(USA only) 1 888.263.7591 Gallto orderForBeginnerfbooksandto receiveyourfreecatalog Uisitourwebsite at www.writersandreaders.com!
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1 888.263.7591 (USAonly) Callto orderFor Beginnerf booksand to receiveyour free catalog Uisitour websiteat www.writersandreaders.com!
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people notsure , Yotr're whot Postmodernism is.And if this,,erelike subiecf, it probobly wouldn't tellyou. fewgrumpy dernism isnot intellectuol trory, itis ffi ofound /, !d I crises ( ofthe [' Enlightenment. JimPowell tokes theposition thotPostmodernism isoseries ,u.i(
Erlfl 'f,r)t a
IVIIH
of"mops" thothelp peopfe find their woythrough ochonging world. Postmodernism for Beginners@
feotures thethoughts ofFo.ucouft oripo*rrono knowfedge, Jomeson onmopping thepostmod Boudrillord onthemedio,jrrvev r1r,1;!ri9compresion, Derrido ondeconsrruction ond ir,,
oniro,r such os il:l::::*9,:Tl::llf:mr,,i:il,il;,;;;;ffi'i,,n
Pt/ /|4odonno, cyberpunk scFfi, Buddhist ecology *d teledild'nics.
BYJlfrt P0wELL II.I.USTRATED BYJOE I.ET A /h6{a,tt
PHILOSO-PW us $11.95 uK t7.99 cAN$15.e5
@
lsBN 0-86316-188_X
Wrilers and Readera ?ublishing, lnc. 7.O.box 461,Villaqegtation, NewYork,NY iOO14
[email protected] Writers and Readers Ltd. 7 O b o x 2 9 5 2 2 , L o n d o nN 1B F D beqin@w rit er ea nd r ea d er s.c o m
Text Copyriqht@1998JameEN. Fowell llluelrationeCopyriqht@1990Joe Lee conceVtand Deeiqncopyriqht@1998writers and Readers?ubliehinq,lnc. Dookand CoverDeoiqn:RenbeMichaele CoverArt: Joe Lee Thie bookis eold oubjectto the conditionthat it ehall not,,W way of trade or oNherwise, be lent, re-eold,hired out, or ot'herwieecirculaled wihhoutIhe publioher'e consenl in form any of Vrior bindinqor coverot'hert'han lhat in whichir ie Vubliohed and wilhout a similarconditionbeinq imVoeedon the eubeequentpurchaeer. All riqht's reeerved.No Vart,of thie publicationmay be reproduced,sNoredin a ref,rievaleyetem, or lransmilted, in any form or by any meano,elecf,ronic,mechanical,VholocoVyinq, recordingor of,herwise, without,prior Vermieeionof Lhe Tublisher. AWrilere and KeadersDocumentary ComicOook Copyright@1990 t?bN )-86316-1BB-X 34567890 Manufacturedin NheUniled )tates of America 1eqinnereDocumenf,aryComic Oooks are publiehedW Writere and Keadere ?ubliehinq,lnc. lLe t'rademark,coneiet'inqof the worde"For geqinnere,Writers and KeadersDocument ary Comic1ooke" and Writers and Keaders logo, ie re7iotreredin lhe tJ.9. ?atent and Trademark Office and in otrhercountries.
