of et ory-

Iell ing Ihaf, doee noL seek t o

|eqit imize itself Nhrouqh ref erenc e

t o a eingle qrand narcat ive out -

side if,self. For inst ance, a f,eller of

talee in ancientr lndia, ei t r t r inq

under hie banyan tree, would have

Iold Nhousands of etrories-buI

all Ihese e|,oriee would have been

legit imized

by Ihe

qrand Hindu

Nhe liberalion

of the human ',,;r ', .-/

atr your

local

echool,

may tell

a t radi-

t iona l

Eskimo

orh

eoul Ihrouqh

Enl iqhlenment.

ln conf,ragf,,

otory-t eller at, yourlocal bookslore, orvieit ing the chi ldren

'f

,/i

Naf,ive

Ameri '

can

Trick-gT,er

t a le , or

the eNory

of RaVunzel lett inq down her lonq,

qolden hair for a handeome younq

Vrince, or the otory of bumba

vomiNinq f,he Moon and 9t ars-

and f ,el l Nhem al l in one oi l t inq.

Hlqtr

None of Nheee eloriee eeeke leqil imizaf,ion

or Vroof lhrough oome qrand narcalive. Each

definition of ?oef,moderniem ae

in cre dulity tow ard m etan a rrativ e e

conlinuee f,o have great inffuence.

E But isn't[yotord's story obout

disbelief in metonorrotives

just qnother metonorrotive? lsn't he being outhori-

torion obout how there cqn be no quthorities?

In Yee. Lyot ard has been attracked on Nhoee

!'t grounde. ln facL, hie notion trhatr VeoVlehave etoVVed believinq in qrand narcatives be-

cauee euch narrat ivee marqinal ize minor i l iee

7-tilffi;

ffi"

Who ore someother mop-

mokers of the

Postmodern

world?

A eecond infru-

ential Toslmodern

Ihinker is Fredric

Jameeon. As a

Marxigf,, Jamegon

ie int eresf,ed in trhe

relationehiV of rhe

individual to the

world of objecNe,

whether Nhoee ob-

jectre be cans ot

oou? or mul t ina-

l ional corVoratione.

Like mostr Marxietrs,

his refreclions on

Ihie relationehip

alwaye lead back to

hielorical reality.

For inst ance,

leminqway'e ?roeeolyle-hie bare,

Vared-down een'

f,enceg-can deg-

cribe movemenf,

through naf,ure

and ouqqeol ten-

sion and resent -

ment belween hie

macho charactrere.

The ekill of a bull-

f iqhter or t roul

f isherman in Hem-

inqway reffectrs the

American admira-

trion of trechnical

skill-buf, reject e

Ihe way in which

induetrial oociety

alienaleo VeoVle.Thue skill is dis-

Vlayed in leieure

acbivilies, far from

indueNry, uoually

by exVatriatee who

have alienat ed

themselves from

American induslrial

eociety,u?oetmodernlem,

or ihe CulturalLogic of LateCapital ism"

Lyotard celebrateethe mult iVle, incom-

Vatrible, heteroqen-eoue, fraqmenled,

conf,radict ory ahd

ambivalenf, nabure

of Tostmodern 6o-

ciety while Jamesondistrusls and die-likes it,. ln hie falmoue eegay "?opl,-

moderniem: orLhe Cultural Loy' ic

of Latre CaViIal'ieml' Jameeondoes not, see Nhe

-:,{ff

Toetmodern era ae

Voetinduef,rial-aean ebb in the Lide

of caVitral iom,

Ka|,her, he sees iL

ae an int ensif ica-

Nion and lat eel

Vhaoe of a caVifal-

ietr world eyetem,

Jameeon wae

heavi ly infuenced

by Erneel Vandel'e

Late Capitaliem,

which broke down

rhe 19lh and ZONh

centur ies int o

definitre hietori-

cal per iodo.

F IR9T : f rom

17OO r,o 1&5O, the

period of marketr

caVitral iom. Durinq

Lhis era induetrial

caVihal aocumulatr-

ed moetly in

n ahi,b r, :1, Al rn arket s.

SECO N D :

monoVoly caVi t a l -

iem, dur inq lhe age

of imVer ia l iem.

National marketre

ex?anded inI,o world

markat"s. Thou1h

f,haoe mar\els were

baeed in VafricularimVerial nat ion-gNateg, they de-

Vended u?on out-

lying areao for raw

mater iale and

cheap labor,

TH IKD-i'.he Toslmodern VhaeeeruVled on Ihe world ecene wilh the unre-

stricted growVh of multinalional corVora-l ione-euch ae Coca-Cola. Thie is Ihe Vureot, form

of caVilaliom yeI f,o emerqe-invading nature by

deetroyinq the ?re-capilaliet, forme of agricullure-

and invadinq the unconecioue mind by advef i ie inq.

Mandell 'o hiot,ory inepired Jameson lo proclaim

Ihree culNural Veriodo-in each of which a unique

cu\ur al lo gic domin af ,es;

Fiv51- is fhe ^ge o0 Reatlisr,"rThe era of Ihe bourqeoie, hietorical novel.

SeconrA is fhe ^ge o+ HoaevhisuJameson admires moderniem because modernieN culf,ure

ex?reoaed ite dieeaNistact'ion wilh I'he world. Take Edvard

Munch'e VainT,in7 The gcream. For Jameeon it' ie a deeVerate

cry ex?reeeinq Nhe qreaf, modernieV Nhemee of alienaf,ion,

roolleeeneae,lack of identri ly, eoli lude, and eocial fraq-

menf,alion.gimilarly,Van Ooqh'o Vaint' inq Peaoant thoee critr-

icizes an enfire world of peaeanl poverLy and mieery.

Moderniel buildinqe, euch ae Le Corbueier'e "qreat

Vilolio" etrand ouf, ae grand ut'oVian beacons in

briqhl conf,rastr lo the deqraded city our'

roundinq them. They ex?reee a Volir ically

Vaeeionat'e vision of Ut'oVia.

Thiv/' is fhe ^ge oP PosfuroAevnisu,t?oelmodern cult ural f orme reflecI lhe dielocatrion and fraqmen-

t al ion of lanquaqe communit ies-eVl inlered in lo smal l qrouVe-

each o?eakinq "a curious Vrivalelanguaqe of itre own, each profee-

eion develoVinq iIo Vrivat e code or

dialect, and frnally each individual

cominq No be a kind of l inguistic

ieland, oeVaraXed from everyone

el6e" (co 114).

Thue, accordinq tro Jameeon,

?oslmodern cit y - dwellers are

a l ienahed, l iv inq in an ha l luc ina-

f, ion, an exhilaraNinq blur, a reality

evaporatinq inlo mere imageo,

oVect acles, elranqe new warVe in

time and oVace, fixal,ed on com-

moditieg, on Vroducf,o, on imaqee,

like the exVloeion of Andy Warhol'e

poV a(0, on flowe of imaqee et olen

from conoumer cultrure and re?ro-

duced wilh induetrial reVebiIion,

CamVbel l 'e )oup cane, Sr i l lo

boxee, botllee of Coca-Cola, col-

laqee of idenf,ical imaqes of Holly-

wood eNare euch as Marilyn Mon-

roe, all eamenees, all surtace-all

deVthleoaneee. ComVared to Van

Gogh'e Peaaant

thoes, which ex-

?re6eee a real

world of rural

mieery, Warhol'e

Diamond Duet

thoee ex?ree6-

eo a depthleoo-

neee with no link t o any realily:

the collaVee of Nhe distinction

between hiqh cul lure and low cul-

lure; maeeee of oVechaf,,ore aban-

doned f,o a qaze of imaqe

addictr ion: 'N imaqee

etripVed of reality,

leavinq only a 6ur-

face, a gimu-

lacrum, schlock,

kitsch, O movies,

?ul? fic|,ion, adver-

Nioing, motrele,

Keaders Diqeef, cul-

f,ure: Nhe merely deco-

ralive, euV erfi cial, qra -

t uit ous eclecbicism of

7o slm o d ern archit e clure

canniba l iz ing a l l Nhe arch i -

leclural eNylee of the

V aet+ f,h e D on av enlure

lotel in Los Anqelee, a mon-

umenl of Toef,modern archi-

f,eclural eVace.

lile a [ac[ doon! lle entens a postmodenn[ypers[ace! lfe nides eleuatons and escalatonsetennally lloating up and ilown lile 0iant gondo-

' - ' ) t - I

:. -- 1 diny, dnonlnin0 in a [euuildenin0 emptire$$. lle uuants* r- i a mal s0 tlrat he can map ftis way to the extennal uuonldl=:l I:1- i ,; ameeon f eele t'hat, hie dizzineet when f aced wirh ?oet -

) our incaVaci ly to ma? our rela-

rcrld of vael comVut er nef,worke

>ns. Toetmodern theory, too, offere

, ,m of the centerlees poelmodern

I world than a cure.

,wel l known for hie dieT, incl ion

One thinq trhal ToeLmodernily hae

4o. In the aqe of modernity we sLil l' I L ^ t i ^ . , ^ ) t , ^ , - - r ^ ^ - . . t ^ ! ^ ^ L L t - -believed in the eubject-the eqo.

Afr,iete euch ae Heminqway ?oo-eeeeed a unif ied e4o and idenli-

f,y-even if it wae an alienated one,1:-1151: i l : -n . 'l*\J

t',tbtl # And ?oeoeaeinq an identity, Nhey ?oe-

f-'{tis1 eeesed a otyle f,hat could be the oubject-\.r-'.

of Varody-you could make fun of iI by imi-t atrinq il. Every year, for instance, f,here is a

li lerary cont eel in which writ ere imitrale

tt Heminqway's otyle in a humorou; way,

,\lF-.1-i:tH-.

Every year we met at Harryb bar. We drank there. And every year

was a good year. And we sat and drank and imitated Hemingwayb

etyle. And we were good there.i . ,

',,4>( ' oK

7f, < , J

: Af.t t-( , )N +

but Toetmodernity hao fraqmented lanquaqe and T,he oubject-bolh

have become echizoid. Jameaon feele that, parody and ealire are only

Voeoible in an era af healthy l inquietic normaliNy.rI t \ t

lll You meon like in Gulliver's Trqvels, Jonothqn Swift wds oble to sot-irize the qbnormql longuoge of scientific reoson becouse everyoneknew what normol speech wqs like?

Ilfl Yee, Dut,in the ToeNmodern aqe,rhere ie no linquiot.ic normaliLy.Thue we can only Vroduce paotiche-lke an impereonaNor who ran-

domly et,arls ouN imVersonaling boqarr, and Nhen swirchee, in themiddle of hie l ine,f,o Marilyn Monroe, and rhen No Doy Georqe orJamee Dean, and f 'hen to Konald Keagan.ln Vaetiche Lhere io only Ihieomorqaebord of quot arione-like a dozen different, movie and M'Wvideoe and televieion ehowe eVliced randomly toqether.

As a Varxisl who believee trhat, the world is run by hieloricalforces, Jameson'e bigqeet 7ripe aboul the ?oslmodern era is lhal it

eignalo Lhe end of a qenuine awareneoe of hiehory. bu| Jamesonfeels that an awarenee; of history i6 Vrecieely what we

now need to Viece Ioqether our ehaf,Nered ?oef,-

modern lanqua7e and eelvee, which,l ike HumVly

DumVLy, have become' fragmented, Itr ie whal we need to unify lhe

p aoI- Vreeenl-fulure of trhe eenNence-t o

unify our ?oychee and our l ives.

What we need is whal Jameeon cal le an"aesthetia of cognitive mapping" No repre-

eent our imaqinary relationehip Lo realiLy, What

we need, accordinq to Jameeon, i6 Marxism-a eci-

ence f,haf, can f,,el l whaV ie imaqinary and what ie

real-Nhal can recover lrue historical conecioueneol

and normalcy.

I

7 ' tJP

(t

pl rut wouldn't Lyotord soy thqt Morxism isq metonorrotive?

I

l) Yeo. And 60 you can oee Ihat nol all

Tostmodernists aqree. ln fact,, Jameson

eeeme overcome by T,he ffow of imaqee

in the Toetmodern media-but,

our nexL "ma?-maker," Jeangaudril lard, oeems Io euq-

qeet, a kind of paooive

eurrender f,o this ffow.

and the Death of vhe Real

You arve wiveA. -I1ne gatssive vichu'r oS

-fl.1, cou,rgullv, auA 42Y4vtiS-

irrg. Yoq awe hygrrofizeA by

the lhbe, by fhe obsce\e

€low oP iu,ratges. )orr ratise

You{v eYelias. A Varu,rgirs53

is krreelirrg ovev yoq-volug-

h^ously-fhe muscles oP he"

rrecl., fhe ivory cqwe o€ he" shoql/ets, illramirre/

as i€ by cool moonlight She lic\cs he' scar"let ligs liLe

ath arhiu arl, gla:ilng fhem with at shee\ o€ u,roisft^v€,hev eugovgeA

forrgrae glistertirrg 45 if laqs fhe whife feefh. She leatrrs close",

€eel her cool breo*h, fherr the shat"Phess o* ihcisors Peh-

etvarlirrg yotar treck. Yoq close yoqv eyes ih at latrrgtrotor,ts

ecsfatsy atrrA watiFwatif wifh beatfirtg heatrt

This, accordinq tro t'he imaqery of ToeNmodern t'heorist Jeangaudril lard, is eimilar to eociely'e relaNionehip No trhe world

of maee media, adve(bisinq, Lelevieion, newo?a?ero,

maqazines. The era of maoe communicat' ione

invades our darkened roome, embracinq ue

with if,s cool,lunar l iqhl, ?enetrabinAinNo our mooT, ?rivale receggeo, We

auccumb to the fatal af,Nracl.,ion,

^urrenderinq ourselvee in an ecelaoy

of communicat ion.

The trhought of Jean Dau-

drillard ie parl of a New Wave

of French theory lhat

broke on American

ehores in the'7O9, 'BOs

and '9Oe-replacinq

Nhe trenry over

former waveo

dominaled Wpoet -World War ll

f iquree such as

)a(Dre. Just ae

Nietzeche once

Vroelaimed the

Oeabh of God,

baudril lard's

Nhouqht declares

I,he death of

modernity, the

death of the

real, and the

death of eex.

Oaudril lard

underminee deep

foundations of

thouqhi in dieci-

Vl inee such as

Marxism, eemi-

otice, polit,ical

eci ence, economice, reliqiouo

eNudies, anthrop olo qy, liher alure,

film and media etudies-to

name juol a few.

ln Vay of 1968-while mini-

skirt-clad American

women were cele-

bralinq No 7ra Day

by burninq Nheir

undies, while American

, hi?Vieo were triVVinq

No " TurVle H aze l"' V ellow

Yellow," and "Mrg. Kobin-

oonn-Tarieian youlh,

backed by Communiste and

other Marxiste, took f,o Ihe

etreets in a defianI and jubilant,

mo o d, cre at inq oomelhinq

betrween a carnival and a

revoluNion. Tariei an univ erei -

f,ies were eventually ohut

down by the studenl

eNrike, and factory

workere followed

suit. Troduction

and educabion

came lo a hall,

Under the threatr

of a radical over-

throw of the oyo-

Nem, de Gaul le

left, fhe countrry.

Oy June, however, if, wag oummer

vacabion l ime, turning the would-

be studenl revolul,ionaries inlo

beachqoers. The workers, encour-

a7ed by de Gaulle,

relurned No trheir

jobe-and thinqe

were eoon back

No normal.

Nevet'Vhelees,

the mags conla-

gion of Nhe move-

ment left deep

imVreeeione on

oome of the partic-

continue tro beinffuenced byMarxiet, thouqhl,but, would feelincreaeinqly that

Marxisf, Vhiloeo-phy ie ineuffrcienl

No exVlain life in

lat e caVitaliet

societiee. 9o he

beqan lookinq also

to gf,ructuraligm

and eemiolice t o

ouVVIemenL

Marxiem,

lEl Structurolism? Semiotics?Tfil Yee, AN the eame time ae

the etrudenf, uVrieinq, revolu-

de )aueeure arqued that mean-

inq in lanquaqe ie nof, Vroducedby a colleclion of sounds

1ausgure, there is

no natural corre-

eVondence betrween

Nhe "oound" horge, lhe

concept "hor6e" and ahoree. Katrher, he Nheorized,

Ianguage ie a eyelem of differ-

encee, eomebhing like Ihe red,

yellow and qreen

l iqhto in a

traff ic eignal.

;I

N L ^I ITL '

g

o

o

). Iionary evenf,s were laking

) place in Lhe eLudy of lan-

ipanT,o. One of theee Owae Jean gau-

Idrillard, who, for

#manyyeare to i Icome, would ei'ill

I)

)

).\\\',\ \

't\N".t\. \

',\\\ . .

t1,o fu ct?z?p-

4for"ab-.* (u-

6tern f"t ooh,

re ^"a(f.*ootae'Ff,'ho.'

The red, yellow and

qreen l iqhle qain their

meaninqe only in relatr ion-

ehiV No each oNher. A eye-

lem of purple, blue and qold

l iqhto would work jueL ae wel l .

9 emioNics exf,ended 3 aue-

eure' e l inguiet ic et rucNuraliem intro

obher realme: mfuh,faehion, f 'he

media, Volitr ice, reliqion, elc, The Ierm"Devi l" for inghance, hag no meaninq

by i leelf. l I only lakes on meaninq

ag an elemenl in a eyet'em ol

*Q.r',,et

ri.

Chrieli an Nh e olo qy / myt h,

where "devil" ig relaied lo

other concepts such as

"Godr" "Anqel," eIc, , ',

Earfy Writinge

)emiotice ie the slrucluraliet eNudy of various oyeteme of

meaning, l ike myT,he, f,raff ic oiqnalo, lanquaqe, fashion, eNc. Dau-

dri l lard's works combine a eemioNic, eNrucburalisl, etrudy of cullure

with a neo-Marxist analyoio. For insNance, in his early works-The

)yetem of )bjects, The )ociety of Consumption and For a Cri-

tique of the Tolitical Economy of the )ign-Saudrillard arque;

that, juot, a6 a younq boy who qrowe u? amonq wolvee

. becomeo wolflike, Veople in Toetmodern eocieLy, qrowinq

up in a world of objects-become more objecllike.

.i Thouqh Tostrmodern oocietry ie based on Nhe con-

oumpbion of commodities-on buyinq and uoinq

thinqo-Ihis coneumVtion can never make uo happy.

lEl But don't commodities sotisfy our noturol needs?

. \

This ie not, what, Marx believed. For Varx, an

objectr, before if, ie a commodity, hae a natural

use value. A car is ueeful because iN io Vlea-eurable to drive-becauee it lete you feel

Nhe voluptuoue curvalure of the earth-

\ and becauee if, traneVoflo you to vari-

oue Vlacee.

t (

Dt { \\\\

' ( \ t

\-/-'

However, ltrlarx aleo believed T,hat, examVle, he ie buying int o a

in a caViLaliet eociety an objec| whole syef'em of neede lhaL ie

becomee a commodivy and I,akes aT, once rat' ional, homoqeneouo,

an an exchange value. The car eyef,emalic and hierarchical. The

can be exchan4ed for money. Dul purchaoe of f 'he Mercedee dif-

Saudril lard eaw Ihie Marxiel terenliat eo Lhe buyer eocially

aeoeoementr of an object ae too from VeoVle who drive Volkswa-

l imi t iny , and euVVlemented i r - 6ene, and Lh ie ?ur -wilh a semiotic analyeio- ,nffiY'4 -- '-r) chase helVe

^$ . . --1--i-;an analyeie of Lhe /gn

- .. ' j tRf>*- inLegrale

meaninq o f the F ! hinr, oyef,em-

objecl. For, l ike f,raf- j , . ' , . , . i Vf\( l M y arical ly and

ficlishre,com- ffi-Wfigtffibffit' rafionallv,moditiee have Z \H

' '* i;..;.-y I,N, into a homo-

mean inae , l n l h ie \ qeneoue level

moditiee donr i'2ilh,' *ffi bvet of eociery(

1ueIea| ie fynaf 'u r . ,4 / ' , ' l t ' , ' . . ' l so . f f i tW. 'N. - inwhichevery .al needs-rathe. $ ,, ,ir*dffiffiffillii I

','N\ \ __ one driveo a

eocietry crear,ee our dtNi, : ffifllii;1i,, r.\,, $i$'- Mercedee.

neede. lluman ffi *NN$ffi. Thue, for \au-

beinqo, afLer all, '\\lrr \-*- 6-'

ffi drillard, lxrlarx did

have a deeV desire Lo dietrin-

guieh themeelvee from oLher

human beinqe throuqh oyotemo

of oocial difrerent'iat'ion. For

members of tr ibal cultures

Nheee differenceo miqhtr be oig-

naled by rhe uee of certain

f,at,to o g o r f e at'h erg.

Oul in our eocief,y, when a

conourner buyo a Mercedes

inet ead of a Volkowagen, tor

not, recoqnize the eymbolic,

eemiof.,ic aopect' of f,'he objecl-

Ihe factr thal when you buy a

Mercedee if, eiqnif iee eomet,hinq,

The Merc&des, beeidee havinq a

use value, gerveo ae a eiqn of

lhe consumer'; Vreoliqe, rank,

and eocial elandin7. Thue con-

eumVtion ie noL iuet conoum7-

f, ion but ' conoVicuoue coneum?-

lion, We dieplay whaL we buy,

cona?icuouoly, in order Io differ-

ent i atre ours elv ee oo cially.

And you can'tr buy juol one

object in order t o enNer a eocial

level, you need No buy into an

entire eyolem \:::--

of object e. Thue -\-

--.-----:>.-

when you are Vickinq out, your

Mercedeo, you also need tro ohop

for a T,ennig club, an egt,af,e in an

exclueive neiqhborhood, a qood

Vrivat e echool for your children, a

faehionable vacaT,ion epof,, etc, A

need, lhen, ig not, go much a

need for a Vafticular object, as it

is a need Io disl"linguieh oneeelf

eocially, a need for social differ-

ence and meaning,

NeiLher is coneumption

Vrimarily for pleaoure-for il

requireo immense reaourcee and

enerqy. A Vereon muoT, earn trhemoney and leieure trime tro obtain

the Mercedee and ehow it off,The effoft required t o do lhieof-f,en demande Nhe denial of

Vleaeure. ConeumVNion, lhen, ienot natural-somelhinq we aut,o-matically inherit from nature-

butr cul lural , The coneumVtion,

dioVlay and uee of objecte takee

place on Nhe baeie of cullural

codes thaN demand we conform

by ceaoeleoely buy-

ing inlo f,he lalest'

fads and trends.

Theee codee are

juot like the

rulee of

4rammarthat, underlie

a lanquaqe-

makinq com-

munical ion

Voeeible. The

codee organize

commoditriee intro hier-

archical eyelemo of meaning

baeed on Vrice and preotiqe, This

Iir ing feedinq frenzy of coneump-

lion, this search for beinq, mean-

inq and Vreetiqe trhrough con-eumVtion, cauoeo fatique andal ienat ion in the heroee of con-eumVbion. Always latentr in con-

eumVt ion, Ihen, lurks a eVi r i t o f

rebell ion. Coneumers reach a

Voint, of refusal-they qeI feduV and end up burninq their braeor eruVtinq inlo more radical

forme of eocial change.

a IttNKt, fi€REFoRr L rMl

'The Ordere of9imulacra"

Ourinq rhe 197Oe

and 19BOe bau-

dri l lard et oVVed em'

Vhaoizinq hio Marxist

leaninqo and was

heralded as the

moef, advanced the-

orief, of media and

eociety in f,he ?oetr-

modern era,

Tostrmodern soci-

elies, dominaled by

comVut ers and f,ele'

vision, have moved

inNo a new realif,y,

which he out l inee

in "The Orders

of j imulacra."

Simulqcrq?

Isimulocro,plurol;simulocrum,

singulorl

Yee. For Dau-

dr i l lard simulacra are

coViee of real ob-

jecto or eventg. ln"The Ordere of Simu-

lacral ' he deecribee

how Nhe relaNionehiV

be|,ween trhe real and

lhe simulacrum hae

chanqed Nhrouqh hio-

tory.Durin7 Nhe feu-

dal era, when Guin-

evere; blew kisses

from the ramVafie

of castrlee to Lance'

lote in ehininq armor,

when the feudal lord

wae Nhe oymbol of

eafthly auNhorily,

and trhe Virqin Mary

i l lumined the etained

qlaee windowe and

the hearf,s of her

devof,eee, oociely

wae orqanized by

a relaf , ionehiV to

a eyetrem of fixed

eiqne, which

were l imited in

number and eu? -

Voeedly div ine.

