The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism.(Book Review)

The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism

Steven Connor, Editor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

After the millennium, "postmodern" popped up like wild spring flowers, and caught many of us by surprise. Had "modern times" really ended? If so, when and why? Was this a fad, a trend, or a movement? Would it infect and affect popular culture? Was it merely a new name for the electronic technology--or much more?

The term "postmodern" is confusing and controversial. It was used as early as the 1870s by Britain's John Watkins Chapman, and later "first" claims move up through the 1960s. The choice depends on the different ideals and programs spotlighted. The Oxford English Dictionary gives a short, clear definition: "Subsequent to, or later than, what is modern?" This raises another question: What, then, is modern?

Steven Connor's book sets out to answer these questions and offer us a comprehensive introduction to postmodernism, and then to relate post-modernism to modernity, stressing its significance and relevance to literature, film, law, architecture, philosophy, and religion.

"Modernity" is often taken as the term referring to the social, economic, and scientific institutions flowering in the West during the eighteenth century (some place it earlier), and having worldwide influence in the twentieth.

There is no general agreement about just what modern and postmodern mean. The names most frequently associated with postmodernism are Ihab Hasten, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Frederic Jameson, and Juergen Habermas. Clearly, the center of concern has been Europe, although there are a number of American disciples; most have been philosophers and literary critics.