?ublishing
FOR BEGINNER9*
books aontinuouely
sinae 1gT5
1975: Cuba . 1976: Marx , 1977: Lenin . 1978: Nuclear ?ower . 1979: Einstein . Freud . lgBO: Vao . TroLeky . 1981: CapiLaliem . 19b2: Darwin . Economiste . French Revolulion , Marx'e Kapital.FrenchRevolution.Food.Ecoloqy.lgBS:DNA.lreland.19b4:London.?eace.Medicine Orwell . Keaqan . Nicaraqua , Black Hietory , 19b5: Marx Diary . 1gb6: Zen . ?sychiatry Keich,Socialiem.Com?uLere.Orechf,,Elvis.lgbb:Archilechure.Sex.JFK.VirqiniaWoolf 1 9 9 0 : N i e t ' z e c h e . T l a l o , M a l c o l m X . J u d a i e m . l g g l : W W l l. E r o L i c a , A f r i c a n H i o L o r y , l g g 2 : T h i l o e o V h y .R a i n f o r e e t e . M i l e eD a v i e . l e l a m . ? a n A f r i c a n i e m . 1 9 9 3 : ? o y c h i a t r y. A b c k W o m e n Arabs & lerael . Freud . 1994: babiee . Foucaull . Heideqqer . Heminqway. Claeeical Mueic 1995: Jazz ' Jewjsh Holocauet . HealLh Care . DomeeLic Violence . garLre . United Na?ione Olack Holocauot . 1lack TanLhere . MarLial Arte . Hietory of Clowne . 1996: Opera . gioloqy Sauseure.UN|CEF.Kierkeqaard.Addiction&Recovery.lChinq,Ouddha,Derrida.Chomsky McLuhan,Jun7,1997:Lacan,ghakes?eare.glructuraliem.Che,lggB:Fanon.Adler Gandhi 'U.5, Constritubion.1999: Ariu. Oarch VArquez . Dantre, gukoweki. Kerouac . Tanao
2uC;aaal a y'r-*,
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lntroduction...
1
Postmodernese
6
Whotls Modernism?.
8
W h o tl s P o s t m o d e r n i s m ? fh o bH o s s o n . . . Lyotord Jeon-Froncois figure Discourse, ThePostmodernCondition..... Fredric Jomeson
......17 ........17 ....19 ..........2o .....22 .....3+
Postmodernism:or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.......31 J e o nB q u d r i l l a r d . . . . E o r l yW r i t i n g s "TheOrdersof Simulocro". ln the Shadowof the SilentMajorities ... On Seduction. America TheEcstasyof Communication Architecture . Modernist qnd Art Architecture Postmodern
.......11 .........15 ......18 ..........61 ......65 .........67 ..........69 .......72 ........77
C h q r l eJse n c k s
......78
Poststructurolism
........93
(ond Boudrilord on Foucqult) MichelFoucoult
......94
JocquesDerridq
.....96
deconstruction ond FelixGuottori GillesDeleuze
.-..-.99 ...1o8
D q v i dH o r v e y TheConditionof Postmodernity Artifocts.... Postmodern
......115 .......116 ......122
Blade Runner. Cyborgs Cyberpunk..... Neuromancer
........128 .......131 .......132
.. Poporazzi E Nono-Rovers Audioonimqtronic Teledidonics,
.......131
Mqdonno
......139
lJntitled Film stills (cindy shermon)
...1+2
MTV.
......113
Borbie-Art.....
.......1+1
B l u eV e l v e t . . . . . .
...145
Wingsof Desire
...115
Environmentolism Postmodern
....117
(ln Retrospect) Whotis Postmodernism?
....118
References.....
.....158
lndex
.........16o
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An afr,s brochurefor almoel miqht aVVroany major univeroit'y
conlrary worldview,differenl folkNalee,danceeor mytrho.lf Ihey
or Vriatelyfealure a Vhot'omont'aqe shouldencounter an individual re?reoentinqils seaeonof cult'ural a eociely lhatr wae different,f,hen trhestraleqy wae No conquerit, offerinqotrom aroundthe world. The monNaqemighr feature a
and eexualmililarily,economically
femaledancerwit'han Eaetrlndian
ly; Io converLit tro one'eown reli'
head,a male Navaholeft' leq,
gion;or No kill it. Thevery exie' t enceof the )t'her, Ihe very
the riqht,leqof an Afro' (/^
a Lorso halt'coveredby
?reeenceof the Olher, Voeeda Ihreal lo lhe
a suil and r,ie,and t'he
ou??oeed univerealit'y
obher half feet'ooned
of one'eown beliefe,
Americanmoderndancer,
ln the Tostmodern
wibheaqlefealhers with a one arm dioplayinq eacredTibetan hand
il ie difaqe,however, ficultrlo qet' throuqh a
qeoture,anol'her
d ay wit'houI confronlin q
muscledarm a
poundinqouf,a rhyl,hmon a JaVaneeedrum, and Nwomorefemalearme in a lyricaldance ?ooefrom lndia. Contraet lhis culNuralmixing with Nheliveeof moeT,of the ?eoVlewho havelivedon Ihe Vlanetfor