For insLance, we

can read in Lance-

lol 's coal of arms

hie eoc ia l rank and

elalus. The eocial

elalue

of trhe

Vrinceee blowinq

kiseee from trhe

ram?arLe, ie eiq-

nif ied by her

dreee and by her

adherence to f,he

convenNione of

courT,ly love. And, of

cour6e, a l l thege

codee of behavior

and dreee are div ine-

Iy eancLioned by f,he

eymbole of lv1ary and

of Jeeue eh in ina

eerenely aI the Iop

of the hierarchy of

eymbole-throuqh

ola ined g laeo

windowe.

ln euch eocieLiee

one ie aee iqned to

a fixed social e?ace,

like a caeLe, and

mobil ity belween

eocial c laeeee or

caef,es is imoooeible.

A serf, Iaboring in

the fielda, could not

become a knight.

\t

@

ffi '

w@

":0

Then, in Nhe

Veriod of early

modernily, from

lhe Renaieeance

f,o trhe beqinninq of

Ihe lndueNrial Rav-

oluNion,Ihe r iq id order of

lhe feudal era broke down

due t o Lhe r ise of the

bourgeoieie.

Durinq the medieval

period Nhe world wae creaf,ed

in f,he imaqe of God. but, in

lhe era of early modernif,y,

imaqeo, oigne and eymbols

were not divine buI atif icial

and Vroliferaled in the fielde of

theaf,er, fashion, aft and Voli-t r ice ae lhe new r ie inq claee

af,NemVt ed No creahe f'he

world in iNe own image.

" o For baudril lard, a

eymbol of thie aqe

wae Camil le Kenault , an old

cook, Nurned eculVNor, who l ived in

the Ardenneo and discovered lhe

p ert ecf, subsNance f or repro ducing

lhe world in hie own imaqe-Kein'

forced Concrete. From thie he

fashioned chaire, drawero,

oewinq machineo, an ent' ire

orch est ra, includinq viol ine,

oheeV, a hoq, Nrees. Accord-

ing to Daudri l lard, Renault '

6d,

ruled like a qod over hio pertect,

world made Voeoible by con-

cref,e-which for him wae like a

ment al subst ance, 7lucco aleo

emerqed in Ihis Veriod a6 a medi-

um of baroque aft,, and qave riee

lo gaudril lard'e eu?reme examVle

of thie aqe-Nhe 7Iucco Anqel. l t

was orlly one more oteVto Vlaolic.

DUN simulacra molded of etuc'

co, concrele (and latrer Vlaelic),Ihouqh counf,erteif,, Vroduced a

new world of torms made of a

d e alhl e s s, fr exibl e, in d e s|'r u clibl e

mat erial. 1audril lard eeee Ihis

olaqe of the simulacrum as f ,he

beqinninq otraqe of

lhe s imulacrum-

Nhe FireL Order

of j imulacra,

The Second Order of Simu-

lacra a??eare wiLh f,he advenl of

Ihe lndue l r ia l Ravo lu l ion, The e im-

ulacra now become infinit ely re?ro-

duc ib le lh rouqh indue l r ia l maez

producl ion. Whereao Camil le Ken-

aul l molded hie ar l i f ic ia l world by

hand, in the induef,r ia l era mecn-

anized meane of maee aoeembly

and producf,ion enable a Kenault

aulomobile facf,ory to Nurn ouf,

maeoee of exacf, replicae of care.

When gholograVhy and cinema

arrive on trhe ocene, even arl ouc-

cumbe t o the force of mechanical

rep ro d u cLi on, Kep ro du cti on i e

governed by markel forcee, which

now become lhe dominanf, Vr in 'c iVle-reVlacinq Lhe world of nat-

ural objecle.

7uL, accordinq to Saudri l lard,

we are now in lhe Third )rder of

) imulacra-the era of ToeImod-

ernity-lhe era of models. No

lonqer is t rhe s imulacrum a coun-

LertdL l ike Camille KanaulL'o

concreLe hog, or an i$finite eeriee,

I ike aulomobilee rol l i r lq off the

aeoembly l ine-bul i

IHt 5|I,l |JLfl[HlJlil,.-'H[[ill't t5

fiifft4{T tT"'$rLFl i!gr'g'rF_g

',

'l

The Vreoidinq ?ower in trhisera is Nhe model or the code."Diqilality ie iVe mef,aVhyei-

menf . a commodi -

t y , aVo l l , a t , e l ev i -

s i on ? roq ram, a

newo issue or a ?o-l i t i c a l c an d ida le ,

our re6?on6e ie

monit ored,

HEl You meon like:"Are you wotch ingdoytime TV or not?Are you buying Pepsi orCoke? Are you for con'didqte X or Y? Are you

weqr ing Co lv in K le inor Jordoche?'Tn Exactly. And such

LesIs nof, only regtrricL

ca lV r i nc i p l e . . . and

DNA ie i ts

? rophe t , "('tu 63-04).

Juet ' as lan-

quaqe ie qov-

erned by Ihe"code" of qrammar

and ou r b io loq i ca l

?roce?oeo are con-

trolled by the DNA code,

our cu\ural l i fe ie baeed

on a variety of codee;

we have oex videos,

yoqa videos, how't o

adv efi, isin q, t el evieion

and newe?a?ers t ro

provide Nhese codes.

Theee codes not,

o n l y V rov ide mo d '

els buf, also conf,in-

ually lest' ue. Every

time we reepond

"yeo" or "no" t'o

a f ash ion , an

adve r l i se -

manualg, cookbookg, our reg?oneeo to "yeo"

exercige videog, ?ar- or"no" buN algo determine

en t r i nq manua le , ou r op l i one , l im i l i nq the

very eco?e of the issuee

and lhin7e we may choose

f rom, Thus ou r l i vee a re

cont rolled by a oyot em of

b ina ry requ la | i on -where

trhe queof,ionlanewer oVf ion

of the Ies t ' has been re-

duced No an eilherlor binary

code:

This oyoT'em of binary choices acf'g ao a "deher-

rence modell' which eu??reoses radical chanqe'

pl w.tl, I con see how thqt would hoppen. After

qll, if we feel we hove o choice between Pepsi ond

Coke, between the Soops qnd the Discovery Chon'

nel, between o Republicon ond q Democrot,

between Sociolism ond Copitolism-oll ruled by

o binory, either/ot4l1-logic-then whqt more

do we need?;H For baudrillard t'he Nwin f,owere of Ihe

New York World Trade Cent,er eymbolize t'his

binary eyeNem. While the olher ekyecra?ere,

bui l l decades ear l ier , are oinqular and com-

pele aqqreaoively for af,tent'ion, Nhe t'wo

t owere strand lor lhe "clo6ure of Ihe oyg-

Lem in a verhiqo of duVlicalion" lotutb6-T).

Thue, everylhing becomes reduced

to cybernetice-t o a binary code thaLgeeme f,o reVreeenN differencee but,

which, in realiNy, only perpetuateo

Ihie oelf-requlalinq, binary eyolem,

which only minimizes differenceo ae

iN Noqqles back and fofth belween"yeo" or "nol' TeVei or Coke, KeVub-

lican or Democral.

-_::+

EEE

To me it seems like the fifmJurassic park.

How'o Nhat?

Becouse JurassicPark is obout peo-ple either possively

occepting or refusingto buy into being pos-sive observers of ospectocufor, monstrousworld of simulocro, of copies,generoted od infinitum bymeons of codes.

Thal'e bri l l iantl butr you muet,

aleo realize NhaI your very exam-

ple,lhe film Juraeeic Fark, ie

it self a monetrouo simulacra

qeneraNed ad infinif,um via a

code. buI accordinq to 7au-

dr i l lard, VeoVle inculburat ed

int o Toslmodern eociety are 60

surrounded by simulacra Nhey no

lonqer have a choice, Consider the

caoe of Joe Tlayer, an 17-year-old

behind the wheel of a car, He is on

a narrow mounLain road. He is

Vaeeing another car on a curve.

He is doinq 22O, too f ast to

evade Nhe oncominq truck thal

oeemo No leaV Noward him. Heslams on the brakes. He ekide.Crashl The Nwo vehiclee go up in a

burst of f lame.

A eecond

laNer the craeh

evaporalee.

Joe Tlayer'e

\ r ,

ntt

tir

car rea??eare unecathed, He

Foore it,, racing lo Vaeoanother car juetr ahead

of him, Joe Tlayer is ?lay-inq a video qame. When he

rune ouI of qua(bers he qoeo ]out, into Ihe Varkinq lof', into hio gx

real car, buI, ae he pul le out ' inf ,o\

Lraffic, iI doesn'L, eeem real. Nor

do Nhe care on lhe road, He feels

IhaI if he ran int o them he would

juel ea| them like Me. Tacman

eaNs dobs. Joe ?layer is eurfinq

the s imulacrum.

Oriqinally ei rn ula c?urn, accord-

inq tro ?laNo, ie Nhe false copU

that overshadows our expertence

of bhe essential and ldeal Forme.

A cocker opaniel, a German ohep-

herd, or a coll ie, for ineNance,

would be, in ?latro'e VhiloeoVhy,imVure coVieo of a univereal and

ldeal Eeeence of Doqgineea,

7ut in Saudrillard'a view, Toel-

modernity hae ovefr,,hrown Nhe

very concepl of true co?y. And

Ihis hao hapVened in ef,aqee.

lmagine f,he exVerience of a

Chrietian nun in medieval EuroVe.

the worehipo an icon of the

Madonna. The icon reffecle a

divine feminine realiNy. The icon is

a qood, Lrue copy because it is so

close tro the original lhat, in her

meditatione Nhe nun awakene l,o

Nhe eViritual ?reoence behind the

form, the could be cal led an idol-

ater-a worohiVer of an idol.

1uT' trhe iconoclasN seee thinqo differenNly. )he doeo not, feel NhaNimaqee reveal divinily, but mask and perve(D Nhe divine. Therefore, euch

imageo are evil, bad coVies, and ehould be deslroyed.

A f'hird ?ero?ect.ive is that of the ekeVIic. He feels Nhat the wholet'hinq ie a farce. The icon of Ihe Madonna only hides trhe factr lhatt.here ie no divine being-hidee bhe abeence of a divine beinq.

Finally, t 'here ie a foufth pereVective, ln Nhe ToeNmodern era, icone,

imaqee, copiee-simulabione-bear no reaemblance f,o any realiry, ln

factr, the eimulation, the simulacrum, the oopy, beoomee the real!

You meon like there ore o million copies not of the Modonno-but of

Modonno-which become more reol thon Mqdonno the person?

Holy Writ which they, like, wrote down, were only theouter expressions of a, like, deep fntcrcou?le theywere having with the mystical Word that illumined their,like, players. But of course, all these, like, prayers wete,fike domfnatcd, by a single image-that of the Holy,like, Virgin, the, like, Madonna.

Today, of course, it is not like, the Madonna whodominates, but, like, Madonna.like.flc! Today it is like,my image that undulates forevetmore, leploducing, like,infinitely, like, there are millions of me and like, and mil.lions of my like belly buttons, like, bouncing back andforth before everyone's vision as if trying to like,decide between am I like a like Virgin or like a likeWhore, in a like, erotic stream of images that MTVviewers, like, edit with like, Beavis and Butthead binarybrains: they like think that my image, the image ol mylike, belly button, is either like, "cool" or like "sucks."It is the image of my belly button, not my belly button,which has become the reaa.,

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,,lilllll1Tn Daudril lard emVhaeizee his

nl nol wilh hio belly buIIon bul wit'hIhe001I

frorqeo tale in which t 'he cart 'o7raphero

of an emVire draw u? a ma? eo

det ailed bhat it, ende uV coverinq

f,he Nerritory. ln coverinq u? f'he ber-

ri|,ory, il is t aken for f,he real. For bau-

drillard one of lhe charact eriet'ice of Tost'modern eocie|y ie

Nhat we are all similarly entranced by ourfing the eimulacra.

ln lhe universe of Hollywood, Top ArL,'N, cyberbliNz, and

the dazzlinq eVecLacle of t 'he mediaecaVe-siqne and

imaqeo no lonqer bear any corceeVondence lo t 'he

"real" world-bul creale Iheir own

hVperrealiNy-an order of represenrafion lhat is<-- !

noI lhe unreal, buN hao roplaced'real iLy' and is

more than real, more real than real,F o r D au dri l l ard, ente(bainment'

Varko such as

Enchanled Vil lage,

Magic Mou nt a in, Mar i

World, and eoVecial ly Disn

land, wilh iNe Tirat',ee, ite Fron

f,ier, its Fulure World, its Tomgawyer'e leland, are the pertect exa

Vlee of rhe hyVerceal. Theee hyVerreal

worlde are ?reeented ae imaqinary only

lead ue to believe Ihat, the lAOf, of Loe Anq

and America are (a21. gut lhey are nol. They too

hy V err e d-p ur e eimul a cr um.

Los Angeles is enoircledby theoe "imaginary sta-

tions" which feed reality,

reality energy, to a town

whoee myot,ery io precisely /that it, is nothing more than anetwork of endleso, unreal circula-tion,-a town of fabulous ?ro?ortiono,but,without e?ace or dimensione, As muchas eleatrical and nuclear ?ower gtationg, aomuah a film etudlos, this town, which is nothingmore than an immenae ocript, and a ?er?etualmol ion machine, needs thie old imaginary makeupof childhood oignals and faked phantasms for itssympalhet'ic nervouo oyetem (?lM 26).

t /I

I

What Saudril lard calle lhe

Oeath of the Real arouaes noe-

lalgic aNtempte No reaurrect the

real, Saudrillard eees Wahergale

ao one such attemVt, For parad-

inq Nhe ecandalouo i l leqal i t ies of

Nhe N ixo n adminiehraf,ian imVlieo,

f aloely, f,hat Nhesa affronNe f,o

demacracy re?reeenV a deviation

from lhe norm-and lhal t:he

eyeLem of governmenl in general

reeVecls law and morality.

The Death of the Real also

ineViree a VroliferaT,ion of mytho

of origin. Thus, in 1971, the qov-

ernmenf, of the Thil iVVines re-silu-

at ed a emall tribe of Taeaday

lndians l . ,o their or i7 inal junqle

home. Here, accordinq Io the

qovernffient'o ethnologigt o, f,he

tribe could l ive uncorcup\ed by civ-

i l izaf,ion, 3 au dri l l ard ar6u ee, how -

ever, that in removing the Taeaday

f rom m o d ern civilizaNi on, et hnol o qy

eimulT,aneouely ignoreo the real

Taeaday-who wanf, No remain

l iv ing amonq'Ws and care-and

creaf,e a mere model, a simu-

lacrum of whal an "ori4inal"

pre- civilized t rib e " ehould"

look l ike-

before

ethnologyl

FFtH

$

In other words, this repre-

sentotion of whqt q tribe

should look like wos ceqted

only by ethnology?

@ rru. And rhis aT,NemVN Noregurrect, the real, the oriqinal,

has also t aken Vlace at lhe

caveo of Lascaux in soulhern

France, lt, wae here, durinq the

clooinq mi l lennia of the laetr

Glacial Aqe, lhatr teeminq herde

of maqnif icenl qrazinq animals

Vaeeed in waves acroee trhe

vastr Voet- qlacial landeca?e,

occaeionally fall in7 ?rey to Nhe

hunt inq trr ibee IhaI deVended

u?on Ihe herde for Nheir eub-

eielence. And iI wae here, in

Ihe subtrercanean caveo, thaT,

primitive art, iste Vainf,ed ma7-

nif icenl formg, bison, marn-

mof,hg, rhinoceroeeo.

Yet f,oday 5OO mef,ere from

f,he oriqinal cave6-an exacl

reVlica of the cavee hae been

created in order to Vreoerve lhe

oriqinal. l t, hae become more real

than the real cave. And in the

oame way, modern science

recently hao geared up Lo eave

trhe mumrry of Rameee ll.

Thus, with the Death of f,he

Keal, the hyperceal trakee over*

Dieneyland, The Taoaday, Wafer'

qaf,e, the Lascaux gimulacrum-

more real f,han the real ibeelf.

And wilh hy?erreality all Nhe

V oNentri al ly V olit i c al, exVlo 6iv e,

Volar anlaqonisme Ihat had

inhabi led and animaled Lhe

Real collaVee int o one anot'h-

er-implod* eoV eci ally in f,h e

Vol i t ical realml

E con you give meon exomple?

E suppose o bomb goes off' somewhere-Vilnius, Poris, Adis Abobo.BOng!! smoke blossoming obove on ort

museum, o grovernment building, or perhops on'

oir terminol. Rippling woves of the explosion suffocotingdeoth screqms. Splots of humon flesh, flying in concert withfrogments of reclining nudes ond peoceful ttolion londscopes,or government documents, or perhops oirline tickets-coh-vulsing sposmodicolly omid flowerings of brick or morble

dust ond spent plostique, bits of eyeballs, somewhotbloodshot, chosing shreds of newspoper or otom-

ized droplets of espresso, frogments of onElvis CD, oll whirl igiging in qbsurd,

blind circles, perverse orbits,surging kqleidoscopi-

E who did it?I#H Thatle juet the queetion Saudrillard aeke. LeftieI ex1remisld

KiqhI-winq ekinheade? Cenlriste seekinq lo diecredit, Nhe exf,remee? 3

Corrupt Volice aVVealinq Lo the public need for eecurily? The answer(e),

eaye Daudrillard, have nothing t'o do wiih the facts. All Ihe media

ree?onoes and inlerVreNalione are already preVroqrammed and all

orbit,, whirl iqiqing, in absurd, ?erverge, naueeoue circleo, orbit ' ing

around trhe mereeV f acV-accordin7 No eelabliehed codee or modele.

"9imulation ie charact'erized W a

?receooion of the model, of all mod'ele around the meregt fact'-t'hemodels come first, and t'heirorbital (like the bomb) circulation

aonetit'utes the genuine magnetia field of evente.Facte no longer have any trajectory of t'heir own, they

ariee at the intereection of the models; a eingle fact' mayeven be engendered by all the models at onae. Thie antici-pation, this ?receesion, thie short-circuit (no more diver-gence of meaning, no more dlalectical polarity, no morenegative electricity or implosion of polee) ie what eachtime allows for all lhe poooible interpretatione, eventhe most contradictory-all are true, in the oenee

that their truth is exchangeable, in the image ofmodele from whiah t"hey proaeed, ln a

generalized cycle" (alu 32),

Thus, f ormer ant aqonisyrlo, Volari f , ies,curve back u?on their oVVoeif,ee, intrermin-ql inq l ike t rhe curv inq eVira lo of a Mobiuset r ip cut, in half and trhen cuf, in half aqainand aqain and aqain-epinning ouf , oVira l inggalaxiee of re?reeent,a l ion; of evenf ,e,

Voeit ive and neqalive, real and eimulacrum,imVloding inwarde t o a Voint, of abeoluteabeorVtion-where trhe difference belweenrea l and e imula t ion d isa?? ears- imVlodeeinf,o nothinq.

ln the hyVerceal trhere is no realiry behindIhis qeneral ized, neulral ized and neut eredfrow of codeo, aimulat ione and eimulacra, lnhyVerceal l ty the model, the code come6fireV. AuI it is invisible-one eeeo only itse imula l ions- idenf , ic a l ehoVVinq mal le f i l ledwith idenT, ical televis ion imaqeo, medicinee,l iVotrick, brae, condoffie, foods, furniture,imaqee of Madonna'e belly butlon,

tL,&;

Like the Deavia andAuIIhead epieode in which

'tT

the two, watchinq TV, watch :'i'*1

Lhe cope break in trhe door and '.,'r

bust them-live!-but lr,hey are Loo'"",qlued No lhe tube No realize Ihat, i Iio Ihey,lhemselvee, that are beingbueted-that the whole trhinq ietakinq Vlace l ive-IhaV the cope andNhe camera have bueNed inho Iheir livinqroom. Life has become TV and W, life.W watchea us, and we watch TV watch-ing over us, It watrchee over us likewhir l iq iqs of DNA, orbi t ing around u6, yov-erning the mutaNione of Nhe real into trhehyperreal . ry and l i fe, real and hyperceal,c o nT,r a cL, c oll a V s e, T,el e e c o ? e, i mVl o d e i ntoe imulab ion.

In hyVerreality antraqonisme and Volar . ̂dichot'omiee dieeolve. A 7eneralized deterrence is qeneraled. A1omicwar will never haVVen. The hyVerceal media eVectracle of the nucleararm6 race and the e?ace race imploded lhe ant agonieme of theeuper?owero toward a ?eaceful co-exislence.

And in orbit ' , loaling freely above all anlagoniomo,Ihe ul1imaLeend vroduct of Nhe evace race ie trhe cool,lunar, hyver-eimulation:the Lunar module ,

ln The Shadow of The Oilent Majoritiest l t r

s| But whot other effects hqs this hqd on society?rH ln anorher book, In the ghadow of the gilent Majoritiee (ogv1970)' Daudrillard conhends thaL whaN had been oociety hae imVlodedinlo a hyVerconformieT' body obeeeeed eo much wilh epect acle Nhat il

would rather walch'N Lhan

Nake Voli l ical aclion. lt becomee

electrified only by compuler nel-

worke and elect ronic media-by

which if, ie eo polled, teeted, and

hyVed by modele lhal itr hae become

ine(Y and bored, Dut, atr trhe eame lime

it, io hyVer, ?aogive, resigt anf,, demanding

even more moonghot g, rock eVecf,aculare, mago entrerXain-

menf,e-yet euoVicioue and eceVlical, aValhetic becauee if,

realizee IhaN any atrIemVI tro chanqe Nhe eyetrem will eimVly be

co-oVted by lhe oyetem for if,e own ende,

Al l th ie hae oiqnaled trhe dealh of the social ,

On 5eductionln his nexl book, On 5eduction, Daudrillard Nalke aboul love.

Couraly love, in the medieval courte of eouthern France in Nhe

11Nh cenNury, wa6 an involved and elaborat e riNual

requiring the exchanqe of love ?oemo, blushee

behind fforal fane, eyee euddenly downcael

aft,er caolinq a oly eidelonq qlance, kisses

blown from lhe ramVar2e of caef,lee,

impl ic al ione, h al f unvei l ingo, double

enf,en dre e, Nit ill abi o n e, whi o p er e,

jealoueies, adroiN evaeione,

feiqned refusale, feint e,

f a inl in q, h al f - eurren d er in 0o. . .

juch moveo in Nhe

qame of court,ly love

were arielocraNic,

afbi f ic ia l and oymbol-

ic-deliqhf,ing in Nhe

?lay of r,he qame

it eelf , The game relied

u?on infinite defer-

ral-in Nhe putl inq

off of acf,ual sex-in

Vrolonqing Ihe art,

and arAifice of eeduc-

tion. And for 1au-

dri l lard, eeducbion

ie feminine.

)ex, on Nhe olher

hand, baudril lard re-

garde ae a maecul ine

mode-alwaye cen-

Nered on the Vhal luo,n a0u r al, n o n - a rlifi ci al.

Freud wao riqhb:

f,here io only one ein-

qle eexuality, one ein-

qle l ib ido-

maecul ine.

Sexuali|y io

dielincl et ruc-

Lure which ie

diecriminaf,. inq,

cenT,ered on the

Vhallue, caef,ralion,

lhe name of Ihe

faf,her, repreooion.

There ion'I any

other. lf, gerveg no

?ur?o6e to dream

of some non-

Vhal l ic eexual i ty

that, is neither

barced nor

marked eED 16).

)ince seduclion

ie composed of the

a(Difice of eiqne and

geeburee, il ie a form

of mast ery over T,he

oymbolic universe.

)exualiNy, on the

of,her hand, io not

cultural bul natural-

a form of maetrery

over Ihe real uni-

veree. Feminine

eeduction relies

on aflifice-

makeup, f aehion,

the dieplay of

r: : ;{

a ehoulder

or breaeN

beneath black

lace, And it ie

only lhrouqh

euch seducl ion

that the maecul ine

can be eubvefredl

Thie ie hoI seduc-

l ion. butr there ie

aleo, for Daudril lard, a

cool eeduclion-the

eeducl ion of eimu-

, t t / i

Ih is

lacra-of filme, radio,

lhe idols of Nhe silver

or Technicolor

ecreen-a self-

seducf,ion in which

we geduce oureelveg

by immeroing our '

eelves in a Vlay of

eiqno, s imulal ions,

imaqeo that eoca?e

male eexualit'y.

ln hie nexl, book

b a u dri l l ard c o nt' i n u e e

his medilaT,ione on

Toetmodern culture,

by taking a road

f,riV Io f,he mosf'

Toshmodern of Tost'-

modern culNures-

America.

