The two faces of postmodernism. On the relationship between postmodernism and poststructuralism

The concept of postmodernism has become a central concept in the humanities discourse since the 1970s. Together with the term poststructuralism, it describes a departure from the basic intellectual assumptions of modernity. What is often overlooked, however, is that the term has a different meaning in the philosophical context than in the original literary context. While the concept of philosophical postmodernism was constituted in contrast to the ideas of the Enlightenment, the concept of postmodernism was originally used in literature as a negation of literary modernity. Using selected literary works by Elfriede Jelinek and Umberto Eco, it is shown that both tendencies can be found within postmodern literature: Eco's works stand in the tradition of American literary postmodernism and are to be understood as "post" in relation to the concept of literary modernism . It is about a break with the modernist postulate of innovation and abolishing the boundary between high and trivial literature. Jelinek's texts belong to the literary trend in which the prefix "post" refers to philosophical modernity. This direction of postmodern writing is characterized above all by the decentration of meaning and criticism of reason and the subject. With this distinction, the dazzling concept of postmodernism for literary discourse is made more precise to a certain extent.

Details

• Title: The Two Faces of Postmodernism
• Subtitle: On the relationship between postmodernism and poststructuralism
• Author: Okka Hübner
• Edition: 1st edition
• Published: 1st edition 05/05/2010
• Subject: German Studies & Literary Studies
• Product Type: Book (Hardcover)
• Product type: textbook
• Language: German
• Binding: Softcover (paperback)
• Dimensions: 21.0 x 14.8 cm (DIN A5)
• Scope: 149 pages
• Condition: New (shrink-wrapped in foil)
• Keywords: deconstruction, the name of the rose, Elfriede Jelinek, feminism, intertextuality, Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard, illness or modern women, literary theory, Michel Foucault, philosophy, postmodernism, poststructuralism, theory of language, structuralism, subject, plays , Umberto Eco, Critique of Reason

Table of Contents

1 introduction 1

2 On the genealogy of the postmodern term 12

3 Poststructuralism as a philosophical dimension of postmodernism 26
3.1 Starting point of poststructuralism: Ferdinand de Saussure 27
3.2 Further development of classical structuralism through poststructuralism 32
3.2.1 Derrida's criticism of the concept of structure 34 3.2.2 Foucault's attack on the category of the sovereign subject 41

4 Jelinek's theater text: Illness or modern women: Post‐modern in relation to philosophical modernity 50
4.1 On the methodological approach of the analysis 56
4.2 Jelinek's theater text Illness or modern women 61
4.2.1 Reproduction of the plot 61
4.2.2 On the characters in illness or modern women 64
4.2.3 Character deconstruction: characters as pure language templates 68
4.2.4 Shifts in meaning 74
4.2.4.1 Shifts in meaning through language experiments and word games 74
4.2.4.2 Shifts in meaning through intertextuality 79
4.3 Poststructural feminism in illness or modern women 84

5 Umberto Ecos The Name of the Rose: Post‐modern in Relation to Literary Modernity 101
5.1 Synopsis 104
5.2 Textual Construction and Narrative Technique in The Name of the Rose 107
5.2.1 Return to Traditional Storytelling 107
5.2.2 Intertextuality as a text construction principle 110
5.2.2.1 Multiple coding through self-reflective play with intertextuality 116
5.3 About the characters in The Name of the Rose 119
5.3.1 The character representation in The Name of the Rose 119
5.3.2 The figure of William of Baskerville representative of a modern humanism 121

6 close 128

7 Bibliography 133
7.1 Primary literature 133
7.2 Secondary literature 133

Author

Okka Hübner, born in 1981. Studied German, philosophy and sociology at the Georg-August University in Göttingen. First State Examination 2009.

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