rnanydifferenl realities. gimVlyt'urn on hhe'N and you miqhl hear a world mueicqrou? oinqinqa blendof lrieh loveeonq, lndianraqa,heavy-metalanlhem, Monqoli an 9 ud dhiel chant'- and all lo Nhef,uneof peyot'edrume,
mosl of iis hiotory. Cilizeneof the
os, panVipeo, qamelane, didqerido nooe ffuf,eg,alpenhorns,gilaro
MiddleAgee and membereof pre' could live modern0ribaleocieNiee
And all Nhese and hambourinee. eounds may be producednotrby
but elecoutrNheiryearo wilhout encount'er- the oriqinalinef'rumenf, tronically,to a danceablereq7ae inq anyonewif,hanot'hergod, a
or hiV-hoV beat,,and broadcaet, worldwide viaeaLellite to millione of viewere-NheprofiIegoingf,o eavethe Drazilianrainforeet.ln facf,, qo to a fundament aliet,lelamic weddingin an EqyVtian villaqe, and the bride,eurroundedby elern eldere, hoodedand veiled go that, no intruding male7aze willVollute herAay oecretlybe lioleninq
to trheconcert,, benealhlhe hood,throuqhthe earVhones of herminialurized radio.7he may jeaneunderher bewearing
I I I Nraditionalskift,, and havea belly I full of Coca-Cola.I T i c ku ?a n y I NewA7emaqazine,and you I will find the I Vyoleriouo I and Unknown I eold in a thoueand f orme-Vey chic channelinge I of dieembodied epirite, Dud dhist, I Taoietr and Hindumeditatrion I Iechniques,Nalive American sweaf,baths, cryot alo and herbe, I elecNronic medilatrio n ma chinee I and exoticVotione.Your tyVical I NewA7er eeeeno conl,radiclion in aLt endinqa Quakermeetingin I f,hemorning,eabinqa Zen macro- I biotic breakfaet,sitting tor ChiI neeeTaoietrmedihalion,eatinq an IndianAyurvediclunch,doinq I a Chero-keesweatrbeforeTai Chi, I munchinqdowna eoyburgerfor I dinner,dancinqin a full-moon I wiNchinq ceremonywith her neoI TaqanGoddee; 7rou?, I
and Ihen cominqhome
I and makinqlovewilh her I NewAqe boytriendaccordinq Tanlric princiVleo. I to Hindu All rhe world's culL,ureo, I rit,ualg, race6,dalabankg, I mylhe and musicalmot'ifs int ermixinqlikea omorI are qaebordin an ea(chquake, I AndNhishodge-Vodqeof I hybridimaqeoio qlobal, dinq t he trradilional I froo mao6 media,and also CyberI o?ace-a e?ace everI I I I I I I I I I I I I I I t'=iil
I I I I I I I I wilh newunivereee blossoming and whichio beinq and realit'ieo, Vrobedby an ever-ex?andinq and of cYberpunks Vopularion cyberoharnanowho-l ike electronic rat's burcowing eidewayoNhrouqha vaef.,interconnecled series of elecNronic gewer6,cellarg,?aoeaqewayo,caverne, quttero, and lunnels-are capableof from cyber' naviqaNinq sil,e Io cyber'eite via an almosl infinit'elyint'erlinkedcaf'aloqueof codee. ln obherwords,we live increaoinqlyin a world of int erconnect'ed difference9-
differenceoamVlifi ed and multiplied -{,F
l*)--'
at,Ihe oVeedof eleclricity. No lonqeris there one moraliNyor mph
or riNual or danceor dreamor philooophy
or conceVlof eelf or qod or culNureor eVyleof ar| t hat, Vred ominaIee. TheexVlosion of newcommunicahions technoloqieoand lhe continuingfragmenlaf,ionof culruresinro lhoueandeof liwle culluree has torced us tro viewour worldas simultaneouelyexVandinq and ehrinkinq.Andjuer as the unexVlored Nawworld of earliercenluriee had ite exVlorerlwho set ouNon voyaqeoof diecovery,bringingback newma?e, whichwereconetanf,lybeinqre-drawnae ever new reqionewereVrobedand chaft,ed,tha Newyostmodern World-?o ef,mod ern Keality-h ao ite mapmakersand explorero. The maVmakereof Vaet cenf,urie;euVerimVoeeda fictif,iouoqrid u?onthe qlobe-Nhe meridians-trhelineeof latitude and lonqitude. Theychafr,ednarcowstraiNs,f arflunq exoNicarchipela7oo, dark cont.inenle,?revailing winde,waveeand c ur renle. ?imila rly, 7oehmod ern intellecf,uale-Vhil oeophere and ih eorief,e-have att emVtedNo maV
te chnoloqiee, economiee,cybere?acee,mediaeca?ee. But not everyonelhinke inf,ellectrua Ily about,all f,he chanqeef,haf,are 'r,akinqplace.