America

ln the early 19rh

cenlury Nhe French

count Alexie de

Tocqueville Iook a IriV

lo the New World,

which Vrovided maf,er-

ial for one of hie besl-

known works: Democ'

racy in Amenca, He

wrole Ihat he found

America r ich in

democracy, but, ?oorin c iv i l izat ion.

ln t rhe 197Oe and

19bOs Oaudri l lard

followed in de Tocque-

ville' e f oolst e?6, ?ro'vidinq, in America, a

Tostrmodern simula-

tion of de Tocqueville'e

a c c o unf'. b a u dri l l ard' s

travelogue also con-

forms tro the more

recenl French fixa-

tions on such Ameri '

cana as Nhe deeerA',

the American Wlld

Wesf,, Le Jazz-mye-

Nifyinq various ae-

Vect e of America as

e e e enf,i al ly V rimiNiv e

and oavaqe.

Oaudril lard's road

IriV, oVeeding VaoIendlees vietas of

road eiqne, neon

liqht o, empty deserx

landgcaVeo, mof,ele,

reveale an America of

surtace qlit'Ner, van'

iohinq inlo emVf,' ineee.

ln factr, Lhe Ii l le of an

imVorLanI chapt er is"Vaniehing ?oint,,"

referr ingtothe

Death of Meaning,

the Death of Reality,

t,lhe Death of the

1ocial, the Death of

the ?olitical, and the

Oealh of Sexuality in

trhe Tostmodern uni- world, oecauee of thie America ieverge- thege "realitieg" re- "the cenT,er of the world." And

cede into a vanishin7 point in America is a deeerf,-esVecially inDaudrillard's rearview mircor on ite citiee-a Vlace where "real life"

hie drive lhrouqh Death Valley, ln hae vanished into a kind of qlir-facf', Daudrillard'e lraveloque Lerinq, empNy non-culhure, Andbeqino wi lh the warninq one f inds rhie emVty, dry, ot er i le, lunaron oome rearview mircors; Cau- deserD of astral America,trhef,ion: Objecre in thie mirror may deeerb of meaninqfut oocief,y,be cloeer Lhan they aVVear! 1ae1 emVty a6 a'N f,uned to a dead

The realit iee of Nhe Vre-oimu- channel-wheNher in if,e land-lacrum era vanishing l ike miraqee oca?e6 or cirysca?eo, whether inin a rearview mircor is an a?oca- lhe insane movemenf, of joqqere,

lyVric vieion-a vieion of the end rraffic and Vedeetrians in Loeof the world, For baudril lard rhie Angelee, bodies circulatinq on

vision of America is rhe model freewayo or Vluqged int o com?ur-

for t 'he resl of Nhe world- er circuirs, whether in the uloVia

lhe code for an emerqinq of California, of Sanha Barbara or

r? * hyperreal and eimu- of )antra Cruz, Nhe paradiee oft r ^ + ^ ) r - ^ l r E ^ . ^ , ^ t ^ , . . 2 L 1 - . L - ' ! . - L ̂ r - - r . . | -

LB- .b in the qreat neon whore of Lae

Veqao, t he "w all-No -w all prooli lu-

"* Nion" of New York, with ite* . \ e B V t r J l l r - / l l \ L / V V l U / l N , V V l V l l l V - J* * ' , - *

iffiffi.,=_* Vlumee of smoke like"gir ls wr inqinq oul

Lheir hair

afLer balhinq," with ils"beaufy of the black and 7uefro

Kico women" wilh ibs allurinq "Tig-

menlation of lhe dark racee" wibh iIe

Nribes and gange and Mafia, with itre vio-

I enc e-3 au dri l l ar d' 6 Am eri c a i e t u rb ul ent,, V rimiNiv e,

el e clrifyin q, anim ali eNi c, viN al, p of,enl,, hy p e r r e al .

It seems os if Boudrillord hqs surrendered to Post-

modern Americq in q kind of possive ecstosy.TH Actually,Ihis ie one of the main crit icisms of

Saudril lard: The only ree?onoe he offere f,o the

ffow of media imaqeo ie paeeive eurrender-an

eceT,aoy of communicaf,ion-which, in facI, is

the title of hie nexL book.

The Eastaoy of Communicaiion

Accordinq to baudrillard in The Ecstaey of

Communication, in the new Toetmodern univeree

of int erconnecT,iviLy-of Lelevision and compul-

er nef,works-we are all like echizophrenics. For

f ,he echizophrenic, huddled in hie cel l , is no|, re-

moved from realily-butr realily preeees in

u?on him, lI is too cloee. ltr ie abeolulely close,

He doee not mirror reali ly buf, becomeo a ?ure6creen. 1imilarly, we have all become like

' (tfi.

, \9\--rE

-(,t

\'J1 \\\J ilr

N.rr

t e levieion

and com-

Vuler9Creen6-

Ehoee lunr i -

noue eyee illu-

minat inq and

Venetraf,inq even

our moof, privaf,e

e?acee with an

obecene ?reooure.And thie Vromiocuou;invaeion of our former

Vrivacy ie bolh ecota-

t ic and obecene. The

obeceniLy not of the

hidden but of the al l -

f,oo-vieual. The

obeceniT,y that no

lonqer harbore anygecret,. An obgcene

eceNaey-a cool-

lun ar seducT,iv e, elec-

trric VornoqraVhy of

excessive imaqee and

informalion feeding

u?on ue, ?enelratinqall our private

o?ace6, the obscenif,y

of faecinaf,ion, like a

fft

?ornoqraVhicclooe-up, Vroducinq aet aie of giddiness lowhich we eurcender inan Ecef,aey of Com-

munical ion.

7u l1audr i l la rd

informe ue in hie

introduclion lhal

Ecataoy ie only a

eimulat ion model of

oome of hie ear l ier

booke-a simulat ion

in which Saudri l lard

out- tsaudri l lards him'

eelf-becominq more

Oaudri l lard Lhan Oau-

dri l lard, We musf, not,

forgeL thaf, in trhe

French cul lural 6cene

theoriee are juet, like

commodiliee-trhey

are in comVetriLion

with other theoriee in

f,he French cullural

marketplace, And

1audri l lard under-

et ands thal trhe beel

way t o make hie lheo-

riee competrilive is t o

Iransform them

inNo hyVerceal eimula-

tione of theory, To

eVin oul Juraeeic

Tark monsl'ers of

Nheory. baudril lard's' undersf,andinq of the

media has made him

an eftective comVet'i-

Ior-a kind of cele-

briNy-because hie

atf,acks on hie fellow

French intellect'uals

are hyVerreal eVectra-

clee mean| for Vubl iccon6urn\,ion, lendinq

more and more

t oward a kind of van'

iehing VoinL For ine-

f,ance, he hag been

crit icized, but aleo

made famous, by hY-

Verreal st'af,emenleguch ae "The Gulf

War never happened!'

ln facL, oome crit ice

c la im tha l Oaudr i l -

lard, in hie later work,

is actual ly doinq oci '

ence ficlion inst'ead

of Toet'modern theory.

l$l But it seemsthot Postmodern

theory would

hove to be similur

to science fiction,

since the imPoct

of technologies

on cultures is

so intense.

Thatr's lrue. ln

facl, eome Toetmod-

ern f,hinkers oaY lhaN

c erlain s cienc e fi cf, ion

writ ers do a bet'ter

job al deocr ibinq the

impactr of cybefi'ech-

noloqiee than doee

D au drill ard, b ut, frh at,:l

is a Eop,tc we can

ref,urn No laf'er.

l$l Well, it's oll rother dizzying-

oll these hyperreolities qnd

whirl igiging simulocro. tt

reminds me of Jomeson be-

coming so disoriented in the

Bonoventure Hotel. Whqt is it

obout Postmodern qrchitec-

ture thot is so dizzying?Tn lfs a qood queotion, becaueearchilecf,ure ie aclually the realm

in which Toetrmodernism began.

BUN in order f,o undere|,and whatr

Tostmodern archilecture ie, we

have No know oomeT,hinq about

mo dern archileclure, Mo dernism

in architrecture began wilh lhe

Oauhaue echool, founded in

Weimar, Germany, in 1919 by Wal-

ter GroViue. Here arXiete euch ae

Taul KIee and Vasoily Kandinoky

combin e d Ih eir archilecf,ural

sludies with coureeo in painf,ing,

cra{-le, drama and tyVoqraphy,

The echool believed trhaN buildinge

ehould be funcbional. They aleo

develoVed wha| came to be known

ao the lnf,ernaf,ional 7lyle, an

atbemVt, T,o unile archiNecf,ure,

the f ine a f rs and mase-Vroduc-

tion technology.

The manifesto of archiieclural

moderniem, Towards a New Archi-

tecture, wao ?ublished in Tarie in

A Hou 5ers a HouSers A llousE.

--=:{*-:

Bur rs tTe HoHe?

192b, and f 'ranslaNed inlo Enqlieh

in 1927. The auNhor, a kind of

meesiah of Modernisl architec'

f^)re, wao Le Corbuoier, acluallY

f,he pen name of one Charlee-

Edo uard J e anneret, (1 B B7 -19 65) .

He was a well-f'raveled natrive of

gwitzerland, who was Io est'ablieh

himself ao a ciNY planner, archi-

lecf,, deoiqner, V aint'er, sculVt or

and VroVhet' of a new archif,ec-

tural creed.

Le Corbueier gained hio Venname by virAue of the facl NhaN

hie face resembled Nhat of a raven

(corbeau). And, juel like ?oe's

raven, who, in ?oe'g wordg, gaid

"Nevermore," Le Corbugier algo

gaid, "Neverrnorel"

No more retro, ancient, clut-

tered, nin eteenth- century etYleo,

No more custom. No more inher-

ited deoigno. No more gloomY

interiora jammed with bunches

of uoeless bric-a-brac, no more

heavy furniture, chandelierg, man'

tel-piecee, thick carpef,e, No more

elaborate bookcaeez, consoles,

china cabinete, dreeeera, side-

boards, draped curDaine, cushions,

canopieo, damaaked wallpaPero,

carved furniture, faded and arty

coloro, mirrored wardrobeg, No

more decoration, ornament, 6Ym-

bolism. No more heterogeneitY,

ambiquity, capricioueneaa, riot,

etitchinq toqether of unrelated

elemento, No more qarlando,

exquioite ovale, triangular doves

preeninq themaelvee, boudoirs

embellished wif,h poofa of qold and

black velvet, no more otiffing ele-

qanciee! quolh Le Corbusier-

Ne vermore!

Juel ae Ihe propheN of l i ter-

ary moderniem, Ezra ?ound, had

Vroclaimed "Make iI new," Le Cor-

b ueier b eliev ed t h at, archiNeclure

ehould uee new maler iale euch ae

sleel and reinforced concref,e, andnew conelrucf,ion t echniquee. This

new archit eclure wao t o be ra|,io-

nal , f t ehould exhibi | a qrandeur of

a malhemalical order, for by lurn-

inq to mabhematical calculal ione,

it would reveal univereal law-trhe

VrinciVlee Nhatr qovern

our universe. The new

archi t ect ural deoiqne

ehould be in lel l iqenl ,

cold and calm-Vure cre-

af,ions of the mind-

manif egf,ationg

of men creating

T,heir own

univerge.

lf buildinqo can be read l ike

booke, Le Corbueier called for a

Tlatonic vocabulary of pure,

abeolule forme: cubee, conee,

oVheree, cylindere, ?yramide,6quaree, All this baeed on a ?la-

t onic all i tude IhaL knowledqe

VroVerly reeides in pure, elernal,

abgoltff e "|deal Formg," which we

can know with our inlellecNe,

lhouqh not, throuqh our eeneee,

For inetance, it will alwaye be

true and knowable that 2 + 2 = 4,

And this will alwaye be true even

if there are no longer 2 + 2 applee

or orangee to add up io four,

D el i evin g lh aI archi le ctur al

beauty ehould be baeed on Ihe

6ame immut able, et ernal ?lai lonic

Vrimary forme, he l iked slrucLuree

euch ae the ?yramide, Lhe TemVle

of Luxor,Ihe Nowere of Dabylon,

the Col ieeum, Hadrian's

vil la, ConeLantinople'e 1anIa )ophia, f 'he

St amboul, the Tower of ?iea, lhe copulae

Michelanqelo. but above al l e lee-

the Tarfihenon. The Tafthenon ie

Vertect,, Le Corbueier found in iN

b rut alily, inf,enoiNy, gw e ef,n eas,

delicacy and ef'rengf'h. lI

ie bhe cl imax of

"Vu?e formg in

precioe rela'

f, ionohip"-

beelowin7 u?on

ug truth and

emolione of a

"ouVerior and

maf,hematical order."

M o d ern archihe cture t 'hus

atrNemVNed Io ?are down line, eVace

and form Io Iheir ?ure eseenfials.

Vosqueo of

of

lf Le Corbueier hae a hero it ' ie f 'he enqi-

neer-f,he creator of bridqee, of At'lant'ic

l inere, of railwaye. Engineero,l ike Cubist'

paint'ere, are noI dislracled wif'h ornamen-

t af, ion buI eaNiofy ou r opiribe by reducinq

lheir creatione Lo ?ure qeometrric, maf'h'

ematical, Tlatonic torms. Engineero are

viri le, ueeful. Their minde, abeorbed in

mathematical calculat ione and the

VerceVlion of primary geometric forms,

are in harmony wif,h natural law.

emelgc lrom lhe interplay of prlmarytorms! let architecturc be t[e cor.

tise in skysga0ers amid gteen

lect and magnilicenl play of such Rlanlalions of llGGs' let these sry'

ll architects could [e more lilreengineers, t[en luildings woufd fiseup like Iute Grcations of s0ilit-ling-ing in unison with uniuersal order.Ilown with lriuolous otnamentation!ll you musl haue diuelsity-then lel il

masses broughl logether in lighl!lel light shine on the glcat primarylorms ol [risms, Gubes, cones,spheres, cylinders, pyramids. lelhomes De machines lor liuing wilhteraces Instead o| roofs, wilhwindows all around, withoul clul-ter-but with bullt-in lurnishings,without gaudy chandeliers, bul

wilh dilfused electric lighting, andbuilt ol slandardized matefials lilreGats, Gannons, airplanes! Let grealnew utolian uerticaf cllies, cities oftowers, whose lmmense geonelli-cal glass lacades leflecl the sky,

sclapels conlain the Drains ol thenalion. Clear away paris's narowstreets lo admil wide, noblesFacGs, [0pulated with trees. Lellhe suburls [e gardcn citieswhele people can [lay ball, andgarden. let all the cities olEurope be lorn down andreconstlucted in theimage of Aneficancities.

Pfi[5tmudEI'rlI't

3y 1950, ff iany of f,he elemenf,e

of lhie lnf,ernaNional Slyle had,

in d e e d, b e c o m e inNern af , io n al-

the eimpl i f red, concentrated l inee

and forme, lhe emVhaoie on func'

tion ae beauty, Lhe eesenlial maLh-

emalical harmony of ?ure forms,

lhe celebraf,ion of raf, ional, pro-

greoeive lendenciee, Nhe adoVbion

of new technoloqiee and new ma-

ler ia le, t 'he yearninq for a epir iLu-

a l ho l iem of space and form, lhe

dielaet e for bazaar- l ike, arbi t rary

reproduction of hieloric etylee.

YeL-whaL it all boiled down lo

wao cityeca?ee full of concreLe and

glaeo boxes. And whal wae modern

architecl,ure Lo do-baeed ae i l

wao on elernal maLhemaf,ical har-

mony-if lhe eu??oeed perfeclion

of malhemalice i leelf broke down

int o non-Eucl idean qeomef,r iee

an d in c o mol elen ee e Nh e o reme?

And what wao modern architec-

ture to do if its huqe, utogian Vro'jecbo-su ch as D razil i a-fl opV e d?

Whal if the world wae qrowinq

f,ired of f ai led ut ooiae? Then lhe

uloVian lheor iee and the archi '

f,e clur al V r oje cf,s f,h aL r efr e cte d

Ihem would have No change-and

tha l chanae would need a new

voice. And f,haL new

voice wag

Charlee

Jencke.

Charlee Jencke

ie an archihecLural

cr i t ic who hae been

enqaqed in Lhe

oft,,en heaf,ed

debaLe between

moderniet and

Toelmodernistr

archilect e about,

whelher Toelmod-

ern architecNure

ehould even exist,.

He is aleo a major

voice in the ongoing

attemptrto defrne

Toelmoderniem, ln

facf,, hie book, The

Lan4uaqe of Fost-

modern Architec-

ture (1977), wae

Nhe fireI work t o

att empt lo Lhema-

Nize Ihe Toetmod-

ern and No uee"TooNmodern" in

the Litle.

ln h ie eubee-

quen| books What

is Foetmoderniem?

and Foetmodern-

igm, he trraces T,he

hief,ory of the con-

ceVt,. Originally

ueed by the 1Van-

ish wriler Federico

De Onis in 1934 f,o

describe a poelic

reacf,ion No mod-

ernisl poelry, f,he

Eerm was subse-

quentr ly ueed, in

1975, by the histo-

rian Arnold Toynbee

Lo deeiqnaLe Vlural-iom and Ihe r ioe

of non-Weetern

culLuree.

In the 196Oe

the early roote of

Toelmodernism qol

starf,ed by a 7rou?of Enql ieh intel lec-

L.uale, the lnde?en-

denl OrouV, who

were fascinated

with American cul-

fure: -N,

moviee,

ade, machinery and

commercial cul ture.

They teaLed VoVcol laqeo of such

objectro-trhe fireT,

VoV art . ln America,

in f,he midet of Hip-

pieo andYupViee,

Andy Warhol

cranked ouf, a

bunch of imaqeo of

maoe cull,ure: Mari-

lyn Mon roe, Jackie

Kennedy, a CamV-

bel l 's SouV can.

Then, in Nhe 197Os

trhe Toetmodern

movemenl became

more academic and

reopectable: in 1971

lhab Haeean ?ub-lished an eo6ay,

"F0)Tmodernl)M

A ?aracritical Dibli-

oqraphy," and lhe

Tostmodernisl

movemenl wae offi-

c ial ly inauqurat ed

in Iheory-cele'

brabinq writ ere

euch ae Wi l l iam

burrouqhs, Jean

GeneN, Jamee

Joyce and Samuel

Deckett, Lhe mueic

of John Cage and

lhe futur ietre Mar-

sha l l McLuhan and

Suckmineher Ful ler.

But, accordinq

t o Jenckg, t,hese

aftisis and archi-

f,ecNs were raally

Laf,e modernioTo,

notr ?astmoderniefs.

pl lote Modernists?Tl) Yee. Decaueeauthors guch as

Jamee Joyce were

wri l inq thingo, such

ao Finneqan'o Wake,

thal very few Veo-

Vle could under '

eLand. And LhaL's

what a lo| of Lat e

moderniels-or

High moderniele

did. Com?oeero

like John Caqe were

wri l inq "mu6ic"

lhal nobody under-

etood based on

what, moef, peoVlewould cal l noise,

or ?ure eilence. In

one Viece he re-maine Voioedover the

Viano for

eeveral minules,

ae if Lo st rike

lhe oVening chord

of a concerl-and

Nhe comVooibion

consisbs of the

eound of lhe audi-ence waiLin7 for

lhe concert Lo

begin, And thinkere

such ae Oucky

Ful ler were deoiqn-

inq accordinq to

lhe ulopian

aaeum?Nione of

moderniem.

l iore Lo Jencks's

l ik inq ie novel ie l

Umbefr,o Eco's

recoqnil ion of a

double elemenV in

Toetmoderniem,

For Jencke and

Eco Toef,moderniem

ie modernism

HEY, tr's THEDuKe l.JtloLoVES You|4AE LY,

along with a Toet -

modern relation-

ohiV to lhe Vaei: "The pootmod-ern reply to lhe modern coneietre

of recognizing that, Ihe Vaet ,eince iN cannoN real ly be

deetroyed, becauee its deefruc-

f , ion leads Io e i lenca, f f ius f , berevieit ed: butr wilh irony, nol inno-

cenbly. I lhink of Lhe Voetmodernalbitude as tha| of a man who

loves a very cult ivat ed woman andknows he cannoN eay lo her, I loveyou madly, becauee he knowe thalehe knowe (and thal ehe knows

that, he knowo) that Nheee worde

have already been wril,T,en by Oar-bara Caraland. 7lt l l , T,here is a

solulion. He can 6ay, "Ae Barbara

Cartland would Vut itr, I love you

madly." At thie VoinI,, havinq

avoided falee innocence, having

eaid clear ly thal i I ie no longer

Voooible f,o epeak innocenNly, hewill neverlhelese have eaid whal

he wantred Io eay lo the womani

lhaL he lovee her, buf, he loves herin an aqe of loet innocence. lf thewoman qoeo alonq wilh trhie, she

BO

will have received a dec-

laration ol love all the

eame, NeiNher of f 'he

f,wo oVeakero will feel

innocent, bof'h will have

accept ed Ihe chal lenqe

of the paetr, of Ihe

already eaid, which can'

nol be el iminaLed; boLh

will coneciouely and with

Vleaoure ?lay f ,he qame

of irony. . , .7ut bobh will

have succeeded, once

aqain , in eVeak inq o f

love." (ELo, rNR 67-B)

And Ihie fir,e in wilh

Jencke's definil ion of

?oslmoderniem ae " dou'

ble codinq: the combina-

tion of Modern tech-

niquee with eomeLhin4

elee (ueually traditional

buildtnfl in order for

architecture to commu-

nicate wifh the public

and a concerned minori-

f,y, ueually other archi-

f,ecta" (wl? 14).

A tyVical Toef'mod'

ern bui ld ing creales a

double coding throuqh

eclecticism: by putl in q

toqether Nwo different'

of,ylee of lwo differenl

Veriode, it, creabeo ?aro-dy, ambi quif,y, c onLr a dic -

Lion, Varadox. For, in

Jencke'e view, a bui ld inq

is noN juet ' a bui ld inq buI

eomef,hinq l ike a lan-

quaqe, A bu i ld inq can be

read like a book. lI hae

connolal ions and al lu '

sions, lt ' eignif iee. l l has

meaninqe-and off 'en

oaye t 'wo or more Ihinqe

aN the eame l ime,

Thus Tost'modern

archilectrs muel

be both poVular

and Vrofeesion-ally baeed. For

ingt ance, I 'he

cobrtul hand-

rai le in lhe

)f,ul,f,qarI'

rnueeuff i aVpeal

tro the poVular

Iastee of kide

dreeeed in Oay-

Glo colore, whi le

iLe claeeicism-

iNo quoNatione of

?ure Greek

forme-aVVeale

W,&;,

\\

lo f ,he highbrow el i t ie l ,

Tostmodern architecture mueL uee bolh newLechniqueo and old Valterne. ?oetmodernjelarchitecbe are, Lhen, noT, eimply revjvalieNswho eimply br ing back Ihe Vaet and elopuoing moderniem, They uee modernismand yef, go beyond iN, They

quoLe from the pasL, but,with irony. They Varody the

pasI. They uee ?aof,iche.Thus double coding, l ike

Eco's "l love you madly,"

eT,aqee the dieeonance and

?lay beAween VaeN and Vre-eent. Thie dieeonance canbe ironic, humorous, Varod-ic, Vlayful, allueive-buI iImakeg lhe "reader" of f,hebuildinq reffect. The" reader" becomeg

eomething of an

archit e cf,u r al critr i c.

o n

o o o

o o o

D l r

3 0

B O

O D

o t

D N

fi o

o o

D D

n o

O D

B D D O

D O O

D D O

n t r o

t r o D

o t r t r

D t r O

o o o

o

o

o

o

o

o

u

D

o

o

Secauee of Lhie, doinq ?oetmodernarchileclure ia one way to do ?oef,modern Lheory-_ii,;e double codinqmakes i l ' intereebing nol only Lo Ihe averaqe Joe blow on Lhe sT,reeTbut aleo to fellow archif,ecLe and Foetmodern crit ice,

Even an obiecL ae eimVle a6 a teapoL can be double coded. Deeiqn-er Michael Gravee deaiqned a LeaVoT, thal hae eimVle, functional mod-erniet' lines but flaunts an ornamental bird for lhe whieNle-a kind ofaura l ?un.

In 19Bo Michael oravee-trhe oame quy who desiqned the reaporwibh f'he whistlinq bird-won a com?etiilion for hie deeiqn for the ?or1-land Tublic Serviceo Suilding. lt ie radically eclectic and double coded-iLe qlaee hintre that i t r is a Vubl ic 6?ace: iLe size and ornamenlal qar-lande euggeetr EqyVtian and baroque motife; ite uee of a eculpture,

"?orLlandia", over the fronl door-creat'eg a

Vlaytul mood. 1ul Ihe buildinq wae af,lacked

by modernieNe who criNicized iI for what' f'hey

called itrs lack of diociVline-iNe iukebox-over'

eize d - Chri ef'm a o - p a cka q e I o ok. I uV V o rt' er 6, o n

f,he olher hand, commenl'ed Lhat it' relaLed to f,he

nearby Cily Hall ae well ae oLher pre-moderniel

and modernisN bui ld inge in t 'he neighborhood.

But why should we even hove Postmodernorchitecture?

Secauoe huqe uloVian modernief' houeinq

Vrojecle alienaled f'he very inhabif'anNe t'hey

were deoiqned No houee. These Vlanned uloViae

Lurned inT,o waeLelands of qraffif ' i , vandalism and

neqlecL Thue in hhe lat'e 196Oe and early 197Os

lhey were dynamiled. ln facN Jencks, in a Vublic

lecture, Vroclaimed that' on July 15,

1972, at 32312 7M, modern architeature;

died, ao a huqe houoinq Vroiect' in 91.

Louis.wae blown No smifhereens.

Ientks iust maile up thg ilate - a fail that ilu tepuilPl

raught. Thur the lluath uf Arthiteflural Muilernism I

I{{Ii

I

was ptuiluteil simply by annnuncing it.

rt \ \ i \ \

\

f"t

I

ModernisNs werealarmed, of couree,

and immediately

beqan denouncin7

Nhe new Toef,mod-

ernism with reli-

giouo fervor, DuI,

accord in7Io

Jencke, Ihe mod-

ernigl atf,acks onTostrmodern archi-

leclure actrually

inviqoraT,ed its

qrowth. For ineNance,

when i l wae announced

in a column in Le Mondein October of 1901 that

"a eVectre is hauntrinqEuroVe, the eVectre ofTogLmodernigm," mooNFrenchmen juot ehru qqed,bit. inlo lh eir croi eean|,sand ff ipped the page. DuImo dernieile didn't oimply

ehruq off the announce-

menT,; their panic effec-trively infraled the epectreinto a full-fredqed move-menf,. Therefore, rea-

eon6 Jencke, lhere

musl have exieNed

ment Lo moderniem al l a lonq.

The death of archilectruralmoderniem may have eaved a lotof inner citiee, where Nhe mod-erniet Lendency would have beento bullddze Nhem and constructmore ulopian houeing uniis, WhaITostmoderniem offered wae eclec-T,ic, increment al reqeneration-

thal ie Io oay, reqeneratin7, elowlyueinq the mix of whal io alreadythere alonq wilh what, ie new.

For Jencks moderniem hadbeen eomethinq of a reliqioue Vhe-nomenon. Aftrer all, iN declaredorn amenlat ion heretic al, andviewed it self ae Nhe univereallnternatrional gtyle

ueinq new conetrruc-Iion techniquee andnew materiale, lt hada mieeion to trans-

form eociety.

Accordin7 Io

Jencke, mod-

ernist , bui ld ingo,

such ae lhe

Chicaqo Civic

CenIer or Chica-

qo'e Lake thore

houoinq uniNs,a hidden resenN-

atlempl No be nothinq more than

eimple geom ef,ric f orrne-gl aoe

and eleel and concrd,e boxee-

which in t 'heir equareneas aay

"f,hio ie what I am-a equare

buildinqe refrecl

and refer f,o

lheir environmenl. l f Le Corbusier

wao lhe Veosiah of modernist

archileclure, Rob eft V enluri,

Oenise ecolt Arown and ?f'even

lzenour are lhe 7roVhats of Tosf'-

modern archif 'ecIure. And Lheir

manifest'o, f iret publiehed in

1972-ie a book called Learn-

ing from Lae Vegas. Thio book

mo derniem' 5 ailemPf, Io build

qlaee and ef'eel boxes, t o define

Modernlel bul ld in7o

had at'lemphed

Io oymbolize

nof,hinq buL

ideal qeomet'-

ric forms. ln

ideal iz inq lhe

wel l -enq i -

neered qeo-

met ric f orms

of T rans aNl antic ele amohi7 e,

American qrain elevalors, and

Cubist VainNinqo,I 'heY had ended

u? oymbolizinq a brave new world

of science and Iechnoloqy-a

n aut ic al - in d u sNri al - Cubi eN w o rl d .

archif,ecNure ae encloeed epace. lt

e?ace ie eacred to moderniem,

then paint inq, eculVt 'ure and l i ter-

alure, mere decoraf'ion, are

opVoeed t 'o Vure o?a6e. lvlodernisN

archit'ecfe reiected,an enNire Nra-

dilion of archiheoture in which

p ainringe, eculpt,ure and qraPhice

w ere integraf,ed wif'h archilectur e,

box*and nolhinq el6e." The form

does nol refar lo or allude lo or

mean anytrhing out'oide itself.

ToeNmoderniel archi- ,,.< Nt-arrrt rre nn f.hc. nf.he.r ' ( ' '{\ 'al

sqq$

Down Let , rhe arch i tecrw i?h trh e become a jeetert,Let archvu niv e r g all trecture, rike the vov art ofproclaim Venf,uri, Warhol and Leichlenslein,

ScoNt Brown and uee fami l iar moNife-

lzenour. deeiqninq non-authorita-

Acceptthe clut- r ian bui ld inqe trhat in-

ter of mixed, maee- siead of eayinq,,1 am a

culf,ure, ornamenf,ed, oquare" eay many thinge

ticky-Lacky, eubur- at once. Let ?ostmodern

ban, Ginqerbread,New buildinqe ex?reeo irony,

Orleans, French 7ro- along with comedy, eor-

vtndal and Kanch otylee. row, paradox, and the

Down with the archi-

Leclure of 6?ace, .a , -

form and functr ion.

1rinq in lhe icone -t#ffi

of 7o? Arl,, of

advefi,isin4, of every- ,,'

day commercial ob-

jecL,o-<f Camp-

be l l 'e 6ou? cano

in a qa l l e r y ,

or of imaqee from

comic eIriV aft,, Tn

euqqeotgaf,ire, sor-

row and irony,

un aulh o rif, ari an qu aliliee

needed for l iv inq humor-

ouoly in a eociety made

u? of di f lerenl raceo,

eexua l o r i en ta f , i one ,

clasgeo and culr,ureo.

For we do l ive in a

Vluraliot eocieLy, re-

flected in mixed, glitler-

inq, ffaohinq bazaare of

neon l iqhNe and oiqne

on the Las Vegao

9triV,the hodgeVodge

of conlradictory, com-

Veling and confricNing

etylee, the roadeigne

and bi l lboarde that

whiz by in a blur of

comVlex meaninqo,

a roadscaVe/car-

ecaVe in which the

mix of oymbolo is

more imporf ,anl

trhan ?ure torm-

lhe dazz l inq ? ic -t or ia l themes of

lhe caeinos (the

b6

arch i t rec ture

io a qrabbaq,

e c l e c f , i c ,

a l l u 6 i v e ,

? a r a d o x i -

cal4he Alad-

f lamboyant Flamin-

qo, Ihe Deeert lnn,

lhe exotic TroVicana,

the arabeoque Alad-

din, Caeear'o Talace,

trhe )tarduot, like

the facades of

Gothic cathedrale,

a lmoet , a l l e iqn

and eymbol) the

caeino ehoVVinq

malls l ike orien-

f,al bazaare. Las

Veqao e r r iV

din is Tudor with a Moorish facade.

Caeear'e Talace ie Early Christrian,

Roman, Neo-Classical, MoLel Mod-

erne, Ef,ruecan and Miesian, Motifs,

eigno, columne, winqo, formations and

froors Varody and queobion each other.

The Las Veqae gtriV ie an inclusive

order. There ie no one dominant, Iheme.

No expert,. but the opec-

NaIor elrolle Vaet a heN-

eroqeneoue ? laygroundo f mu l t iV le , v i t a l , i ncon -

qruoue, chaotic, inf,ert ex-

iua l , a l lus ive urban o igno,

meaninge, orders-al l ex-

ploring the archif,eclure of

the paot,.

Let architecture be funl

Turn et ,aid archi t ectural

nol ione toVoy-Iu rqy! lndul-

qent ly embrace comVlexi ty,

mixing imaqee and eymbolo

from the hietorical paot in a

nootalgic col lagel Let image

def,ermine forml Letr develoV-

menl be baeed on incremen-

f ,al , d iverse qrowtrh, ralher

than uf,opian planel Let, bui ld-

inge ret lect the diveroi iy of

uoere and clienf,s' f,asf,egl Let

archif,ecto deoiqn for oVecific

?eraono-ralher than from

gome ulopian, abgtract, conce?-

t ion of Man, Let, Toetmodern

bui ld inqe f i t in wi lh Ihe bui ld-

ingo eur roundinq t rheml

Accordinq to the aubhors of

Learning from Loe Veqao:"The emerging order of

the 1trlp io a aomplex

order, lt is not the

eaey, rigid order of the

urban renewal project

or the fashionable'total design' of the

megastructure .,,1t io

not an order dominat-

ed by the expert and

made eaey for the eye,

The moving eye ln the

moving body muel

workto pick oul and

interpret, a varlety

of changing, jux-

taposed orders" i(LLV 135-6),

ln Jenck6'o view, Toetmodern

archilecture dioplayo 10 charac-

t erief, ice. Let uo uee Thil ip

Johneon'e N&T

bui ld ing in New York

City a6 an

example.

E tr io Vlu-raliel ic-radi-

cally eclectric-

celebraling

difference and

othernegg.

Itr quoteodifferent

of,yleo and lanquaqee, The N&T

buildinq Iraneforme f,,he tradi-

tional qlaeo and steel eky-

ocra?er int,o a qrandfather

clock f,opVed off wilh a ChiV-

p end ale broken V ediment,.

@ ffrie eclectriciem leade

lo a digsonant, beauty, a

disharmonioue harmony, an

oxymoron, a ?aradox. After

al l , there ie diseonance

belween a buildinq and a

clock. Dut, his diesonance ie

humorous becauee many

bui ld inqe dioplay clocks.

@ ff',e AT&T buildinq

dioVlaye an urbane urban-

ism.

lf, doesn't stand oul

alone. lt looke pretby

much like other modernisL

okyecrapers, buN iL blendsinto, mirroro, mocke, Var-odies and exf,ends other

bui ld inqo in lhe envi-

ronmenl.

@ ?ootmodern

buildinqe are antrhro-

pomorVhic-trheir orna-- ments and mold ingo

oft,en ouggeet Nhe

human form. The

AT&T buildinq does

not, do this, buf, oug-

Bb

,!\\],$ qeoto indirecf,ly,

throuqh mimickinq a human alc i-fact-a clock.

6 tt dieVlaye a rela-lionohip betweet

buildinq also oaye "qrandfather

clock."

fl tV."re ie doublecodinq through ihe jux-

tapooibion of of,ylee-

grandfaiher clock and

moderniet, oky-

6cra?er-eo thaI irony,

ambiquity, and conlradic-

tion emerqe, ?oet modern

buildinqo oay no| "eilherlor"

bul"bobh/and." The N&T building

oayo "bothland" by combininq

trhe contem?orary

(okyecraper) wilh the

anti qu e (qr andf ath er clo ck),

f,he functional (off ice build-inq) and lhe decoralive

(ChiVV end ale broken p edr

menl) in an i ronic double

coding, lt can mean trwo

thinge at, once.

Vaet, and

preeent-

qrandta-

f,her clock and

Vutf,inq t o-

qether of

Varody them, lo

invoke nootalqia

and indulqe in

paoliche,

@ There ie a

yearnin7 for con-

tenf,, for meaninq,

lnef,ead of juoV

oayinq "qlaee andgf,eel box" Nhe

/ / ,

which a l lows

lhe archi '

\\Y/1.

@ ?oetmodernbui ld inqe are mult iva-

lent-they can mean

many thinqo eimultane-

ouely. Unlike Nhe uni-

valence of modernisl

bui ld inqo, which only

6ay one thinq-"| am a

equar6,"-7ogt modern

archilecLure ie multiv a-

lentr , non- excluoiv e, al lu-

oive, reoon ant,, oymb olic.

@ ?oetmodern

ar chitr e cT,u r e r ei nt e r V r eT,sf,radiNion. ll doee not,

merely colV lhe Vaot but

reint erVrets it,. The AT&T

buildinq does noT, eimply

revive Nhe VaeI; iN mocke

it playtully.

KD ManyTostmodern

buildinqe yearn f,o

ref,urn to Ihe ab-genl cenf,er-f,o a

cenlral communal

o?ace. Duf, Nhen

realize lhat Lhere

ie nof,hinq we have in

common to fill it, wiIh.

9o why not fill it with

a clock?

Jencks defines Postmodern claeeiciem asa revival drawing u?on motife from Oreece

and Rome, He identifres frve eireams of

?oet mo dern alaeeicismz

Metaphysical classicismNarative classicism

Allegorica1 classicismRealist classicisn

90

Classical sensibility

M eta phy ei a al Cl a e si oi e m

Velanaholic classicism is a

mode of met aVhyeical c laooi '

cism thal focusee on a relurn

to the urban, ao oymbolized bY

Lhe lhalian ciVy equare-the

Viazza-but wilh a difference.

Toetmodern architecf'e sueh ae

Leon Krier and Toef,modern

arliate euch as Kito Wolff ren-

der euch Viazzae melancholy-

becauee Lhe Viazzae are deeer\ed.Yel, Nhere is a

yearninq for a cenher here-and Nhere is a cen-

Ierbut the cent'er io emplY,

Narrative Classiciam

Traditional narralive Vaintinq deVicte trhe

heroic act'ione of great Ynen-euch ae Socratee

drinkinq f,,he hemlock. they arl meanf' lo inepire.

The ?oef, 'modern narralive ?aintinq ofLen Vainbeunheroic men enqaqed in immoral act ions,

ln Taul Georqe'e My Kent

7tate, a vulnerable, nude

muoe-eymb oI of freedom-

aVt emVNo t o Fee t'he 6cene

of sf,udenf,s bein6 elayed.

This 6enre can f.ake on erof' ic and eubver'

sive ovefr'enea, ae in Eric Fiechl'o Oad Doy,

a lad wat chinq a nude woman whi le he

eleals from her puree.

I

All e g o ri a al Cla s si ai s m

G r anL D r umh ell er' s L t 4 hf, n i n 6 T h rowe r r eV e al.,othe pooe of a f amoue sLat ue of Toeeidon aqainaf, a

dreadful background of what Jencke calls "radioac-

tive gloom." Oo trhe fraehinqo in Nhe background oig-nify a nuclear war brought on by ?oseidon, Thor andJupit er nuclear miesi les?

A eub-genre-naive realiem-returne tro theinnocence of Granl Wood and Grandma Moees. AnexamVle ie David Liqare'e Woman in a Greek Chair,

Realist Clasaiaism

Kealiel classicism ie alwaye eomething of a ?ara-dox, an oxymoron or conlradiction. ln t,he claeeiciel Iradil ion the indi-vidual Vafbiculare of a body-Lhe hands, toroo, head, etc.-rendered inolone, were eubordinated No ldeal baauty.

ln realist claseicism the ecale ie NiVVedIoward the uqly, realiolic aepecte of Iheeubjecl, which Xhe Vure claeeiciet overlooke.Example? Works such ae ?hiliV ?earletein,sTwo Female Modele on frrentwood Loveeeatand Kuq. Accordinq to Jencke, "A parody ofeexualit'y ie eugqeot ed by rhe way vael sf"reNches of Lhe body are

focueed on, ae in a Flayboy cenlefiold, only lo belurned inlo sacko of eagginq meal," (?M 1zr),

, The Classlcal Sensibility

Jencke frnde thal eome artiete are faithful Ioa 7eneral opirit of claeoicism-they exhibit a clas-

eical seneibil i ty in their worke-even Nhouyh their eubjecT,e are con-Nemporary. Milelu Andrejevic'e Apollo and Daphne, for examVle, relellsLhe Greek nrybh of Apollo chaeing DaVhne to xhe river, only to eee herf ather, the River God, transform her inLo a laurel Lree. lL ie doublecoded in thaf' t'here ie an ironic Vutlinq to7elher of Vaeear-Nype coede,a poet -hiVpie gui lar ieT, and a claesical lheme,

92

E *no trre some other Postmodern theorists?

E Wel l, oome of r'he moeL imVortanf, onee are

7o sNslr u clu r ali sN Nhi nke r e,

E Poststructurolist?

E ?os?slrucf,uralism ie a rnovemenf' associat ed wit'h

a wave of French f'hinkers: Jacqueo Dercida, Julia

Kriet eva, Koland Dafi,hes, Oilles Deleuze, Felix Ouaf,-

f,ari and Michel Foucau\^ TosNsLruct'uralisNs t'end t'o

r e A ard all kn owl e d 0 e-hiotory, ant hr o2 olo qy, lif,er a-

Nure, ?sycholoqy, ef,C.-as t exf,Ual, This meang t'haL

knowledye is comVooed nof, iuof of aoncept'o buL aleo

of wordo, ?oolslrucNuralisNs focuo on readinq Nhe

wriltlen condibion of the

le>(^ Read in Ihis man'

ner, Iext g Vroduce a

variely ol mutrually

conNradichory

effects,

"tPt

a7

-l

of Vower. For him Lhere io only LheToslmodernieNe aleo lend lo

think thaV langua7e and meaninq

are fragmenlary. We know that,

?oet mo dernism queelione t he

whole nolion of dominance, For

instance, it queeT,ions the idea

that, one qrand etory can domi-

nale smaller onee. l l queelione

the idea that Lhere ie a hierarchy

of storiee, wilh the grand narca-

Nivee on t oV and Ihe emal ler oneelower down on Nhe trohem Vole.Tosteirucf,uralism backs uV ?oet-

moderniem with ito analysis oflanqua7e and knowledge. One ofthe moet Vrominent Tostef,ruc-

turaliete hae been a French inlel-lectual named Michel FoucaulN.

French Veycholoqiot born in

ToiIiers in 1926, He was con-cerned wiih Ihe relaNionehip

between ?ower and knowledge.but, he ridiculed lhe idea that

?ower io a huqe, monoli lhic et af,eslructrure and was distruetful ofbiq mef,atrheories thatr attemVt,lo Vrovide monol i lh ic explanatr ione

s

d t*-how power ie exercieedin varioue local situatione. The

Vrioon, lhe hospi la l , the aoylurr ,

the univereiNy,lhe bedroom are all

Vlacee where ?ower relationehiVo

are at, work, Even 9/M, for ,._r,,

, /

-4-=

\r-N

\ N

94

I D=a

ee?oueed euch local ot ruqgleo,

DUN Daudri l lard commande

thal we torget Foucault, be-

cau6e his ideae aboul ?owerare obeolele.

l9l why obsolete?

E Decauee, accordinq f,o

Oaudri l lard, Vower ie dead, die'

Foucault,, ie a kind of qama a way

of explor inq lhe dimeneions of

?ower locally. No 6rand general

theory can exVlain how ?owerworks in all Nhese eit ee.

solved, canceled and made

hyp erreal t hrouqh simula-

lione, modele, aodes.

ln the new Tosf,modern

universe of mediabli lz, we no

lon7er have ?ower Ver ee-but,

s om ehhin q F o u c ault f orqot

aboul-simulations of Vower, For

inetance, Ronald Reaqan ruled l ike

a kinq merely W posing-bV offer-

inq eigne of power in phoho ope

and sound bites-ratrher Nhan by

exercisin7 power,

4

"#

-J

Fur\hermore, eve\

lhere ie Vower trhere i:

lance. And the only w

Fur\hermore, even

oaye,iemtntsT,s,iormer com- iW d7

flut if rougr isdead-su t5

sErrualitAccordin7 to Foucaull sexuali-

f,,y refere Lo lalk and wrilinq abouN

erotric Vracticee, which cont ain rulee

and Vrohibi t ione and dist inquieh

normal eex from pervereione, 7ul

accordinq Io gaudri l lard, in the new

Toetmodern era sex ie dead becauee

everyLhinq ie eex. Sexual eimulatione are

everywhere, in advefi, isinq, in fashion, on'N,

in f i lrn. )exualitry ie no longer inl imafe,

?ereonal and Vrivate behavior. l f, io oVen,

enc ouraqe d, unl imited, unreet r ic led, man-

daf,ory-a command t o release sexual Len-

eione (builf uV throuqh Lhe sex-everywhere

dieplay of eexuali ly) throuqh eexual codes.

Thus "Everyfihing ie oexualitry" (FF t+1, Duf, if every-

thing ie eexuality-Lhen nothing ie oexuality!

@ *.,,, if sex is deod in the Postmodern, Poststructurql

universe, then is there onything left? lt seems thot everything

hos been destroyed.

And Nhat, brinqe ue Lo deconetrucLion-lhe brainchild of French'

96

t rained philoeoVher J acquee Dercida,

Weren't Foucoult ond Bou-

drillord French os well? Why is

so much Postmodern ond Post-

structutrolist thought domi -

noted by French thinkers?

[ *r,, France, durinq the

Enliqhtenmenl (the l9rh cen- ;

tury), ae we have alreadY

t alked abouf', reallY invenf'ed

lhe idea of lhe inlellectual-

the idea of a cerebral elitre who

would sil back and iuol sofD of

Ihink abouf, thinqo. And from

the f, ime of the Enliqhten-

menl,, France hag been a

kind of Varadiee for

intellecNualo, a Vlacewhere philoeoVhers and

thinkers have been reqarded ao

national f'reaeuree. Their books

are ena??ed u? ao readilY ae the

lat eol 'r'hriller, Iheir dioPut'eo and

divagalione are writf'en uP in

ql o eey, m aoe- m e di a m a q azinee,

rhey a??ear on'N ralk ehowe,

they qeV qood-looking lovere and

qood seaf's at' reslauranls. ln

exchange for f'hese favore, theY

are ex?ect'ed f,o getr a moral I'one,

Io buck eet'abliehed valueo, and

mosl import'anf'-No be avanN

qarde. TheY reetr eecure in t'he

knowledqe Nhatr whal tr 'heY think

today, t'he resT, of France will be

t;hinking lomorrow. At times, Nheir

wiedom even overeVille French bor-

dere, f loodinq T'he qreaLer int 'el lec-

lual world wilh French ideae,

For decades, on

the eidewalke oubeide

the cafes of ?arie,

l ight, has danced

down throuqh the

bouqho alonq Nhe

boulevardo, playing

over the eufiacee ot

objeclo, dappling

tableclothe and vari-

ouely attired loreoe

with ewarme of

eVhemeral huee.

French cafe-qoers,

many of them peoVleof in lel l igence and

culture, have Vlacedorders, fumbled for

ciqarettes, and foundiI very aNlractive Iobe able to eiN at at able and t alk about

Lhe t able and, raioinq

an int elleclual eye-brow in Lhe daVpled

l iqht, , Lo aek i f the

t able ie.

Treeiding over

al l th ie Lable t a lk,

from the time of theF rench Kev oluti on, f,h eimaqe of the Vhi looo-pher wa6 one of the

intellectual enqaqe,

acro99 p?e. Ae wehave alrea lked

abouf,, Frenc

denLg, eu??o

the Marxietrs, loolhe etreete, fiqhling

Ihe army and pol ice in

order to overlhrow

the governmenL They

nearly eucceeded, but

were evenT,ually

who, beeides wonder-inq if trhe Nable is or ienotr, was to be found

engaqed in pol iL ical

and Vublic affaire. ln

recenT, l imes, up unNi l

the late 196Oe, Jean-Taul 1afr,re defined

the imaqe. 7ut I,henthe icon of the int el-lecLual chanqed,

Af the earne l imeyoun7 Americano weret r iVVing to J imi Hen-drix, "H6y Jude," Hair,and 2OO1: A gpace

Odyaey, a eludent

movementr eweVtr

quelled, Fail inq to

demolieh ehaIe ?ower,Lhey became diei l lu-

eion ed, inw ardlo okin g.guddenly exhibitinA Affi,lToelmodern

ciem abouL q

mythe euch

iem and ff immuniam,

Nhey beqan to commif,

Ihemeelves Lo lan-

quaqe itself. Dieen-gaqing themselvee

from Volit ice,Iheybecame linquietic rev-oluLionariee, f indinqrevolulion in turne ofeVeech, and they

beqan lo view lihera-f,ure, reading andwrit ing as eubvereive

pol i l ical act e in

[hemeelves.9B

lo how wordo oaY

\\,a rnere f 'han f,o

French intrelloc,tu't . : ' . . . .

ale beqan attehdw'4

what words

oay. lncreasinqly die-

IrusLful of lanquaqe

claiming f 'o conveY

only a oinqle, a$thor i '

f,arian me#6aqa T'heY

bagan ry,lVlorinq how

lanquaqe can oay

Ynany different t'hinqe

eimulf,aneouely. DUN

by Nhe l ime all this ,"

had taken VlacaJacqueo Derrida had

emerqed, in t'he laNe

196Oe, as t 'he moeN

avanf' garde of f,he

avanf' qarde' Hie lec-

lure qiven at' Nha

Johne AoVkine Univer '

oily in 1966,"91,ruc-

lure, Sign and ?laY in

the Dieaouree of t'he

Human Sciences,"

caused many previouo

Vhi loeoVhere Io be

reagoeosed, and it'

set Lhe None for

much rhoughf, lo

come, lN was eome'

th inq o f a d isharmo-

nious chord, for his

forbe wae a subver'

sive mode of readingi * " I

authonlaiim iSXf;,-

or any f'exIs. This

otyle of readinq came

lo be known as

deconstructiofi. ln

France, decongt'ruc-

T,i on, ki ckin q exieben-

l ia l iem aeide, wao

euddenly much in

voque. Oerrida be-

came Ihe Vhi loooVherof the day,t,he new

enfant terrible of

French int ellecI'ual-

ism. And then, afI'er

Ihe American debut,

at Johno HoPkine,

deconst'ructrion and

Jacqueo Dercida t'ook

America bY of'orm,

Lurning much of Nhe

Western worldview

toVey-IurqY.