TheseTostmodern sim?lylake arbieLlor architecf,s oymbole, cullureo nof,eof the newnix of meeeaqee, 6onq,Vaintinq andthencrealea video, andmedia, thal refleclelhe Toetmodern condiNion, or buildinq
WewillbeexVlorinq lhe lhouqhtoof someof theee " ma?makere"and"explorero," TogNmodern Nhege inLellecNuals in lhe ?aqeetrhal follow, andarNieNe,
Thie is Male eublecL-Voeilione,"
But woit o minute! lf Post-
derneoe, becauee,in Tosf'mo quye no lonqerexiet.TheY have become" eubject'Voei-
modernthinkershqve some
lion6,"Thesame qoeefor
reolly new ideosmopping
women.ThereforeNhe ohraee"ThirdWorld
the contoursof our times, why hoven't I heord of these ideos before?
women"needeto be queoifreduVt'o "pool'c o l o n i afle m a l ee u b -
A major reaoonie t.haI Toet' ie eucha difficull lanmodernese
The 1ecN-poeif,ione." phraoe"T,heway"
quaqelo underofand-and moef,
couldproVerly
are bookeon Toelmoderniem wrif,f,enin lhie parlicularlyob-
be renderedae "lhe hegemonic
6cureLonque.
(mie)reVreeen-
For inelance-lel'e eu??oeeyou
LaIionand delval'
livein Lhe 197Oe,and you want to eay "Theway while guys Nreal
you can eee,7ogl,'
ThirdWorldwomenae 6ex objecteio
moderneee reliee
s h a l l o wa n d d i e q u e l i n q . "
u ? o nu e i n ga e m a n y
orizaLionof." As
Thefire| thinq you havelo do
e l a e h e ea n d h y p h e n e lo lranelaf,eil into Tostmodeneee and oarentheseg and gent enceet op mak' whal,ever is f,o makef,he other kindeof inq eenee.You do f,hieby eubsf,imarksyour computer can IuLinq myetrerious ?oetmod ern buzzwordeor Vhraeeefor ordinary wordsthat do makeeenee.For ingf,ance"whif,e0uy6"can profilably be reVlacedby the Vhraoe "VhallocraLic and VanoVIic(in Lhe Foucaultian eenee)Oead-Whire'
Thuelhe makeae ?oe6ible. word"ohallow"ehouldcorrecLlybe renderedao "a texLually(ra)inecribedpraxie of pre-dieeeminale d, (counI'er) eubver eive' d eothle6one6o,"'
your frnal infinile bewildermenf'. Tobe pertecllycorcecf', Thenyou look shouldsoundsome- Nhemin Nheeye,cornpaooionaf'elY, t ranelat'ion Nhinqliket'his:"Thehegemonic and Nelltrhemlhat' Ihe Vlurivocal entalion and (mie)reVreo
of (non)meaninqinambiquitiee delvalorizalionof t'he alwaye- herent in their queeLionobviouely alrea dy multi-(de)/ gend ered subvefrt'he Voooibilityof your ocalitiee and (de)cen' deliverinqlo NhemNhekind of pluriv
' ,l
Iered delconstrruct'ed
cheaVand low-downVhallocrat'ic,
and dialoqically Vrob-
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Iions,by hyVerand erof,icized orienNalized phallocralic and VanoVIic (in lhe Fou-
wellt'mnot sosureI understond whot Postmodernism is. And is it POSTmodernlSM, PoStmOdErN' postMODERNism, ism, post-modernismor Postmodernism? Itrhae beenwriT'Ienin all
caulhianeenoe) Nhos e wayo. 7oet'modernism- as )ead-Whit'e-Male Lhe "pool"' i6 Vreface imVlieS, eubjecl-Vooitrion