\

YV

Well, tell me then, whot

is deconstruction?

D efininq deconslruclion is

an aclivity Nhat' qoee aqainotr

the whole Nhruet' of Oerrida's

lhouqhl, AcLually, Derrida has

eaid lhal any eNat'emenl euch as

" decono|,ruclion io'Y" auNomabi'

cally misees lhe Voint. OUN

deconebruclion ofaen involvee a

way of reading that concernb

itself wilh decent erinq-with

unmaskinq the Vroblemabic nature

of all cen|,ers.

Decentering? Centers? Whot is

c center? Whqt is problemotic

obout one? Why should one

need to be decentered?rfl Well , Dercida, when he ie not

deconsNruclinq a t exl of some

diff icult VhiloeoVher euch ae Niet-

zsche or Heideqqer, writ,ee abouN

cen|,ers in euch abeNract, lanquaqe,

Nhat I will offer gome concret e

examples. Accordinq to Oerrida,

all Western trhouqhl io based on

trhe idea of a cenler*an oriqin,

a TruNh, an ldealform, a Fixed

?oint, an lmmovable Mover, an

Egsence, a Ood, a Treoence,

which ie usually caVit alized, and

which quaranleee all meanin6.

For insT,ance, for 2OO yeare,

much of Weslern culf,ure has been

cenf,ered on T,he idea of ChrisNian-

ity and Christ,. Other cu\,ures,

as well, al l have their own central

eymbole.

Well, whot's

the motterwith thqt?

The problemcenlerg, for

Derrida, ie IhaI Ihey

at0emVt, Lo exclude, In

doing oo Ihey ignore,

re?re66 or marqinalize

others (which become

the Other). ln male-domin-

at ed socieliee, man ie

cenf,ral (and woman is

the marqin alized Obher,

re?re66ed, iqnored, VuehedIo f,he marqine).

lf you have a culture

which hae Christ in lhe

cen|,er of it g icong, lhen

Chriotians will be cenlral No

that culf,ure, and 7uddhiete,

Muelime, Jews-anybody

different-wil l be in the

m arqin o, m arqin alized,

Vuohed f,o the oulside.

(We muet remember

that Dercida wao born

into an aseimilated

Jewieh family in Algiero, '.

qrowinq up a6 a member i

of a marginalized,

3o Nhe lonqing for acenl,er e?awno binary

oppooitee, wilh one Lerm

of fhe oppooition cenlral,

and Nhe oNher, marqinal.

F u(Yhermore, cenlers wanl

fo fix, or freeze, the Vlay of

binary oVposiNee.

d i opooo e ss ed c ultu re),

Fix the ploy of binorY

opposites? whot does

thqt meon?

realiNy. All olher

viewg are

repreooed.

Drawing

such an icon

is an af'NemVI No fix t'he

?lay of oVVooitee bet'ween, fo

examVle, Chriet'ianlJew or Ch

ianlVaqan. lhe Jew and Ihe

?a7an are nof, even re?reoen

in euch art'. Dut icone are iueone of lhe eocial Vract'ices-Lhere are many more- ihat'

t o fix Ihe Vlay of oVVooif,ee-

advefrieing, eocial codes, t a

c onv enf,iong, c aNe qo ri es, rilu a

etc .7u l rea l i ty and lanqua7e

are noI ae oimVle and einqula

as icons with a cenf'ral, exclu

sive imaqe in their middle-t

are more l ike ambiguouo fiqu

The int ereoting thing abo

such figuree ie lhat at' firet

[ *r', , r,he ovpooir,ionmanlwoman ie juot ' one binary

oVp ooiNe. Ot'hers are eViritrl m at'-

f,er; n ature / culture; Cauc asian /

3l a ck; Eur o c ent riem I Afr o c en -

T,r iem; and Chrietr ianl V aqan,

Accordin7 tro Derrida we have

no accees to realitry exceVf'

Nhrough concept's, codeg and

caNegories, and Ihe human mind

functione by forminq conceVt'ual

pairo such as Iheee,You see

how one member of Ihe Vair ,(here the lefL), ie privi leged, The

riqhl-hand lerm then becomee

marqinalized, lcone wilh Chriet,

or Suddha or whalever in f,he

cenler trry I,o Iell ue trhaN what'

ie in the cent er is t 'he only

oee only one ?ooeibil i t 'y. One

Voeeibilily io "cenbral" for a

momenl. For a moment t ' ,he

fiqure eignif ieo facee, bul t 'hen,

becauee Nhe Vlay of lhe eye-

trem is nol arceeted, T'he olher

view dawne, and t 'he oame fiqure

eiqni f ieo a candle.

buI eu??oee a qrouV oeizee

?ower, a qrou? called Nhe Face'

iete (l have deliberaf'ely made

this sound like "Faeciol'e").

They mighl draw eyeo on f,he

f aces. Thie would be an

aT,t emVt, tro fix or arreot t'he

free Vlay of differencee.

ln euch a ei lual ion, Candle-

iels would be marginalized,

re?reaoed and even oVVreoeed

or ?eroecut ed. The imaqe of

Ehe faces becomes Nhe Vrivi-leqed member of lhe or iqinal

Vair, ln oNher worde, a violent'

hierarchy ie formed in which

the cenf,ralized member of

lhe Vair, Nhe f ace, becomee

ineNilutred ae Nhe Keal and

lhe Good.

Derrida oayo t'hat all ot

West ern thoughl behavee in

ihis 6ame way,forminq paire

of binary opVoeilee in which

one member of the Vair ie Vr iv-i leqed, l reezinq Nhe ?lay of the

eyelem, and marqinalizing Nhe

olher member of the pair. but'

Nhe frqure, in realif'y, eiqnifieo

both facee and a candle.

@ ,"r, but how does this cpply to longucae, toliteroture, to reoding?

rH Deconstructrion ie a t actric of decenterinq, a wayof readinq, which first reminde us of the centralityof the cent'ral trerm. Then ir att emptro f,o subverr lhecentrral Nerm so rhat the marqinalized term canbecome cenf,ral. The marginalized Ierm lhen t em-

V orarily overLhrowe lhe hi erarchy.)uvpoee you have a ?oem euch ae rhe following haiku:

And eu??oee thaf, for thoueande of yeare Iheonly correcr way of reading rhe poem ie to read"pine6" ao a verb-like pining for one,s lost love.

E

O.K. But whqt qbout the othermeoning? Cqn't "pines," in thecontext of the second line, switchover ond become o noun: .,pines

upon the mountqinside?"

Yee, that'o riqht, That would belhe eecond move in deconetructinq a piece of literature-to eubverltrhe Vrivileqed T'erm by revealinq how rhe repreesed, marginalized mean-inq can juet as well be central.

But whot good does thot do?

Doesn't this just institute o

new center? lnsteod of

"pines" the verb we hove

"pines" the noun. Or insteqd

of Foce-ists we now hove

Condle-ists in power?

Exachly. Dercida claime lhaL

deconslrucT, ion ie a Vol i t ical

Vractice, and f,hat one musl noI

paee over and neulral ize the

phaee of eubveroion f,oo quickly.

For f,hie ohaee of revereal ie

needed in order f,o subverL the

oriqinal hierarchy of f,he firel

lerm over the second. 7uf,

evenf,ually, one musN realize

lhal th ie new hierarchv ie

equal ly unetab le , andgurrender to the com-

Vle le f ree-? lay of

f ,he binary o??o6itee in a non'

hierarchical way, Then you can eee

lhal both readinqe, and many

olhere, are equal ly Voeeible,

Yes! Like "pines upon the

mountoin sighed" (insteod

of "mountoinside")!

E 9o you can eee f,he Voeeibili-tiee. lf the lexT, were bhe Com-

muniel Manifeelo or f,he Torah

or t rhe Koran or lhe Sible or f ,he

Conet i fuf , ion, you could decon-

elruct any frxed, auf,horifarian,

dogmatr ic, or orthodox reading.

Of course, such lexlg are much

more comolex than our haiku.

They are more multifacel,ed,

like the drawina below.

105

lf you have a eyof,em of trianqleo

such as Nhie, Nhen you wil l nof,ice IhaN

if you sf,are aN il,, a eeries of configu-

ratione of trianqleo preeente itreelt No

your vision-one aft,er the oT,her. Sul

each ao-called preeent confrquratrion,

each qrou? of Nr ianqlee which eeems No

be momentari ly present, hao emerqed

ouV of a prior confi7uraf,ion and is already dieeolvinq inlo a fuNure con'

f iguration. And Nhie ?lay qoee on endleeely, There ie no cenT,ral confiqu-

ration that, attemVte No treeze Ihe play of the oyef,,em, no marqinal

one, no Vrivi leged one, no re?reesed one. According to Oercida all lan'

7uaqe and all t exf,,e are, when deconslruct ed, like this. And eo ie human

Nhouqht,, which ie always made uV of lanquaqe. He eayo we ehould con-

tinuouely altrempl lo eee trhis free play in all our languaqe and

Next e-which otherwise will lend toward fixity, inelif.,uNionalizaT,ion,

cenlralizalion, totalitarianism, exclusion, For in our anxiety we alwaye

feel a need No construcf, new cenf,ers, Lo asgociaNe ourgelves wilh

Nhem, and lo mar7inalize f,hose who are differenl Nhan

their cenT,ral valuee.

see, then. Deconstruction first focuses on

the binory oppositions within o text-like

mon/womon. Next it shows how these

opposites qre reloted, how one is

regorded os centrol, noturol ond privi-

leged-the other ignored, repressed ond

morginolized. Next it tempororily undoes,

subverts or decenters the hierorchy to moke

the text meon the opposite of whot it origi-

nolly qppeqred to meqn. Then, in the lost

Dinttlllt,,tt''

\f

step, both terms of the opposition ore

deconstructed-seen doncing in o free

ploy of nonhierorchicol, non-stoble

meonings. But if longuoge is just

the free ploy of meonings-with no

fixed mecnings-if qll texts degener-

ote into the ploy of meqnings, then

there is no bosis for politicol oction.

Tlfl ffnar'o riqhl, ln fact', many Marxisls and

f eminietre h av e af,tracke d dec o nebru cf,i o n

because iN cannotr 7rovide a firm foundaf,ion

for polirical acNion or even ?olilical crif.'icism'

@ o"O if longuoge is frogmented, then

people, who use longuoge' must be

somewhot frogmented too.

Iljl Vru, t'his ie whaN many ?osAmodernisls f'heo-

rize. Whereas lhe menlal diseaeeo of modernism

were alienat' ion and Varanoia, ochizoVhrenia is \

the ?oslmodern menf'al dieease. lf lhe een-

\1

lence breaks down, so does lhe peyche' 5o

does our ex?erience of paev, Vreoenl and fuLure'

Thue ?oelmodernism wallows in the ?lay of meaninqo, itr eurts Nhese

meaninqs and is concerned wit'h Vertormance, ?lay and Vroceoe

raNher Nhan wilh trhe finiehed vroduct,, ?oetrmoderniom delighlo

in lhe ever-changing ?lay of appearancez, raf'her t'han wit'h

eourcee and rootre and oriqino. Which qet,s ust'o our nert

?oslslrucluraliets, Deleuze and GuaT't'ari, whoee idea ol fhe

rhizome io oV7oeed Io f'he root.

|rrhEHirtrrGilles Deleuze and Fehx GuaI-

lari are f,wo French Yoslsf,ruc-turaliste who have had a majorimVact, on American thought,.

For, accordinq to them, mo6f,of Weet ern lhouqht ie dominatredby a elruct ure of knowledqe theycall aboreecence. The way ofknowinq ie treelike, ve(Dical, Forinstrance, in bioloqy wa have Lin-naean taxonomies.

ue hrueFhqriantfu

ln [inguirtirt uE haue

EhrHIlt{iln

\VP

/ \is wise

guch Nrees show uV not only in the frelds of bioloqy,botany, l inguistics and analomy,butr also in Vhiloso-?hy-where we have metraVhyoical treee, theoloqicalNreeo, qnoolic f,rees, The World Tree, qenealoqical lrees.

Theee Nrees arehi erarchi c al, imV o oin q

limit ed and requlatredconnecf,iong between

Iheir comVonentre,All euch lreee oVread

outr like many branches andsf,ems from a sinqle lrunk-

each ef,eminq from an ori1inaloneneea or unity.

nhodospirillumrubtum

n m a

C m o e

Of couree, al l th ie

can be Lraced back Io

?laf,o, whoe e v e(Dic al,

f,reelike VhiloooVhyproclaimed a material

world of manifeela-

tions st emminq from

T,he "f,runk" of a realm

of ldeal Forme or

Eeeences.

For instance,

Ooberman Vinechere,German eheVherde,

col l ies and Voodlesare al l mat er ia l

manifeetations of

an immater ial

Eeeence-an ldeal

Form of what, Tlato

might, cal l Doqqineee.

Doqqineee ie Ihe sin-

gle Tlat onic Oriqin-

the Trunk-of the

lree of doqo. Toodles,

colliee, etc, form the

branchee.

A major Nree-

like etrucf,ure that

Deleuze and GuaIf,ari

criLicize is the )edi-

?uo comVlex. lf, ie

r\ ll '

;,,,. . \ \ l t t ." ' .

treelike because all

lhe varioue Veychic

?roceoeee can be

f,raced back No an

oriqinal traumaf,ic

evenL in which Ihe

child ie eeVarat ed

from Nhe mother. Thie

lack of the molher ie

the basie of deeire,

and is com?enaat ed

for only by the child's

enIry into the oym-

bolic order-Ihe order

of Law and the Name-

of-the-Fatrher.

9u1 Deleuze and

OuatLari reject Ihe

idea of the OediVue

Nrianqle-of the

f af,h er - Vrincipl e, an d

of deeire baeed on

lack. Deeire, for

Deleuze and GuaNtrari,

inst ead of beinq

baeed on lack and

"f ,s\$-li

110

rooled in an or iqinal

)ediVal Lrauma, ie

crealed horizontallY,

by oocial in lerconnec-

lione. And the inT'er-

connecf,iong bef,ween

the infant ' and hie

ourrounding eocieNY

are alwaye in move-

rnent, frowinq, t 'akinq

l inee of f r iqht ' , l ike a

elrinqer of crabqraee

. . . t i ke a rh i zome .

3o, oppoeed Lo

lhe vert'ical, f'ree'

like sf,rucl'ure of

knowledge, Deleuze

and GuaLlari ?ro'c laim a rhizomaf, lc,

radical ly hor izonfal ,

crabgraes-l ike way of

knowing. Crabqraeo,

for ingt ance, ie a

planI. 7uI instead of

one cenlral rool, if'

has zi l l ione of roob6,

none of which ie cen-

lral-and each off-

shoot, inLerconnecls

in random, unrequlat ' '

ed networks in which

any node can inler-

connecl wi th any

olher node.

Whereae lhe lree

eeeke f,o eef'ablieh

ileelf and eay "lo bel'

lhe rhizome ie alwayo

re arran qin q inf 'ercon'

necliong, eayinq "and,

and , and , and , . l '

Thug the tree ie

concerned with ori-

gine, foundat' iono,

ontologiee, begin-

nlnge and endingo-

roots.The rhizome is

concerned with sur-

faoe conneolions,

lines of flight', wit'lh

Lhe "andl'

not mean

anythinq or

repreaent,any-

thing. They are not Lhere to beintrerVreted.

It, ie good enouqh merely todeecr ibe dreams and, in doinq eoNo walch how lheir eymbole o?enu? new, horizonlal interconnec-

lione bef,ween olher eymbole.

For ingtance, in Kafka'o "LeN-

ler f,o Hie FaIher" he inffates hiefaNher to lauqhably absurd,dreamlike dimeneionl, unli l hisfather's oingular Falherneee qetoeo huqe NhaI iI Vope-explodinqint o a vasl rhizomalic network off at herlike eoci al conn eclions

character, Greqor gamea,

awakee one morninq only Io f indthat he hae been Iraneformedint o a huqe buq. Some cr iNicereqard trhe relalionehiV betweenGreqor and hie molher and fa-ther ao Nypically Oedipa| Dut,aqain, Kafka exVlodee Lhe Falher'eeinqle imaqe inlo many, includinga chief clerk and a bose. Kafkathue triee Io de-OediValize Gre-qor'o fabher. Dut in Lhe end Gre-qor'6 l ine of ff iqht faile, and l ike aqood 6on, he diee for hie family,

lN is only in Kafka'e novels

trhat the rhizomaf,ic l ine of fr iqhf,

truly succeedo-eo?ecially in

The Trial. One miqhl exVecN a

novel named The Trial lo have

eometrhing No do wibh t 'he law,

3u1 Deleuze and Guaf't'ari find

lhaN Just'ice in lhe novel is noT'

leqal buL erotric. JusNice ie reallY

desire. Thue, t 'here are obecene

drawinqo in Nhe courl 'houee; an

af,Norney equaileo beinq accused

wilh beinq af't'ractrive; a series of

euqgeoNive

encounf'erg \

with eexy,

antrifamil ial S;-twomen; and

a Vaintr inqof Just'ice

ae winqed,

and evasive.

K., tha ?ro'Iaqonietr of

Nhe novel,

never reach-

es Just ice.")he" ie

never ?re-senl, buf'

t. iong and

eocial

relal,iong.

L- toying with lhe ebrucbures

u. of ingf,it'u'. V A

alwaye one roo y from him

in the rhizomaNic, ral Nunnel of

the coufi,houee wiNh iNe crazy

corridore and ?ervereely connecN-

ed paeoaqewayo Nhrouqh which K.

ie led by erolicized women. Thus

Jusiice,l ike lhe coufi 'houee and

degire, ig rhizoma|' ic, never reach'

inq conclueion. Kafka's wrif, ing,

troo, ie rhizomaNic, maVVinq and

frTtsnrsttl^ldrt

lsn't the Internet rhizomqtic,

horizontol?

Yee. lt, is non-hierarchical, hor-

izonlal. l ls nodes int ersecl in

random, unrequlated networks in

which any node can inf,erconnecl

with any oT,,her node. ln thie

reoVectr Deleuze and GuaT.,Iari

were correcl, when they declared a

new form of rhizomalic, horizonLal

knowledqe. ln f acN, f,here

is a sf,ory in t,heMarch 18,1996

New Yorker enli-

Iled "Vifr,ual

Oiehop;'

The biehoV indicat'ed ie

Jacquee Guil lof ', who was exiled bY

the VaNican No Algeria for his

"hel,erodox" opiniono, )f 'uck in the

middle of Ihe desefi,- in an

ancienl dioceee Ihat for all Vrac-l ical VurVoeee no longer exiet e-

he went, onl ine, becominq the

world's firef, virtrual biehoV.

It was a visionary author, Leo

)cheer, who hooked up Ihe biohoV,

He ie quot ed ae oayinq thal" lnstead of a metaphyeical idea

of a biehop, attached to a real

place, we would have a metaphyoi-

cal idea of a place, attached to a

real biehop."

The virLual dioceee, which canbe acceoeed from anywhere in theworld, imit alee trhe mind of God-a horizonf,al, rhizomalic God. ln

facN,lhe biehoV, who counle

amonq his triende VeoVle l ike Jeanbaudri l lard, comVlaine that, unt i llhe oVening of lhe virtual dioceee,"The Church hae been orqanized

veraically, when we ought to be

organized horizontallyi' Of couree,

the Church eoon went, onl ine

ae wel l .-N\i:

HEl lt seems likeverticol is outond horizontolis in.

Tn Yeo, but t,he

lronic thing io

HOW, in 1995,

Deleuze aom-

mit ted euiaide,

tn He ju mpedoff a tall vertl'aal etructur*a bu i ld inq.

E committedsu ic ide! Buthow?

\1,\

.N\

(w

The Condition of Poetmodernity

It seems qs if his self must hqve been pretty

ented. But where does the frogmentotion -of

self, ond of "things"-common to both modernism

ond Postmodernism come From?Tn Well, accordinq to David Harvey'o The Condition of Postmodernity,

changee in our ?erce?trion of l ime and epace occur, thisbrinqe about equally larqe chanqeo in Nhe wayo we re?resent theworld-boLh in the art,e and in Vhitoeophy.

The hielory of caViNaliom hae brouqht, on whal Harvey calle e?ace-Lime com?reoeion: There hae been an increaee in Ihe Vace of l i fe. And

Varallel ing lhe increaein7 com?ression in Nime, e?ace has ehrunk. rheworld oeemo to collapee inwarde on u6.

oul it' wao not alwaye like Nhis. Durinq Europe'o feudal era, each

tf Jt feudal f iefdom wae a definire leqal, Volit ical, economic and socialf 'F- t ) '

ffi._ts world. AN t'he cenf'er wae the caetrle,lhe Lord and Lady of thecaet' le and rhe nobil iLy. Working rhe fields and the foreeto, a

laee of eerts were loyal to trheir feudal lorde, of course,

ff,hio feudal world wae trhoughV to be only a reffectrion of a';., coemos ruled on hiqh by God and a qanq of heavenly

hoeT,e, and VoVulated by darker characfero, Nhe crea-turee of myfh and folklore-wiT.,ches, qianNe, dragono.

Medieval maVmakere often

re?reoenhed lhie world in eensu-

ous det ail, almosl l ike a Vaintinq.ln such ma?e, a river is a sensu-

ous frow of blue Vain| Ihat' cuts

trhrough a dark foresl (reVreoent'-

ed by painbinq in a number of

Nreee)-and beyond we find lhe

castle. A crose ohininq from t'he

oteeVle of the church and it s 6ur-

roundinq bui ld inqo are aleo al l reV'

resent ed ae they might, be in a

Vaintrinq. These det'aile are oeen

from a bird's-eye ?ereVecNive, ae

if God were looking down upon t'he

ecene, Ar the edge of such ma?e

wae Nhe end of t'he world-and a

cosmic draqon wait ' inq No ewallow

anyone who would dare venbure

troo close t o trhe edqe

and f al l int o hie

mouth.

With t'he Kenaiesance, lhe

princiVle of Verepeclive made iIe

etiNione of m;yl'lh and religion.

At the 6ame time, t 'he

Ttolemaic oyotrem of ma?-

makinq made i lo way t 'o

EuroVe-a oyotrem lhat reV- \iresenled o? ace obieclively.

From trhen on, a malhemalical

qrid-a qeometric framework

allowinq viewers lo acf'ually mea-

oure dislanceg bet'ween lowns

and oceane-would aV-

?ear on all ma?o. Nou

eince all of o?ace, all of

lhe world, could be reVre-

eenled by a qeomef'ric qrid, t'he

whole qlobe wae euddenly know-

able and conquerable. ExVlorero,

oettinq oul on voyaqee ol dis'

covery, drew such ma?e, which

were Nhen valuable to

merchant s and

Nradere,

At the eame Nime

Nhat o?ace became

choVVed uV mathe-

matically, the clock,

or chronomeNer, made

if,e aVVearance.

These new conce?-

Nions of sVace and

time were reflecf,ed

in every ephere of

Kenaiesance culbure.

ln archileclure, Golh-

ic cathedrale had

been ?o?ulahed with

groleeque qargoyleo

and angels. DuN Lhese

qave way, in lhe ba-

roque era,f,o a more

exVansive archihec-

lure, to lhe eoarinq

enerqiee of Dach'e

fuguee and the ex-

Vaneive imaqee of

o?ace and t ime in

John Donne's Voetry.7uI thie new, infi-

nile, meagured

imaqe of t ime and

o?ace eNill reflectred

God'e qlory.