eomelhinqIhat, followemodern' discourse,ig a Nex- ism, However, peoVlewho Lhink tually (re)inetibed about,euchthinqo ae Tost'Vraxieof Vre-dieeemi- moderniomdon'traqreewhet,her (counter)eubnaL,ed, is a breakfrom Toetmodernism versive d eplhleesneoe," moderniamor a continualion
@ *not!!?? E
of modernism-or bot'h.ln fact, they don'f,evenaqreeas t'o
Andif anyoneaokeyou whal moderniemis, muchlese
whaNall lhal meane,you juel beholdT,hemwilh a qaze ot
Toetmodernism.
Uh Well,whot is modernism?
r ,
ie a blanket,Lerm H lvloderniem for an exploeionof neweLyleeand trende in the arLe in the firet half of the zolh cenlury.lf lhe modern era had a cenlral imaqe-it wae LhaT,of a kindof non-imaqe-a Void-and if the era had a quoIation that, eummedit,all up,il was lriehVoet,Willia m SuIlerYeaLs'slinee:
But whot things fell oport in the modern ero? What center could not hold?
E
Whatfellapart in Lhemodernerawerexhevaluesof the ltth
century,the Aqe of Enligh;f,enment,, aleo knownae bhe Aqe of Keaeon. Trobablythe mainvalueof lhe aqe, beeidesreaoon,wae lhe idea of Vrogreoe.
ln f,hel9th cenlurybhinkerebecameoVlimisticIhat by ueinqNhe univerealvalueeof ocience,reaaonand loqic,they couldqet rid of all Ihe myihs and holyideasf,hat keVf humanityfrom ?roqreoeinq, They felt this wouldevenLually free humanilyfrom mieery,religion, euperotif,ion,all ircationalbehavior, and unfoundedbelief.Humanilywouldthue ?roqreeeLo a elaf,e of freedom,happineeeand proqreee. Francishacon eaw ?roqreeet akinqI,heform of a wiee, elhicaland ecience-minded eliLewhowouldbe Nhe guardianeof knowledge and who, t h o u q hl i v i n qo u f , e i d Le h ec o m m u n i l,y,wouldneverthelese inffuenceil. Marx aleo believedin and envieioned a ?roqreee, Ulopia,7ul Marx'eUloVian vieionwae of a ?erect,world brouqhtr aboul by a maLerialiet,ecience,
Otherbhinkere, however,were nol, Eo oVtimietic.Edmund 9urke wae diequetedwilh Nheexceooeoof the French Revolution.And lhe Marquie de 1ade, lhe qreaf,-qranddaddy of 3/M, exVloredthe pervereitieeof eexualfreedom-Vainting a dark Victrureof hurnanliberal,ion.TheeociologietMax WeberVroVheeied lha| lhe future wouldbe an iron Vrieonof reaeon and bureaucracy,
E
Well,moybeYeotsond oll the
skepticswere right. lt look os if things did foll oport. Whot did Science, get us, ofter oll? Reasonond Progress ThezOthcenturyhos beennothing if nightmoreof not o dork, Kofkoesque rqtion-olly odministereddeqth comps, deoth squods,Auschwitz,WorldWqrs I ond ll, Hiroshimo,Nogosoki,ecologicol disqster-ond vorious systemsof totolitorionism.And oll in the nome
,,)), /,'), \s
vqluesof Science, of the Enlightenment Reoson,Liberotion,Freedomond Progress ! IIII
I
t..n'I
7uI I haven'|,evenlold vou
I,
n"
t,,*.