Then bhe lBrh-

cenlury Enl ighl ,en-

mentr gaw e?ace ao

eomethinq tro be con-

quered. Vlape were

purqed of all elemenNe

of fanNasy and reliqion

and became absNracf,

qeomeNric, cold,

mathematical , and

etrictly funcIional.

Both t ime and

o?ace became uni-

form, mechanical ,

NewDonian o?ace and

I ime. but i f the whole

world could be envi-

eioned ae uniform, it

land could be la id ouI

on a gr id and div ided

u? equally-ae wae

done in the Uni Ied

St atee-trhen thie

could create f,he

basie for equality in

oociety, lf, could cre-

ate Nhe basis lor

democracy.

ln other worde,

trhe view of a ratrional,

uniform qrid of 6?ace

and trime allowed

Enl iqhlenmenl

thinkers t o envis ion

colonial and uNoVian

plano thal could be

rolled out, over T,he

whole uniform qrid of

Ihe qlobe, Space wao

knowable, and

through Eucl idean

qeomeIry, conquer-

able. 1pace, natstre,

and trhe world could

be measured, known

and dominated.

For Enliqhtrenmenl

thinkers this vaet

qrid of epace and

t ime no lonqer cele-

braNed God's

infinitre qlory but

dioplayed Ihe dimen-

sions of a universe

Ihal could be domi-

naf,ed by MAN , And

ueed by Man for hie

own freedom. No

lonqer would one fear

fall ing off the edqe of

Nhe eafth int o Ihe

mouf,h of a coemic

mongf,er.

EuroVeane

thouqhl lhat, now

Ihere wae a Vlace in

this conquerable

e?ace for everyone.

Africa could Vrovideslaves, and oiher

conl inenbs and cl imee

could Vrovide raw

mat erials for lhe

imVerial EuroVean

and American ?ower6.The chronomet er

allowed time,l ikeg?ace, Io be geen ae

mathemal,ical and

uniform. Time now

t,icked away in a

et raighl l ine from the

Vaet,lo trhe future,

Voderniem

:l eaw Lhe break-

inq up of Lheee

= uniform, l inear, con-

ceptr iono of opace andLime. Durinq Lhe Enliqhbenment

eocial t ime and Vhyeical tr ime hadmerqed, had become uniform andmabhemabical. Time had become

Vroqreeeive.Butr in the mid-ninetreenlh

cenLury, thie ?roqreaoive eeneeof l ime wae ehaken. Vany Euro-

?eane who had pafricipated inuVrieinqs and revolulione hadhad a Iaele of exVloeive T,ime,Thoee caughT, up in class otrug-qlee had a eenee of alternalinq,cyclic I ime.

Also, by the mid-nineLeenLhcenf,ury, iN became evjdent, thaleconomic and social t ime hadchanqed. With improvemenle int ranepo(Cat ion and communica-f, ione, all of Europe wae becominqeconomic ally interd eV en dent. IfTaris should euffer a financialcrisie, Nhe crieis also affectredLondon and berlin.

9imilarly, workere

in various count ries

beqan to oympathize

wi lh each otrher, and in such anenvironment, lhe Communis|

Manifeelo, could gain an audience.

AfLer 1B5O,Ihe major Euro-

?ean naNione expanded qlobally,etriVVinq much of the e?acein Nhe world of iNe Vreviouenamee and ueee. l l became rou-tine for nations, ci l ies and indiv-iduale to be deeVly in luenced

by evenls lhousands of mileeaway, The radio,Ihe mol,or car,and Nhe train acceleraled theeedevelopmenVe,

How could any wrif,er, T,hen,sti l l write a realisNic novel wilha Vlot unfolding ?aqe after ?aqein eimVle, et ep-by-eLeV, chrono-loqical order?

rul. \ ?

\.6..2

Writ ers

euch as

Flaubefi,,

Trouet, and

James

Joyce

beqan t'o

capt ure this

eenee ofg imul t aneoua

trime by alf,erinq

Nhe sf,rucf,ures of their Vlobo.Einst ein'e revoluNionary Nheo-

riee of relativity

chanqed the Ver'ceVtrion of oVace

and time even

more. lmVreeoion-

iot Vaint ere euch ae

ManeN and Cezanne beqan lo

decompoee trhe e?ace of object'e

wilhin V aint, in qo-object'e die e olv -

inq into dabe of l iqhL Cubism fur'

ther decompoeed Ihe obiecL. ln

oo ciolo gy Du rkhe im's EIem enta ryForme of Religioue Life, Vubliohedin 1912, founded the senee of t ime

in social rhythmo. lt became

a??arenL tha| there are ae many

experiences of e?ace and l ime

as f,here are ?eroVectrivee.

Now, in the

Toebmodern

world, rhe

ohrinkinq of

eVace hae

chanqed Nhe

waye lhat,

money and

commodi l iee

oVeraIe, CaVilal

is now eleclronically

moved around Ihe qlobal mar-

ketVlace wibh such raVidity that'

it, hae los| much of if,e eNabilily

and meaninq. ln our local eu?er-

markeT,g, we can buy French

cheeeee and wines, beers from

Canada, Mexico, Asia and Euro?e,

qreen beane from SouIh America

or Africa, Tahil ian manqoee, Cali-

fornia celery, Canadian aVVleo,

eNc. )Vace is aleo

compreeoed

in the ?o?u-lations of thelarqeet, ciliee,increasinqly made

uV of minor i t ies

such ae Vietnameae,

Koreans, EasNern Europ eane,

Cenbral Americane, Africane, ef,c,

PustAe eVace ehr inkl more and more, Nhe indiv idual qual i -

tiee of differenl epacee, differenl localihiee, qrowe inimVoftance. CefDain Vrovincee in France become veryimpoftan| if Nhey can ?rovide a cefr,ain kind of wine

oVVooed ro f 'he fixed accumulation of the early zorh centrury, when

corporaT'ione like Ford Mohor Company and Lheir capiNal baeically oat,in one place and Vumped oul cars for a relatrively ehable marker.

Harvey believee that Ihe ephemerali ly, collaqe and fraqmentalion

of Toetrmodern aftifacte such ae booke, frlme, archiNecture and art,are oimVly mircore of thie Vhenomenon of frexible accumulahion.

An examVle of thie ie trhe movie Sladerunner, which

contraine eiqnif ic ant ToeNmo dern elem ent e."Olade Kunner" ig a Viclorian word for "Vrivatre eye."

The fi lm became a cull f i lm-and t,hen a kind of natrional

eVecimen of Tosf,modernism. ltr even

inepired Will i am Gibson' e

novel Neuromanaer and

lhe movemenf,lhaf, hae

come Io be known as

ovberounk.<--

Olade Runner ie

about, a qanq of qeneti-

cal ly Vroduced humane

c alled " replicantl" who

have been created to

\ oerve ae hyVer-

ef,ronq, inlell iqenl

and ekil led elavee.

The are uged "off-

worldl ' in trhe haz'

ardoue work of

exVlor inq and

colonizinq Ihe

out er planet e.

Albhough Nhey have

been qiven human emo-

t iong, lhey are con-

sidered somewhat dan-

qeroue, and as Vafi, ol

lheir qenetic ?roqram,have a l i fe e?an of only

four yeare,

l$l tt looks os if theywould be good short-

controct workers inq Postmodern world.

But qre they humqn

beings or not?

IH Do you remember

J e an Daudri l lard ' e con-

ceVt, of trhe eimulacrum?

Sure, the simulocrum

is the copy thot is so

close to the originol

thqt the originol is

no longer importont.

And Nhat'e what

reVlicanle have be-

come-simulacra

lhat are naarly indie-

t inquiehable from

human beinqo, ln fact,

Blade Kunner ?or-Iraye a baudril lardian

world in which "The

real ie produced from

miniaturized units,

from matricea, memo-

ry banko and com-

mand modules-and

with these it can be

reproduced an indefi-

nite number of timee"

(erM 5).

And Ihe reVli-

canls have ret urned

Io Los Anqeleo, where

they were made, in

order to meeN trheir

maker, a qenetric

deeigner named lyrell,

who is Ihe head of

Ihe huge Tyrell Cor-

VoraIion, and ie in

command of trhe re-

Vroductive proce66eo

neceoeary for cre-

alion of reVlicants.

The reVlicanle are

anqry about Iheir

eho(C life eVan. How-

ever, Tyrell exVlaino lo

Koy, Nhe leader of trhe

enraqed reVlicantro,

lhat f,hey should

enjoy lheir shofv life

becauee it, is more

inf,ense-like a ffame

thal burns T,wice as

briqhfly but, hae only

a ehoft durai ion,Il$l But doesn't thot

mqke them likethe Postmodernpersonolities-

cought up in therush of time?

tlfl Yee. And the LoeAnqelee lhey rehurn

lo, ouppooedly Loe

Anqelee of the year

2019, ie no utopia, ln

facL iN ie a dyetroVia,

a decayed, Tost-

industr ia l waeleland.

0n the lowestf 0u0l, emvty ware-houeee and induet'r ial

Vlant o l ie hal f -bur ied

in heaVe of ro|t'inq

rubbish, which are

ecavenqed by roaminq

bands of punks and

otrher human vulNuree

l iv inq on lhe decayinq

remains of the VaoI.

0n t|te miildlel0U0l, rhe busrte ofelreet, life, itr looke

eometrhinq l ike Honq

Kong (on a bad day)

crowded wilh Vunko,various riff-raff, Hare

Krishna devoT,eee,

and oNher marqinal

etreeN folk.

0n the hiUhestl0U0l, eoarins hishabove lhe etreeN

ecum,f,owerg a hiqh-

t ech world of corVo-

raNe ?ower, architec'

Lure and advefVieinq:

Zan Am, Coca Cola,

Sudweieer. Dut, hov-

er inq above al l Ihe

corporaNe offices is

Nhe Tyrell CorVora'

tion ileelf.

Not only the reVl i -

canls are simulacra,

buV the archil,ecf,ure

of lhe cily io too, lT, ie

an eclectic ?osf,mod-

ern hodqepodqe of

eimulacra. The

Tyrell corVorale

headquafi,ere looke

l i kea reV l i ca ,as imu -

lacrum of a ?yramid,loel amonq a bazaar

of Oreek, Koman,

Vayan, Chinese, and

Vict orian motifs.

The Vrofusion of

corVorale archi-

leclure and adver-

I io inq oiqne in Ihe

ciNy, which com-

binee elemenNe of

New York, Tokyo,

Honq Konq and

Loe Angelee, ie

noNhinq eo much

a6 a chaos of

circulal inq eiqno

referrinq

Eo other

otqne.

The Toebmodern a(Eistic

VrinciVle atr work hera ia pae'tiche, a eeriee of neutral quo-tabione mimickin q v ari oue

archif,ecNural stylee and frlm

eVylee, Evef f ih inq ie doublecoded.

E whot is double coding, ogoin?T!f You will remember thaL in

archi t ectrure double coding con-

eieT,e of ueing lvloderniet melh-

ode, bul l ranecending them by

simul lan eouely qu ot in q archi lec -

f,ural mof,ife from the pael or

from a local cullure-buf, con-

eciouely, in a Vlayful, Vaeliche-eort, of way thaL can be humoroue

or i ronic,

Illl Like the ArEr building thot is

of once o piece of modern orchi-

tecture ond o quote of o grondfo-

ther clock?rl i l Yee. And double codinq can

occur noI only in archilecLure but,

in juet, abouf, any art form. 3o in

Elade Runner, everythinq ie dou-

ble coded. There are nol' only

human reVlican|e; everything ie a

reVlicanl, The acf,ore reVlicale an

eclecl ic blend of movie qenreo and

period eVylee-for Elade Runner

ts bolh a lulurieNic f i ln, eeV 40

yearb in Lhe fulure (from t'he

19BOo) and eeI simulf 'aneouely

40 yeare in f,he VaoL-it quoLee

ertensively from lhe genre of noir

f i lme of the 194Oe. Some of rhe

eeNe are aclually eeLe from old

SoqarI and Jamee Cagney moviee.

Archif, acNu r ally, ev eryft,hin q i e

quot ed also: Frank Lloyd Wriqhl,

Greek and Koman columne, alonq

with Orienlal motife and 4Os

qanqeter seN Nhemea Thue the

mof,ive ie noV Varody buf, VlaY-paeliehe, ltr is t'he eurtace plaY

and dioVlay of Lhe simulacra. JueL

ae the repl icanhe are more human

than humana, f ,he e imulacra have

became mare real t 'han Ihe real,

ln facf,, a main queaNion of

the flm ie, Whal ie Lhe dif '

ference bef,ween a

machine and a human

beinq? ReVlicant'o

and human be inqe

are 60 much al ike

Ihal it io very dif-

ficult to Nell the

copy from the"real ilhinqi' )

d i f ference beLween a human bein7

and a Nexue-6 android? WhaI is

Lhe di f ference betrween an or iqinal

and a e imu lac rum?

Thie queel ion ie broughl lo a

head in Lhe relatr ionehiV belween

Kick Deckard-a Vrivate eye who

hao been hired by the Tyrell Corpo-

raLion f,o acl ao a eearch- and-

deof,roy aqent, in pureuil of

N exue - 6 replic ante- an d Kach el,

a beautiful brunel'Le replicant with

whom he f a l le in love, )he doee

nol, know wheLher ehe ie a repl i '

canf, or nol'. This caueee Oeckard

Io doubt hie own human hief 'ory.

AfLer he killo one of her fellow

androide, Rachael ie v ioiblY die-

turbed, Deckard eaye "KePli-

canf,g weren'l ou?-

pooed Io have feelinqe,

buL Ihen aqa in , nor

were Slade KtJnnere."

lqff;,il| OL

What ie the

69"q i

qrowinq concern with f,he rela-

I ionehiV between human beinqe

and compulere.

AN another Vointr Decker and

Kachel, human and android, are

abouL lo oleep t ogelher. Kachel

eaye, "You're not goinq to bed

with a woman..,. Kememben

though, don't think about it, juot

do it, Don't pau6e and be philoe-

ophical, becauae from a philooo-

phrcal otandpoint it'e dreary for

ue both,"

Out, the movie does make us

think about i t Vhi looophical ly. ln

facf,, much of ToeLmodern afr ie

juet, a way of th inkinq about, lhe

Toetmodern aqe, lt, ie a way of

doing Toef,modern fheory. And

after all, the movie opawned trhe

whole movement, of ayberpunk, a

movemen| Lhal dramatizee lhe

Could this, then, be onother

difference between modernism

ond Postmodernism?

E How'e Nhar?

Well, one of the centrol imoges

modernists used to fill in the

post-Nietzschion void wos thot

of the mochine. Perhops Post-

modernism hos just reploced

the imoge of the simple

mochine with thot of the Mon-

mochine-the hybrid of mon

ond mochine.

120

Acf,ually, lhaf,; e exaclly wh at

Donna Haraway declaree in anoth-

er impofr,anf, Toel-

modern eggay, "A

Cyborq Manifeet o:

)cience, Technoloqy,

and )ocialiet Forma-

tion in the LaNe

Twenlielh Cenluryi'

Thie e6oay ie actual-

ly a chaVt er in her

book )imiano, Cy-

borqe and Women:

The Keinvention

of Nature,

Well, whot's

o cyborg?

A cyborq io

a cybernetic

orqaniem. Half

human, hal f com?ut-

er. Haraway arquea

thal in f,he lat e

twentielh cenf,ury,

and probably forgome Nime T,o come,

we are all cyborgo.

But ore we oll

cyborgs? | don'thcve onymochine ports.

In Haraway uoee"cyborg" to con-elrucl a new mfih

abouf, beinq

human. Old

mylhe about beinq

human alwayo qo

back f,o eome idyll ic

l ime of wholeneoe

and unity and inno-

cence, l ike in the

Garden of Eden. Dut,

Ihe myih of the

cyborg is never aboul

wholes; iN does not,

look noet alqically

back to eome unified

oriqin. A cyborq io

alwaye a oplif,, a

hybrid idenbiLy, a

cybernetric orqanism:

a human-comVuter.

t l l r t l t t l l l l l t r t r t t t t r t l t l t r l l l l l r l l r l r l l

t

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

Mltr lD

cutf uRe

Mi\!.8

clvl !. lzeD

Rer\!.| tY

YVilott

Mr\i(Eit

For in our culture, we alwaye

try to favor t'he words on the

left and re?reoe t'lhe onee on the

rlght^ Dut if we oee oureelveo ao

cyborge,Ihen we can know NhaN

we are alwaye bot'h: mind and

body, cu\ure and naf'ure, male

and female, etrc.-fracf'ured iden-

f,ili es, hum an- comV uf,ers, And, in

a way, we are. Every Asian woman

who, wilh her nimble fingero, worko

in f,he elecLronics induslry, ao'

eembling comVuNero, every oecre-

Iary whoee fyVinq eVeed ie moni-

Iored on Ihe comVut'er by her

BODY

NIr\]URE

teMi\Ie

?RlMl nvE

+\??ti\iti\Nlqe

?i\ttf

M+\DE

boee, every check-out' clerk al t 'he

qrocery etrore whoee eVeed is cal-

culat ed by a computer, every

vofer, every conoumer ie bein4

monilored by a comVut'er-ie

?art of a comVutrer-ie a cyber-

netic orqaniem. lI ie hard t 'o tell

where T,he comVut er et'oVe and

Ihe organism beqino,

l$l well, why don't these workers

just rebel?

That'e one of the eenNimenls

tha| 7ave rise No lhe whole cYber-

Vunk movement' ,

I I T T I I I I I I I I T T II

13,0

E cyberpunk?Ilfl Yee. CyberVunk was once considered

Ihe most Toetmodern of all Toef'modern

lhinqe, Cyberpunk beqan ao a hybrid of BOs

count erculr,ure, cyb efrechnology and anarchy.

The "cyber" parL of cyberpunk indicatee

Ihaf,,l ike cyborq, iI has somef'hing to do

wilh comVuNere.The word "Vunk" qivee uo a clue lo

T,he atfi i lude thal cyberpunks have

Ioward comVul,er I'echnoloqy: hip, oexy,

viol ent, min d- allered, anNi- auf,hori lari -

an, rebell ious, wilh a distrasNe for trhe

dominanN lifeolyles of Nhe Reaganlgush era.

Reall i fe cyberVunke Nend lo oVer-

aIe eomewhaV oubeide the law, ae lhey

are o??oeed lo the cenlralized uee of

comVuher f,echnoloqieo by huqe meqa-

corVoraf,ions and et at'es. They are

oft,en hackers who uee cybert,echnol-

oqy t o traV int o lhe international

elecf,ronic grid to futf itt lheir own

individual deeiree. A cyberVunk

quy who wanf,s t o seduce oome

corVorale eecrelary miqht, soften

her up by eofr,eninq up her soft-

wear (".q,, by alt erinq lhe eofLware in Ihe corVoraf,e mainframe oo

that, iI apVears lo her boes-who monitrors her key elroke raf,e-lhat,

she ie IyVinq f,,wice as faeN as ehe aclually ie).

t-

5 = t n E * H n

:--:

=

t?= 1€ :>i

CyberVunks, unlike hiVViee, are nol,

aqaineL t.echnoloqy. They want lo uee

Iechnoloqy ae a meane f,o reeiet the

infringementr on our individual free-

doms by centralized techno-qiant e,

JueN ao Mary thelley'o Franken-

etein warned againet Ihe exceeeee

and danqere of Nhe induet r ia l and

ecienbific revolulion in hhe 19fh cenNu-

ry, ecience ficl ion writ inq I,hal 7oeeby Ihe name of cyberVunk warns of a

techno-future in which humans musl

fiqhf a7ainoN trhe technoloqical Vow-ere of giantr internal ional meqa-

corp oraNions, Dutr t h at, lechnolo qical

fut ure is now!

Neuronr ancer

The firsl cyberVunk novel, which

wao inepired, in paft, by Dlade Kunnen

ie William Gibeon's Neuromancer. The

olory ie about, Caee, a pelty comVuler

and dala thief who has elolen informa-

Iion from his bosses. As Vuniehmenl,,hie nerve celle have been burned oul.

Case's nervoue oyelem ie reVaired,

however, when he ie hired by a myet eri-

oue emVloyer to Verform a Big HeioN.

- . - i = - - E E ? -

He ie accomVanied by oome hired mue-

cle in Lhe form of Mol ly, a qal br imminq

wi lh bio- imVlant e, includinq razore

beneatrh her naile. Toqetrher Nhey eleal

a coYn?uf,er conglrucl.

The major adventure in the novel ie

trheir mieeion No Freeland, a planel

where they are f,o eleal an Anificial

lnt el l iqence enl i ly named Necromancer

wilh whom Winlermale (Ihe myef,eri-

ou6 emVloyer) wiehes tro merge eo

lhal he may become God and Iake

over f,he univerae,

The ditrerence beNween Dlade

Kunner and Neuromancer is that,

in Neuromancer Ihe ditrerence

between comVuter and human, naNure

and Lechnoloqy, oriqinal and coVV, oriq-

ina l and e imulacrum, hae co l laVeed-

imVloded, ln facN, Neuromancer

sla(be ouf, wiNh a deecriplion

of nat ure lhat is in Ierme of

t echnology: "Ihe eky above

ihe porb wae the

color of Neleviaion,

tuned to a dead

channel" (N b).

m ffi t m

-_

--I,---

4

-,4 S ' \

And ir ie Caee'o own reVaired

nervouo oyelem, for ingNance, nof,

oome comVuIer, which enablee him

Io enter cybereVace,

And Ihouqh everyone today

knows whaf, cyberepace ie, Gibson

wae the one who invenled the

Ierm. He did oo by eayinq thal

cyberopace ie: " A conseneual hal-

lucination experienced daily by

| | / , billlonsoflegitl-

,, 1r\*ffi14 sentation of- data abstracted

from the banke of

,,' mate o?era-.-/./ |',/ tors in every

o-o% : nat ion., ,a,frfr \w l r

K(_ ' gnphia re?re-

NtI c\-nr -^-L^Lt^- ^s

CybereVace is a cyborq-a

merqinq of human and comVut er

caVaciNies, And this conceVl of

cybereVace wae euqqeeted to

Gibeon one day in Vancouver, a6

he wae wat.chin7 gome teenaqero

Vlayinq video 0ame6 in an arcade:"l could see in trhe Vhyoical

intrenoity of their pooNures how

raVt, f,heee kide were.,, .You had

Nhie feedback looV, with Vhot one

cominq off the ocreen into the

kids' eyeg, Nhe neurone movinq

Ihrouqh lheir bodies, elecNrons

movinq throuqh Lhe comVuter,

And thoee kide clearly believed in

Ihe oVace lhese 0arne6 Vroject ed!'

CyberVunk science ficIion is

not, eo much aboul the fulure ae

it, is a way of drawinq a map of

whatr ie qoinq on t oday-a ?re-senl in which dat a are conf'rolled

by v aot, Nechno c aVit'aliot'ic corV o -

raf,ions. buI t'heee huqe dat'a

banks exiel in a epace where'N,

telex, t aVe recorder, VCR, laser

every computer in

tions of data,

Like city lighte

reaedlng" (N 51).

-.a.-1

di ek, c am c ord er, tel e dil d o,

au d i o an im aI r o n i c V a V ar azz i ,

nano-rover and t eleVhone are

wired troqelher like a eprawling

eleclronic eVecies of coemic crab-

qraoe. And they can be Vluqqedint o by thoee with Ihe hacker,

cybVerVunk ethic of "informaNion

for Lhe VeoVle."

kind of comVut er eex in

which a joy - et ick- dildo

can be animat ed by a

uoer on a digT,anf, com-

Vut er. Audioanimatronia

?a?arazzi are eound- acbi-

vatred robot ic pap arazzi

which ena? your photo

f @o if you were a ou?er-7 model strul t inq in thigh-hiqho

inf,o a glitzy trheme reetraurant,

euch ae the Faehion Cafe, or)

while enqaqed in noiey Leledildonice

wilh eomeone of N at ion al-Enquirer-

fr onl- c ov er st aIuo-o om e on e

such ao a dieLant, Maft]an. A

nano-rover ie an imVoeeibly small

robolic lhaN eende back pixelimaqee trom lhe eufrace of Mare.

And eo you can 6ee the Voeeibil i-tiee: Nhe data trom teledildo,

Mafi, ian, nano-rover and audio-

anim af,r onic ? a? arazzi- all int er -

act inq in one huqe coemic elec-

Lronic evenT,.E reteditdo?Audioonimqtronic

pqpqrozzi? Nqno- rover? Whqtqre those?

Teledildonias involvee a

a - ' -(tltft-: . -

:-$ 1'9, 2L'./4

@ aro.rpunk science fictionseems to provide o more occu-

rote mop of the contours of

these Postmodern times thon

does Boudrillord's theory.

ThaN'e right, ln fact', many

think that, Saudril lard is really

doinq ecience fict ' ion, and trhatr

much of cyberpunk ecience fict ' ion

ie really VretIy qood Iheory. AfLer

al l , Oaudri l lard only deecr ibee a

ToeImodern eociet'y lhat Vaeoive-ly ourrenders No f,he sensual,

obecene frow of hyVerrealily and

eimulacra. 7uI cyberVunk ecience

fiction not only deecribes a world

of simulacra but aleo showe iI to

be a world dominated by vasf'

me7a- corVorat ione, and euqgeetre

a form of resist ance lo Nhe con-

trol these huqe cor?orat' iong exer-

cige over uo,

However, cyberVunk, l ike 1au-

dri l lard, hae now ceased t 'o be

avanN qarde and ie now merelY hiV,

;ri

CyberVunk zinee have

become mainglream.

MONDO 2000, a

qlooey cyber-qlam

zine, latre 'BOo cre-

alion of R.U . ?ir-

iue and Queen

Mu "domined-

i t r ix l ' ie

etruffed

wilh raV

on gmarA

druqo, cyber-

fashion (cyberpunke

ofben wear mirror-

oh adeo), cyb er- qoeoip, ef,c.

lvl o n d o'e V opul arit'y w ae

ecliVeed, in 1993, by Wired, a eile

for cyberVunk aulhors euch as

William Gibeon. Wired wenf' online

in 1994 as HotWired.

lTe[ iloltlireilwww.wirBil.G0|l|

Seeidee Lhese ?o?ular maga-

zinee, f ,one of cyberpunk eci- f i hae

been Vumped ouT^ 1uT, i l al l eounde

pelly much Nhe eame. Ae Ceicoery-

Ronay aeke:

"How many formulaic t a les

can one wade Nhrouqh in which a

e elf - deet rucliv e b ul e eneil iv e

younq VrolaqonieL with an ( im-

Vl anf, / V r o eIh eei e / Lel e cht r o ni c t a l -

ent) t rhaI makee Lhe evi l (mega-

c o rV o r aT,io ne I p olic e el at ee I

c r imina l underwor lde) pureue h im

Lhrouqh (waetred urban |andecaVeel

elit e luxury enclavee| eccent ric

e?ace ef,alions) full of groheeque

(h ai rc uLe / cl oth e s I e elf - m uli l a -

t ione I ro ck mueic I eexual

hobbiee / dee iqner druqo /

f, el e chf,r o ni c q a d q eto / n a oty

new w e ap one I ex\eriorized

h allu ci n aIi o n e) r e ? r e e e ntin g

Ihe (moree/faehione) of mod-

ern c iv i l i za l ion in termina l dec l ine

ul tr imalely hooke up wiLh rebel l ioue

an d lou qh- lalk in g (y oulh I af t i f r c i a l

inlell igencelrock culto) who offer

the al t ernaLive, nol of (communi-

t y I o o c i a l iem I t r a d i t i on a l v a lu ee I

t ranecendental v ieion), buL of eu-

?reme, life affirming hippneee, qoinq

wilh lhe flow which now flowe in

the machine, aqainet, the epecf,er

of a world-eubverLinq (arLi-

fi ci al inf, elli q en c e I m ulbin a -

t ional corVorat e web / evil

qeniue)?"

(7Re 1O4)q

tI

f

.,t\j

f.,.,, /

'1t{l \t

E well, cyberpunk justsounds like o bunch of

boys with high-tech

power fqntosies. How ore

these ony different from

Rombo? And whot does

cyberpunk hove to soy

obout the problems of

crime, drug oddiction,

sex qddiction, obout

women, obout ecology?I

[if Wharever reVlaceocyberpunk wil l have f,o be

more eart,h-cenf,ered and

more woman-cenf,ered,

Whot's so Postmodern

obout Modonno?

Well, tor one thinq, she ie

quitre coneciouely all surtace,

al l Vut-on, al l dreoe-uV, al l

make-over, all simulalion, all

e imulacrum. the knowe bhat

we live in an aqe of hyVe, of

hyVer-reality. the knows trhat'

s imulat ion and a??earance

mean more lhan subsf,ance

and reality. the knows that

fhe apVropriaf, ion and

replication of lhe

oriqinal are more real

than Ihe or iq ina l . Thue she is

deliberat ely Ir ivial, shallow, formu-

laic. And not, only in her videoe.

the realizee that "real" lite ie juol

show biz aleo. Thue ehe collecf,s

her Vaycheck buN never really qoee

t o work. When she dresoee u? ao

Marilyn Monroe she does so wilh

the knowledqe IhaI Marilyn Mon-

roe, hereelf, wae juet a VuT,-on, a

consbruction, a simulacrum, juot

l ike dreeeinq uV in draq or voque-

inq, Thuo her dreseinq u? ae Mari '

lyn Monroe is double coded in Nhe

oame 6enoe that Dlade Kunner

and Tosf,modern archit ecbure are

double coded.

Some of her crilice, VeoVle like

f eminiet s, Neachers, Tlanned ?ar'

enthood,Veterans of Foreiqn Wars,

ehc. reqard Madonna ae juot a

cheese'

cakey whore

dreeeed up

in Nraehy junk jewelry, with

a hrNhere belly bulf,on

and a fondle-my-

bra, boy-toy

attitrude.

9omeMadonna-

oloqisfs, on Nhe

of,her hand, re-

qard Madonna ao

deconelruclinq eooen-l ial isl notions of malel

female, hiqh arr,lVoV afi,,bl a ckl whiNe, virqin / wh or e,fucker/fuckee, et c,I

lEl Deconstructing essen-tialist notion of whcrt?

E Traditrional gender role6,ideao of whal it Nakes to bemaoculine or feminine, arekeVI in Vlace by fixed polari-triee-binary o??osit es of

-

oexual dif-ference, Foringtrance, it, io

ou??o6edly afeminine qama

noN a maoculine

qame,to wear ablacklace bra, with a

little bit of etraV ohow-

inq aI f,he ehoulder. Dut,in Vadonna'; videoe menhave breast e and wearbra6, imVlying Nhal Xheyhave breaotr envy (inoteadof the women havinq Venie-6nqy), wornen have hard-ons,virgins are whoree, and eluNeare virqino,

.: ).4i-, -2_

T I IT I I

"DieVlacemenl, ie at , lhe core

of f,he video'o lraneqression where

bodiee intereect in the infamoue

bedroom ecene. Vult ip le bodiee

ehif f poei t ione in a eer iee of die-

placemenf,s, while camera move-

menL eimulalee the f fu idi ly of

erolic activity as iI ranqee over

bodiee, undieNurbed by subet i tu '

f, ione. Core idenliLiea aurcender

Io lhe aeeumVf,ion of erof,ic rolee

in a oplif,t inq between dark and

l iqht, male and female, gay and

eLr ai qhr- di f f er en c e e mult i Vl i e d

and compounded" 1u?F ibo-g).

3y deconef,rucNing the riqid

boundariee b elween maecul ine

and femin ine, man and woman,

qay and etrrai7hl , Madonna' e

140

I I T I I I

video Juetify My Love hae become

a k ind o f gay anthem. I I b lure Lhe

difference belween eexual orienta-

l ione, belween qender and sex,

Vortrayinq an erotic f low of frac-

tured imaqeo Lhal refuee to play

ei ther the leebian or Nhe helero'

eexual qame, eiLher the eLraighf

qame or the qay qame, ei lher

the b lack qarne or the whi le game,

e i ther the male qame or Lhe fe '

male qame, buN, wibh a l i t I le imaq'

in abion an d crose- dreesinq,play e

lhe hybrid, mulanl, hyperreal,

I esbi an-h eler o e exu al q am e, I,h e

heferosexual- leebi an 6ame, t he

m ul af,to - m al e I e sbi a n q a m e,th e

h al f -b re e d-t em al e- g ay - m an qame.

But if Modonno'svideos decontructgender, sexuolityond roce, don'tthese videos-ondthe whole Modonnophenomenon-hovesomething to dowith power?

>-

((i

E Yee, Or with ?owerfant aoiee, Naf,ually, the

?owerlese like ?ower.And a large pafi of\Aadonna'e ?owerderives from her abil ibyLo Vroduce imaqes ofrebel l inq aqainst est ab-lished ?owere. buL,often the only ?owerMadonna fane have ieNo buy her Vroducf,e:t o increase the wealthof the mulLinatrionalenlerLainmenl cor? ora-Lione Nhat have IhemhypnoNized.

Untitled Film ?tills

I

l9l Hypnotized them?Tfl Yeo. The flow of

media imaqeo hyVno'

l izee and conditione

ue. The hyVerreality

of Vadonna imaqee

becomee more real

Nhan Nhe Madonna

wanna-bes who imi-

t ale her. And Ihis

Vhenomenon-oflhe imaqe being

more real than t 'he

human-is drama-

lized W VhotograVherCindy therman in a

eeries of Vhof'oqraVhelaken bet'ween 1977

and 19BO ent'it'led

Untitled Film ?tille,

The imaqea are act'u-

ally all of Cindy ther-

man, the phot'ograVh-

er, hereelf, bu| we do

nol, eee Cindy ther-

man. Whal we eee are

imaqeo thal a??ear

in our mind'o eye.

Theee imaqeo act'

somef,hing like maeke,

concealinq "Cindy'o"

face (which ie nol so

familiar lo ue) but,

remindinq u6 of eome-

Ihinq familiar (yeL,

someT,hinq we cannol

quile qraeV).

What' we oee, t'hen,

ie noI Cindy therman,

butr an imaqe of a

V aooed- ouf' glarlef', a

hitch-hiker, a woman

o?eninq a letler, elc.

Al l of t rheee imaqee

eeem otrranqely famil-

iar. buf, this io only

becauee Ihey were

ineVired, in Varb,by cl ich1e from old

Dri7iINe Dardot and

)oVhia Loren movies.

When you oee one

of her Vholoe, you

think you recognize a

characler or ecene

from an old movie you

have 6een, Dul, in

fact,Ihe phot'os do

notr reVroduce any

opecific aceneo in any

moviee bu| pul l up in

our mind'e eye t'he

kinds of vieual alich4e

and roleo women have

Vlayed in old moviee

we have geen.

142

Thus, our momenf,

of recoqnif, ion io only

an i l lue ion. Thouqh

Iheee imagee oeem

lo refer No eomething

oNher than them'

selveo,Ihey are al l

oufiace, all deVth-

lessness.

@Another Tootmod-

ern arLifact ie MTV

ETEl why Mrv?Tfl Wal l , le levis ion, in

general, ie considered

t o be TosT,modern

because it, is like a

t ornado of imagee

lhal whirl by wirh

such velocity that

f,hey have been

etriVVed of all mean-

inq-refercinq only

tro olher imaqee-

Nhe audience havinq

reached the point,

of t ot al saturation

ae lhe meaninqlees

imaqee qlow and

fricker, makinq the

viewer inlo a kind

of mindecreen.

But some of the imoges

dO moke sense. Most of thesit-coms ond soops hovestories-qrrotives.

And Nhaf,'e why

is considered to

be eepeoially

Toslmodern.- - - r / agecauee for \:

moel of IV,

narrative-hae been

the norm. Ouf, Mry ie not

based on etories but,

on disconneated

flowe of images. Then

there ie subvertleing, a

advefliein q c am- -. ;<i**iffipaiqno of huqe (,-#ffi

\corVoraf,ione \i

by creatinq Varo-dies of their

meogaqeg, guch

ao: "American Excegg:

Don'l Leave Home Wil"hout,

ciated with Aarbie-art,, {T }tjfft'i

barbie dol le in compromieinq poei-

T,ione, dreeeing them up in boy'o

clothinq, or, ae lhe barbie Libera-

trion Orqanization did, ewitchin7

the voice-boxee of barbie dolls

wilh thoee of G.l. Joe.

E whqt mokes\. o novel or o film[ i I naalaaJ^--2ti Postmodern?!

E Modernistnovelg concern

trhemeelves with

the l imite of individ-

ual congciousness-

\- how the individual

knows Nhe world. ln

novele such as

James Joyce'e Por-

tmit of the Anist ao5-r' a Young Man, the reader

io plunged int o lhe st ream

of thouqhtre and feelinqo

of a youn7 man ae he

attemVte to know the world

around him.

the af7 of subveftin7

Oarbie-ism by Vlacingffib

"4

hH

In the ?oatmodern novel or film, how_even the queation ie not, eo muchHow do I know the world? but, Whatie a world?

Coneider the film Blue Velvet, for

:::^!,", rt iuxta?ooea two very dif_ferentworldg: 2 utnnr) ̂; _ . 'vrx

ut t

r. ow n, m i d d r e - c, I "!"^'l,l nlJ ""niTl'romance, and a world of murder andsadietic 6exuathem in suchlitY'

It juxtaPoseoa way that we do notknow which world ie more ,"uti.

Another film that iu ott"nbranded*?ootmodern,

i6Wim Wendere,s Winge of

Desire. Again, the film juxta-?oeeo two very different worlde.

The place is tserlin_international,coomo?olitan, filled with differentlanguages and culturee and iden_tities. Each o.m e nt e d ̂ , o,l,!,2:Z' ;,::t;

"others. Each man livee in his ownprivate world.

IT IT IT I IT IT I

W E A R E C A P A B L E O F L I S T E N I N G I N O N P E O P L E ' S T H O U G H T S :

T 0 A Y O U N G t q A N C O N T E N 1 P L A T I N G S U l C I D E : T 0 A D Y I N G

N l A N 0 N T H E S T R E E T ; T 0 P E 0 P L E C 0 F 1 N 1 U T I N G I N C A R S ; T 0

N l O T H E R S A N D F A T H E R S . L O V E R S A N D C H I L D R E N . E V E R Y

A L I E N A T E D , I S O L A T E D I N D I V I D U A L H A S B E C O N 1 E L I K E A

L I T T L E S T A T E W H E R E E A C H S T R E E T H A S B A R R I E R S , A N D A L L

I S S U R R O U N D E D B Y A N O - N l A N ' S L A N D T H R O U G H W H I C H O N E

C A N P A S S O N L Y I F O N E H A S T H E R I G H T P A S S W O R D .

T H E O T H E R t / { O R L D , J U X T A P O S E D W I T H A P O S T M O D E R N B E R L I N .

I S R E A L F 1 O F E T E R N A L T I I ' , l E . O F P U R E S P I R I T . I N H A B I T E D

B Y A N G E L S . T H E A N G E L S C A N H E A R P E O P L E ' S T H O U G H T S

A N D N l O V E I N S T A N T A N E O U S L Y T H R O UG H S P A C E . T H E Y A T T E I q P T

T O I N T E R V E N E I N W O R L D L Y A F F A I R S B Y B A T H I N G P E O P L E

I N S P I R I T U A L V I B R A T I O N S . B U T O { : T E N T H E I R H E L P F A I L S .

T H E Y 0 U T H C O N T E t q P L A T I N G S U I C I D E J U t L l P S T 0 H I S D E A T H .

Y E T . B O T H T H E A N G E L S A N D S O M E O F T H E H U M A . N S A R E

A y - J A R E 0 F E A C H 0 T H E R ' , S E X T 9 T E N C E . 0 F T H E E 4 ! l l A l

O T H E R N E S S O F E A C H O T H E R ' S E X I S T E N C E .

I I I I I I I I I I I I

l+to

But how obout in fields other

thon the orts? Whqt impoct

hos Postmodernism hod on

the reol world?

f E ?ost'modern trhouqhl hao evenhad an impacl on Ihe ecoloqical move'

ment-and thus u?on mount'ains, redwoodo,

oceano, rivers and lakee. Aft'er all, Toslmodernisf's

are eue?icioue of qrand narcaf,ives-of biq eNoriee-

of ulopian vieions. And coneervalionists-t'he kind

of VeoVle wilh "gave the Kiver" bumVer elickere-

dream of a ut oVian ecoloqical wilderneee free of

pol lu l inq induetrr ies.

The Toef,modern T,endency ie t'o diemiee

Lhe conceVt of euch a ?ure ulopian

wilderneel ae a qrand narraf,ive. And

whaf,'e more,Ihie biq eIory ie based on that

evil of Tostret rucf,uraliet, evile-a binaryoVVoeibion. ln Ihie ca6e,lhe binary o??o-

nr eit ion wilderneeelcivi l ization,

7ut, olher environmenT,alist o-

eeVecially Nhoee infruenced by

poel and eco-acbivist, Gary 1nyder-

are aclinq ouN a Vhiloeo?hy Nhat ie

boNh Toetmodern and ecological,

ffttl;/ ,

inetead of engaqing in empty

f,heorizinq while the foreetre andrivere are euffering. enyder'e

environmentaliem ie baeed on hiElong immereion in Zen Suddhiet ,

me dilaf, ion an d philo o oVhy.

The SuddhieI univeree, l ike

the Toetmodern univeree, is made

uV of counhleee helero7eneoue

selves with counf,leee heleroge-

neoue viewVoinbe. Notr a utoVia,

based on one vieion, but a het-

eroto?ia baeed on the vieione of

counlleee )lhere. And all of

f,heee )r,her selves-l,he selvee

of mounlain l ione, redwoods,

redn ecks, con6 erv alioniele an d

rivere-are inLerconnected and

mulual ly inherdeV endenN. And

becauee none of theee eelvee

etand alone, by themeelvee, wilh-

oul al l the Of,here, their ee?a-

r aT, e n e e s-t h ei r Otrh er n e s s-i s

EmpIy, an l l lueion.

Thue, l ike thal NaLive Ameri-

can trickster f igure, Coyote,

1ny der's p o eli c e c o - Vhil o e o -

phy danceo around deconslrucV-

ing the eeeming "IeVaraf,e eelvee"of " wilderne66" an d " civi l izali on."ln Vract ice, th ie meane dancinq

bel,ween and weavinq t oqether

ecological all iancee betrween Lhe"oe?aratre 6elve6" of landowners,

c or p o r af, i o n 6, f e d er al a g en ci e e,

f o r egIg, m o unf,ain e, m o unNain

Iione and troqe. lt mean6, too,

lhal ,we are al l members of a

muf,ual eating eociely. We both

eat and are eaf,en. The eyee of

lhe mounl,ain l ion eXalkina ue

are our own.

ana theartsdtr, t5

rheaniu,lgf nd thc

i 7 . a - n5rr..tt!\ . / E

'-'2

[l n RetrospEdJuh*

So then, whot lS

Postmodernism?

Accordinq t,o

Lyotard, if, has Lo

do with eceVl ic iem

about Grand Narra-

Livee: and if, ie about

heleroqeneily. Ac-

cordinq f ,o Jameeon,

iL muet involve a way

of ma??inq the new

and confue inq con-

loure of our late

caVit al ief , ic t imee,

According to

Saudri l lard, ToeL-

moderniem ie a f low

of ullr a -fe ch n ol o qi c al

imagee in a coneum-

erisl hyperreality

acroee a mediaocaVe

or mindecreen Lo

which we can only

Vaoeively ;urcender.

Accordinq to

cyberpunk, i l ie a

world dominated by

mul t ina l iona l cor -

Vorat ione and lhe

dala they conlrol .

Yel cyber?unke advo-

caf,e a hacker ef,hic,

IapVinq in to and

ueinq euch dala for

?eroonal ende.

Accordinq to

Charlee Jencks,

however, all these

thinkere are only

deecribinq lahe

capilaliam or

laNe modernism.

AuNhenIic Toet'

moderniem, he

ar0ue6, involvee dou'

ble codinq Ihe a(bie-

lic repreeenf,at,ion

of moderniem with

somethinq doe-

6ome )Nher. For,

ae all ToeNmodern

Ihinkere would admit ,

f,he world ie ohrinkinq.

There ie no one dom-

inan| worldview, ?lu-

ralism rulee. Tradi-

t r iona l , modern, laNe

modern and ToeL-

modern attitudeg

all rub elbowe in the

oame culT,ure.

This meane that,

the Other increaeinqly

encroachee upon

what had once been

our VrivaNe opace. So

much of ToeNmodern

thouqht, has t 'o do

with lhis encroach-

menN of Nhe Other-

whether Ihat, Other

ie Other indiv iduals,

Other qrou?e, Other

oVecieo, Other raceo,

the }ther of "malel'

the Other of "f,he

West l' the )ther of

"Europe," Nhe Other of

T,he conscioue mind,

rhe Orher of Nhe

ratrional mind, trhe

Otrher of moderniem,

rhe )ther of "our-

gelf" or in "ouroelf,"

Throuqh double

coding, Toef,modern

architreclure, arA and

liNeralure repreoenl

rhe Obher, and t'hus

Vreoent, hetreroqene-

ity; by lookinq back-

ward t o trhe paol, or

eideways to a local

cul ture. Thue, whi le

ueinq modernietr

f,echniquee, lhey

include lhe Other,

hum o r o uoly, ir o ni c ally

or Vlayfully, ralher

trhan excludinq it, Thie

ie why Jencke writes

?oe|,-modernism wii',h

a hyphenz because in

Ihese Toetmodern

f,imeg, Nhere are a lol

of hybrid identritiee.

And Ihis ie eometrhinq

quiNe new. For, ae we

have discuseed, in

VaeI centurieo we

looked for eome

SuVermyIh or meeei'

ah Io uni le al l of

humanity under t rhe

umbrella of one over-

archinq philoooVhy,

The Tostmodern mind

hae qiven u? euch a

hoVe. Thie hae led to

a radical chanqe

in how we believe.

We are forced lo

recoqnize LhaN our

world resisle qrand

narraliveg ae much

as indiv iduals and

qrou?o crave trhem.

ThaI our world is a

carnival of colofiul

and contradicNory

worldviewe. We have

come tro realize that

our view of reality

ien't ae real as it

once eeemed. We have

come lo realize lhaV

there is noI one reali-

ty buV many different,,

oft,en confficlinq reali-

tieg. We have come to

eee thaf, our ideas

about, trulh are notr

et ernal, but, made.

The ideae that the

only God isYahweh,

or Allah, or the God-

dees, or lhat oome

qod named 1umba

vomited lhe Moon

and 9t arg, or the gci-

entific nolion NhaI

trhe Moon ie a phyoi-

cal body of such and

euch mae6 bhat,

orbite another Vhyei-cal body, Lhe VlanetEafbh, of such and

guch a mage, in guch

and euch an orbi l

thal can be mathe-

maNically deecribed,

or lhaN WeeT,ern med-

icine io ouVerior f,o

Orienlal herbal ism, or

trhat beinq feminine

equalo ouqar and

eVice and everyfthinq

nice, or T,haN the Cau-

casian race is Nhe

magT,er race-

' all theee are man-t,

€l made nolione.\ 9 , < ,' I ney are

t n an

objecf,ive re alit y, And

few believe that any

one eyelem of

thouqht, any one biq

etory or theory of

mythic Vropoftiono, io

caVable of exVlaininq

everythinq. Not, even

ocience io objeclive-

because iLe data are

alwaye dependent

on lheory. Realit iee

are eoc ia l , l ingu is l ic

congt,rucNiong-

ueeful frctione, rela-

Nive VereVeclives.lf rhe qrand nar-

ralives, the mastrer

narraf,iveo, f,he biggT,orieg, are no lonqer

believable-if Nhey

have dieaVVeared-

Ihey have been

replaced by a hodqe-

podqe of l i t l le narca-

lives. Toelmodern

VeoVle, instead of

dreaminq of the day

when all lhe world

will be unihed

under the univereal

banner of Marxism or

161

Chrietianity or gcience, are more

intrereetred in oeeing Lhe world as

a kind of carnival of culluree-a

tr ibal qaNherinq.

The shininq oun of Universal

Truth and Meanin7 io ecliVoed by

the colofiul dieVlay of l i t t le dancee,

lilf,le eloriee. giq etories are

reVlaced by little etories. gtorieo

are no longer aboutr an attemVV

lo est ablish some sofr of univer-

oal UIopia, unless ii be a hetero-

toVia. They do not try to ?rovethemselveo by makinq universal

claims. A Tostmodern etoryteller

may tel l in one nighV the Grimms'

fairy t ale of Haneel and Grelel

and trhe evil witch in lhe

dark forest who livee

in trhe qingerbread

houee, a Nalive American Nricketer

tale of CoyoLe eeducinq the chief'e

dauqht er, and an ancient myfrh from

lndia aboul the creation of the uni-

veroe from a qolden eqq, The etory-

tel ler and the audience form a

social bond, but it is the bondinq of

a heheroqeneoue eociety that can

live with lhe inconqruitieo, conflicf,s,

and qa?o between the various st o-

riee. This Toef,modern society doeo

not mind if one et ory oaye lhal lhe

Moon and Slare were vomiled

fofth, and another otory proclaimo

Nhat, the moon and sNars were cre-

ated by God. Tostmodern audiencee

don'|, demand IhaI all f,he het ero-

qeneouo slories add up t o some

qrand, qlobal, univereal total oenoe;

instead, they celebrate ihe f act,

that i l 's ?Kto etop making eo

much oen6e, Because

of the exVloeion of cul-

tural meeeaqee, we are

beqinning to under-

st and lhat, nol only our

stories but also our rit-

uale, religioue dogmao,

mytrhe, qender roles, eelf

conceple, beliefe, hist o-

riee and trheories are

culbural , s o c i a l inv en-

fione. We are beqinninq

lo realize NhaN we live in a world of

man-made eiqno and eymbole, and

we have bequn to play around with

f,hose eigno and eymbols humorouo-

ly and ironically eo that we are not

enslaved to them. Thie oft,en meano

accepting a Grand Narrative, but,

havinq an ironic attitude toward it.

Thus we may be a "quasi" funda-

menlalist, Chriet, ian or Muelim or

orAhodox Jew or Calholic; we qo to

church or lo lhe eynaqoque or the

mo6que, even thouqh we may have

I

oome doubte aboul t rhe melaVhyoi -

ca l c la imo ?ro?ounded f ,here. We

may bel ieve IhaI our ?ar f , icu lar

vocabulary and ideae about Lrubh

have no opecial claim to real i ty.

ThaL VeoVle with other orienLa-

I ione may be juet, ae orient ed No

lheir own realif,y. Juot, ae ofNen

iN meane Var t r ic ipaLinq in more

than one qrand narraLive-beinq

a buddhie l Chr ie l ian, for ins lance,

The fraqmenLaNion of qrand nar-

raLives under Lhe oreeeure of

mul t ip le , local forces has l iberaLed

Ihe concern for Othere. Whereae

modernisL wr i t ere ouch as Conrad

thouqhl Nhey could 6?eak for

Olhere-for Lhe colonized, for

Afr icane, for women, for Lhe

O r ient -?o etmo dern iom' e emph a-

e ie on d i f ferance ( i r reconci lab le

dif ference) hae al lowed formerly

e i lenced )Nhers such ao women.

qaye,b lacke, or ien la le etc , lo

expre66 their own storiee in Lheir

own voices.

You BerruRDo tr l"lY WAY.E But is this reotty hop-pening? Hoven't these Post-

modern times produced just

os frequently whqt Boudril-

lord describes os o prolifer'

otion of myths of origin?

Hosn't Postmodernism seen

o multiplicotion of cults,

such os Jopon's Sqrin Gos

Sect? And since there ore

so mqny millions of people

cought up in cults ond sects

ond mojor religions, it

seems os though there is q

need for Grond Norrotives

ond thot the Postmodern

erq hos even produced o

proliferotion of them. So

how does one reconcile the

Postmodern notions thot

people no longer believe

in Grqnd Norrqtives, thot

Grond Norrotives oppressqnd morginolize minorities,

that there is no Big Picture,

thot there is no Deep Struc-

ture to reolity (ond thot if

there wcs, the humon mind

could not know it) with the

foct thot Grond Norrotives

are vety much in evidence?

Yee, f,ha|,'g f,rue. The New Aqe

movemente of Nhe'6Os and'7Oe

drew ineViration from a mixbure

of poV-peychedelic quruo euch

ae Timolhy Leary, rock-ehamans

such as Jim Morrieon of the

Doors, and mantra- ch ant ing

eavanls from lndia oteeVed in

the Bhagavad Gita. baby boomer

opiritualiNy, while oflen serious

and eclecNic, tended t o be

narcieeistic and worehiptul of

aulhori ly f iguree.

AlLhou qh m any G en er af,ion

X-ers reject lhe poychedelic'

fueled communal hedoniem of lhe

boomer6, rrluch of Generalion X

eVirit ualitry cont inuee No circulaIe

by meane of imaqee borrowed

from VoV and rock. Thue, in the

oame way trhat, a big chunk of

Doomer' 6Oe oVirit ualiby depend-

ed on trhe ima7e-mix of the 1eaI-

lee and lhe Mahariehi , in the'9Oo, public television elevat ed

mylholoqiel Jooeph CamVbell Io

Ihe stalue of eainlhood: M'N

icons such as Madonna wriNhed

No hechno-beat, Lracks while dan-

q l inq re l iq ioue- ch ic f aeh ion b anq leo

such as cleava7e- accenf,inq

roearies; fashion deoiqnere drew

inopiration trom Hasidic Jewish

tradil ionalism and Amieh under-

statement; aust ere monasbic

chantr CDe hi t number one on the

Vop chart,e: anqele became widely

circulat ed ima7ee and a t opic of

Nalk ehows; Nhe highly publicized

men'o movement, and qoddeeo

movemenl celebratred a ret urn Lo

V a q aniem; O of,.hic oViritu alit y

rGl| r+r \{Al I

{ ssrcar II V,lrtrctt- 1

L]^'J

*-*5;E;

i tso f f i

imagee of body-Vierc-

inq,l,aILooin7 and glM

inundated M'N: and

cyberVunk morphedintro cyberehamaniem,

Cyberohamanism, ortechnoshamaniem, bythe way, is a Nechnopagan at -

Iemptr lo creale ancienar,

ehamanielic experiencee ofeceNaey (tra dili on ally in ducedby chant inq, drumming, dancinqand f,he inqeebion of Vey-choacbive eubelancee)

throuqh comVulerized fract alafr,, designer drugo, and reVe-tilioue music Ihat fille hheroom like incense. gometrimee

cyberehamane even en7aqein toadlicking, a fad eta(Dedby a rurnor Nhat, inqeolinq

Nhe venom of a ColoradoRiver f,oad ie a qood idea.The venom, however, igoften falally Loxic.

E tt seems thot, in thesome woy os the mod-ernists, we ore trying

to fill in the post-Nietzscheon Void byinventing our ownimoges qnd grond

norrqtives. Are thereony troditionol grond norrotivesfrom other cultures thot ore cop-oble of embrocing ditference?rlfl Yeo. Althou7h the qrand narca-

tjvee of Chrielianity, lelam andJudaiem have a difficulf, Nime deal-inq with differences, there are f,wom ajo r traditrione-D uddhiem andHinduism-LhaN can and do embrace

Ihe ditrerence; in our increaeinglypluralieEic world.

Duddhiem ie democraT,ic, cool,practr ical , inexpeneive, and (b ecauaethe l iberation of Tibet, from China hasbecome a hiV cauoe) Duddhism je

V olit ic ally correct. ?oetmo dern V eoplesand culr,urel live in a world of differ-encee. Buddhism'e philoooVhy of inter-deVendence lele ue eee our differenceeae a vaeN inlerconnectred web. ln facN,the imaqe guddhief,e use Io i l luslratethie ie Ihat of lndra's net. At each inter-eeclion of the elrande of this vaeV netr,which ie lhe universe of differenl eelve6, i6

. vra jewel-a "eelfn- which reffecl,e all rhe ffiffiA\ ilffiffiffiother jewelo in the net,. No oingle jewel, ffi""

tffi*-:f,hen, ie self-eufficienl. lt s exiet ence de- ffi'ffipendo u?on, and reilecf'o, all the ot'hers. ffiAnd so, in Ouddhiet, l inqo, each jewel ie ffiffi

E rhis sounds a lot like deconstruc-

Empty of self-exietence' ffi

mutuolly interdependent. Neither

con exist without the other.

@ rru, And a Suddhiel would oay,

"Eoth the facee and the candle are

Empty of inherent exiatence!"

Anolher lradition capable of

accommodatring differencee ie Lhe

baudrillard, Jean(A) Amerique. (?arie: Orasset,lgSO).()ED) De la aeduction. (?ario: Gali lee,lgSO).

The Ecataay of communication. Trans. oernard and caroline)chuf,ze. (New York : Iemiot ext (e), 1g B B).For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Oiqn, Trano.Charles Levin. (9t. Louio: Telos preo6,1gb1).

(FF) For7et Foucault. Trans. Nicola Dufresne. (New York: Semiotext(e), 1gS7).(99M) In the ghadow of the Silent Majoritieo . .. or the End of the

)ocial and Other Eoeayo. Trans, ?aul Foeo, ?aul ?atton anaJohn Johnoon. (New York: Iemiotext(e),1g\b).

(9lM) ) imulat iona.Trane.Nicola Dufresne.(NewYork: Semiouexv(e) 19Sb).La eociete de consommation. (yario: Gall imard,lgTO).Le oyoLeme des objete. (?arie: Oenoel-Oonthier,1967).

Ceicery-Ronay,letavan(9R9) "Cyberpunk and Neuromanticisml' in Storming the Reatity gtudio, Larry

McCaffery, ed. (Durham: Duke Univ. ?rese,1B4).

Deleuze, Gillee and Gualtari, FelixAnti-)edipue. Trane. Kobert, Hurley, Mark )eem, and Helen K. Lane, pref aceby Michel Foucault. (New York Vikinq,1g7T).Kafka: For a Minor Literature, Trane. Dana ?olan. (Minneapolis: lJniv. ofMinnesot a 7ress, 19BO).'Khizome.'Trans.

Taul Foss and ?aul ?alton, I and C S (1951):4g-71.A Thouaand Flateauo: Capitalism and gchizophrenia. Trane. grian Maseumi,(Minne ap olie: U niv. of Minneeotra ?ress, 19 B7).

Derrida, JaoqueeOf Grammatolo7y. Trans. Gayatri gpivak. (balNimore: John Un P76).

Eco, Umberao(fNK) ?ootocript to The Name of the Kose. (New York and London: Harcourt

Drace Jovanovich, 1984\.

Foucault, MichelDiocipline and Funish: The tsirth of the Friaon. Trans. Alan Sheridan. (NewYork: ?antheon,1977).The Hietory of Sexuality, Volume I: An lntroduction. Trans. Robert Hurley.( N ew Yorkz ?anIheon, 1977).The Order of Thinqo: An Archaeology of the Human gciences. Trans. Alantheridan. (New York: Tantheon, 197 O).

158

Gibson, Will iam(N) Neuromancer. (NewYork: Ace,19B7).

Haraway, Donna"A Cyborg Vanifestoz Science,Technology, and gocialist Formation in lhe

Late Twenlieth Centuryi' in gimiane, Cybor7e and Women: The Reinvention

of Nature. (New York: Rouiledqe, 1991).

Harvey, DavidTh e C o n d iti o n of ?o etm o d e rn ity. (Dl a ckw ell: Oxf o rd, 199 O).

Hasean, lhab(TLf) The Dismemberment of Orpheus: Toward a Fostmodern Literature.

(New York: Oxford Univ, ?ress,19b2).

Hemingway, Erneet(ggEH) The thorD gtoriee of Erneat Hemin7way. (New York: gcribner'e,1925).

Jameson, Fredrlo(?CL) "?oslmodernism: or the Culf,ural Loqic of Late CaViLaliom." New Left

Keview, 146 (19 B4): 53-92.(?CO) "?ostmodernism and Coneumer gociety|' ln Foetmodern Culture, Hal

Foeter, ed. (London and Sydney:1985),

Lyotard, Jean Francois(DF)(?c)

D i s c o u ra, fi q u re, Taris: Klin cksie ck, 1971.Th e 7o atm o d e rn C o n d it'i o n, T r ano. O ennin qton an dMassumi. (Vinneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota ?rese,19B4,first edif,ion 1979).

iohwiahtenberg, Cathy(MfF) "Vadonna's ?ostmodern Feminisml' in The Madonna Connection. Caihy

5 chwichtenb erq, e d. (6 oul der, CO: W estview 7r ese, 1995).

Venturi, Robert;5oott brown, Denlee; and lzenoun Sbven(LLV) Learnin4 from Laa Ve7ae. (Cambridqe, Maoe.z MIT 7ress,1977).

AadverAieinq,l44aesLhetic of coqnitive maVVing,40African sculplure, lSAge of Reason, g-13,15,2b-29

Aqee of Moderniem, Toelmoderniem, Kealiem(Jameoon),36-37

Allegoric al Claeeicism, 92Andrejevic, Millel., Apollo and Daphne, gbanthro V omo rphiom, B B-Bganl i -arL ,1Barboresence, 10B-14architecture, 72-02, B4-B Bart

for arL's sake,13ae moderniet, ree?on6e to the void, lb-14

au di o anim alr o nic p ap arazzi, 135

obach, J . 9 . ,11OOacon, Francis,9Barbie Lib erat ion Orqanization, 144baroque era,11BbarLhes, Roland,93b au drill ard, J e an, 41-7 1, 95, 11 4, 123-24, 13O,

149America,6T-69The Ecotaoy of Communication, 69-11For a Critique of the Political Economyof the )iqn,450n )eduction,65-67The )rders of the gimulacra,4B-64

thadow of the 1ilent Majoritiee,64-65The )ociety of Conaumption,4SThe ?yetem of )bjecto,45

bauhaue 5chool ,72Oecket t , 1amuel ,7ODhaqavad Gita,155binary oppooiteo, lol-3, 105-7, 13O, 139, 147binary requlalion, 52-53"7lade Kunner" (film), 122-Zb,133b on avent ure HoIel (Loe Anqelee), 57 -b BBorqeo, Jorqe Luie, SBDrown, Deniee 1colt, B5O u d dhie m, 147-4 B, 15 6-57burke, Edmund, IDurrouqho, Wil l iam, Tb

cCa4e , John ,1B ,7B ,79CamVbell , JooeVh,156cap i t a l i om,35 ,116cenLr al oymb ol e, 1 O O-1 O 4, 1 O 6Cezanne, Zaul, 121

Mont 1aint-Victoire, 21Chriol ianity, 11, 12, 29Cl a s ei c al I enoibi l i ty, 93codeo, of Vower,95Commun ism,19 ,90com?uter6, and knowled qe, 22-23conoumVtion, 45-47CoyoLe (Snyder),14OCoiceery -Ronay, letavan, 137Cubiem,13-14, 121cyberpunk, 123, 128, 130-38, 149, 156cyb er op a c e, 3-4, 134-35cyborqo,l29-3O,134

DDeath of the Real (Oaudrillard),59-64deconstruction, 96, 99-107, 157D eleuze, Gilles, 93, 10 b-15democracy,1l9d e n ol atriv e ot at e m ent, 26Derrida, Jacquee, 93, 96, 99-107

?tructure, Sign and Tlay in theDiscourse of the Human Sciencea, gg

deterrence model,53Dionyouo, lOdiecourse, ecientific v s. n arralive, 25-33Donne, John,11Bdouble codinq, 01-83, 89, 126, 13O, 15Odreame,20,112Drumheller, Grant, Li7htni nq Th rower, 92Durkheim, Emile, Elementary Forms of

Keli7ioue Life,121

Eeclect icism, B1-83, 84, BBEco, Umberbo, BOe6o,3BEinstein, AlberL,121Elior, T. 9.,14

The Waateland,16Enlight enment, 28, 97, 11 B-19environment al ism, 147-4Bexchanqe value,46existential ism, 99

Ff alsi f icat ion, rule of,27feudal era, 4b-49, 116-17fi\m,145-46Fischl, Eric, 1ad boy, 91Flaubert, Gustave,121Fouc aull,, Michel, 93, 94-96freedom,29-30F rench inlellectuale, 2O-29, 97 -99

French Revolution, 9, 2BFreud, 9 i6mund,14Fu I ler: 7uckminsf'er, 7 O, 79

G6ender roles,13942Generat ionX,155Genel, Jean,TOGeorge, ?aul, My Kent )lale,91Gibson,Wil l iam,136

N e u ro m a n c e r, 123, 132-34Gogh, Vincent van, ?eaoant thoeg, 36, 37gr an d n arr af'iv ee. I ee metran arr atives

(Lyorard)Graves, Michael, B2-O3

?or\ land Tublic )ervices bui ldin4, B2

Gropius, Walter,72Guatt ari , Fel iz, 93,1OO-14

HHaraway, Donna,l2B-3O

gimiana, Cyborgo and Women: TheKeinvention of Nature, 129

Harvey, David, The Condition of ?ootmodernity,116-22

Haeean, lhab,17-1b" ? OOT m o der nl)M A Taraari l ic al 9ibl io qr a -

phy" (eeeay),7OHe6el, G.W. F.,29-30Heminqway, Ernest, 12, 34, 3B-39h eter o q e n eify, 21-22, 15 Ohelerolopia, l4B,152hierarchy, vs. non'hierarchical (rhizomatic)

th ink inq, lOB-15" Hiqhbrow' culture, 16, 37H indu i sm,156 ,157hiot ory, awareneoo of, 40Hitler, Adolf,11,15H ol oc aust', 15, 20-21, 3OHotWired,136hy p erre alily, 60-64, 13 B

Iiconoclaem, S6lndependent, GrouV,Tblnduet r i al Kevolut ion, 50, 51lntern ation al 7tyle, 7 2-77, b4int ernet,l14lzenour, St'even, b5

JJ ameeon, F rederic, 34-40, 140-49

Fostmoderniem, or the Cultural Logicof Late Capitaliom, 35-30

Jencke, Charlee, 7 O-b4, OO, 90, 92, 149, 15O

The Lan6ua6e of ?oet-modernArchitecture, TB

Johneon, ?hilip, AT&T Fuildinq (New York), BB

Joyce, James, 14, 7 B, 121Finneqan'e Wake,16,79?ortrait of the Artiet aa a Younq Man,

15,144Ulyeeee,16

" Juraeeic Zark" (film), 54

KKafka, Franz,112-13

"Letter Io His Falherl' 112Th e M eta mo rphooi e, 16, 112-13The Trial,113

Kandineky,Vaeoily,T2Klee,?aul ,72knowledge

and comouters,22-23an d p o etetr u ct'ur ali sm, 9 4and ecience,29-31

Krier, Leon,91Krieteva, Jul ia,93

LLacan, Jacquee,20lanquaqe

an d V o otetr uclur alism, 94an d e cientifi c inv eetiq ation, 22-23tyVeo of ,26,32vg. the unconec ious,20

Lagcaux caveo, simulacrum of,60Lawrence, D. H.,14Learninq from Lao Vegae (Vent'uri, Orown,

lzenour), B5-BoLeary, Timothy,155Le Corbueier,36,73-76

Liqare, David, Woman in a Greek Chair, g2lo6 i c ,9"Lowbrow" cull,ure, 16, 37LyoIard, J e anF rancois, 19-33, 148

Diacouree/fiqure, 20The Toat-modern Condition: a report onknowledqe,22

Mmachine aqe mythoo,15Madonna, lSb-42,156

"JuoIify My Love" (video),140-41"make i t , new" (?ound),13,74M an del, Ernest, L aLe C a pital i o m, 35-bOManet, Edouard,14,121Mao Tee Tunq,11market, capitaliem, SSMarx, Karl,9Marxism,19,29, 40, 42, 43, 45-47, gO

Masaccio, Trinity, 2lmaoo cu l ture ,41,7BMcLuhan, Marehal l .TBmeaninq

in lanquaqe,45-47in p oeLmo dern archif,ecf,ure, b9-9O

Medieval era,117m e l an chol i c Cl ass i c ism, 91m et an a r r af,iv e o (Ly oI ard), 29 -33, I 4, j 4 b-O7metaVhor, Voetic,22M et aphyeical Cl aesiciem, 91mic ron arrativ es, 32-35modele,5l-52

of power,95modern iem, lT-18

artiet ic etylee in, 13-16meaning ot, B-16v e. V ostm o der niem, 17 -1 B

M0Np0 2000,136Monet , C laude,14monopoly caVilal iom, 35Morrieon, Jim,155Mosee, Grandma,92M'N,leJ-aa,66mul t icu l tura l ism, l -4Munch, Edvard, The gcream,36

mus i c ,24Museo l i n i , 15myrLhe, 24-27,32, 59

Nnaive rea l iem,92nano-rover,135N arrative Cl aeeicism. 91Nazia ,20,3ONew Aqe movemenle,155

NewWave of French theory,42Niet zeche, F riedrich, 10-11, 12-13non-ar l ,1Bnovele, modernieL ve. VoeLmodern,144, i4b

oobjecLe, ae commoditiee, 45-47)ediVue comVlex, 110-13Onie, Federico de,7Oother , the,15O

7paradox,31, BBparody, 3B-39, 02, 09, 92, 127?arf,henon,75

? aetriche, 3B-39, 82, 89, 126, 127Tearlotein, ThiliV, Two Female Modele on

Brentwood LoveeeaL and Ru6,92perlormativity, 31phil o e o phic al n arcat iv e, 2B-29piazzao,9 l? la to ,74,11Oplura l iem, BB

Voli t ical art,22

V olili c al n ar r af,iv e, 20-29?oV Art,37,70Toef,modern Claeeicism, 90-93

Voolmoderniemin architeclure,7B-9Oin t rhe arLs,5beqinnin7 of movement, 7 Blanquaqe of ,6-7meaninq of ,7 ,14O-57ve. modernism,17-1b

?oet et ruct uralism, 93-121?ound, E2ra,13,15,74

"Canl,og," 16

?oweran d knowl e dqe (F o u c ault), I 4of Madonna,141-42microVolitice of, 94-96

?roqreoo, idea of, b-13,15,29-307roust,, Marcel,121Tlolem aic m aV - m akin q, 117Tynchon, Thomae, O ravity'o Kai nbow, 22

RKeaqan, Ronald,95Realiet Clasaicism,92reagon, 9,20-29reinforced concret e, 50, 74Ren aiee ance, 50, 117 -1 BKenaul t , Cami l le ,50

I1ade, Marquie de,9

t o l

SarLre, Jean ?aul, 42, 9b5aue6ure, Ferdinand de, 43-44oceVliciom,36)cheer, Leo,114ochizophren ia ,1O7sc ience,9

and tranemission of knowledqe, 22-25science fict ion, 71, 136-37seduction,6ffi7eemiotics,43, 45-46eex and oexuality, 6MT, 92, 96, 135thell ey, M ary, F ra n ke n stei n, 132Sherman, Cindy, Unbitled Film ?tills,142-43simulacra, 95, 123-27, 136, 138s imulacrum- ism,56Snyder, Gary,147-4bSocial ism or Darbariem (left iet qroup),19e?ace, perceplione of, 116-22op ac e -tim e comV reaoion, 1169t al in, Jogef,11gtee l ,74

eNorytel l ing,lMstream of consciougnegg, 16stucco,SOstudent uVrioinqe, 42-45, I Oeubject, SBsubverLieinq,l44Superman conceVt, 10-11, 12-13?uperRace concept,lS

Tt eledi ldonics, lSStelevieion,l4Sf,im e, p erceptiono of , 116-22Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America,6TToynbee, Arnold,TB

Uunconscious, the,20Unity of Knowledge (Heqel),29-30urbanism, BBuse value,45utoViao, 36, 77, 79, 83, 119, 147, 148, 152

vVenl,uri, Kobert, B5verification, rule of, 27void, the, 8,11-13,32

WWarhol, Andy,37,7B

Diamond Duet thoea,37Weben Max,9Wenders,Wim,"Winqs of Desire" (fi|m), 145-46Williame, William C arlos, 15Wil l to 7ower,10

Wired,136Witt genet ein, Ludwig, 26Wolff, RiDo,91Wood, Granl,92

YYeaf,s, Willianr bur,ler, O,14

163

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CanadaPublishers Group $7est250 A Carlton St.Toronto, Ontario M5A2LIPhone: 800.747.8147

U KLittlehampton Book Services LtdFaraday CloseDurringtonVorthing, West Sussex BN13 3RBPhone:01903 828800Fax:01903 [email protected]

South Afr icaReal Books5 Mortlake St.Brixton,2092Phone: 2711 837 0643Fax:271.1. 837 0645

Aust ra l iaTower BooksUnit 9119 Rodborough Rd.French Forest NSW 2085Phone:029975 5556Fax:02 9975 5599

s H I P T O ( N A M E )

COUNTRY

TELEPHONE (DAY)

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STATE

(EVENING)

SUBTOTAL

New York City residents add 8.25o/o sales tax

Sh ipp ing & Hand l ing : Add $3 .50 fo r 1s t book ,i .6o for each addit ional book

TOTAL PAYMENT