;t,
t.-E.:tl
He eawthe worldae the dance
abouf,the biggeet,ekepticof
of the deolructivelycrealive
eo V he r a l l - I h e G e r ma n ? h i l o
and creativelydeef,ructivegod
FriedrichNietzsche.Nief,zeche Dionyeue-the danceof the
411 lv
had no lolerancefor Enlighl-
Willto Tower-and Dionyouo
values.Keason?Unienmenf,
wae hie modelof howlo acL in
vereality? Mo raliry?7roqreee?
Ihe chaotic eLormof life.Any
Alltheee Enlightenmenf,pre'
man who acf,edin euch a way
leneee meanf,nolhinqtro him.
w o u l db e a S u p e r m a n .
I
And Nietzeche hit the nail right on t,.hehead.
notrdrill holeein lhe walleof our housesand hallowlhese hollowe,
Afr,erall, many ZOt h-century IuV ermenhave
t hemearneolly worohiVpinq with lhe worde"O rmyHoly Hole,
?rovenlhaf, you haveto deotroy in order f,o create: Hitler, Vao,
oave mel),l"
1halin,etc. Nief,zeche aleo ?ro' claimedIhe "Oeabhof God" as wellas trhedealh of Chrietian - moralilyand metaphyoico.With
No.We livein a cull,ure lhat, esNeems?reeenceover absence,icon overnon-existence, voluVNuoue virqinovervacant,
vacuum,wholesover holesl And one waveof his VhiloeoVhical wand, ye|,,wherewe Vreviouelyhad a the central oymbols,insNilutions center-wheNher in Christrianreliand beliefeof Weslern cullure, qionor in f,he whichhad alreadyeuffereda IS NOTI{IN6 idealeof ecilremendousblowby lhe Aqe of enceand Keaeon,diea??eared-?OOF?roqreoo likea maqician'srabbiT,into the -euddenly dark folds of a cloak. we had nothinq, What remainedwereonly dark waveoof Nothin7neee-a Void.
$nmtD?
Nature, however, abhorga vacuurr, and we Wegf,ernerg,unlike Ouddhie|,e and Taoietre, do nol toleraie voids very well.We do
)ome modernjof'g,euch as Heminqway, creaf,edworkeof arr f,hatr ex?reeeeda kind of Vaeeiverecoqnitrion of this lack of a center. ln hie
ehofr,eIory "A Clean, Well-lighted?lace," oneof hiecharacf,ere, a waitrer, //t t'/t't
reworksf,he Lord'e Trayer andthe Hail Mary-eubetritrutinq "nada"(or "nolhing"in gVanieh) atr oiqnificanf, Vlacee:
rc,c,trA I v7'7A_9'7\ tv vvJ \yvLf
lf modernthinkerecouldno lonqerbelieve in a Chrielian God, Chrislian moralif,y,or scienlifc ?ro7reoo-if Ihere wao no lonqera cenlerlo\Neetern culture-it was neceooaryXo find a new one for, aft,erall, we don'I likevoids. And il wae Nief,zsche-whohad proclaimedt'he deabhof Enliqhlenmenlvaluee,God and Chrislian moraliby-Ihat, ehowedthe way. Alf,houqhhe had deVrivedWeetern
culture of a centrer,he only did so by Vuttinq eomethingeleein ils place-nof, onlythe idea of a guVermanwho ie beyondqood and evil buNaleo ar| beyondqood and evil.Thue,amonq allNhefraqmentalion and chaoe,amidel everythinqfallinqaVafi,,modernarAists beqantro lookfor oomeet ernalvaluetrhat wae beyondall the chaos, TheeearlieNeadoVtedIhe heroic,almosl )uVerhumanrole of rediscovering lhe eeeenceof humanily,of findinqan eNernalvalue beyondall lhe chaoe,of fillinqin NheVoot-NielzecheanVoid in various wayo.ln a world withoul a cenf,er,aeslhelicsatb-became centrral,Afr for arL'o sakel Modern q wa s abo uNVaintinq- eelf-abeorbed, eelfVaint,in exVlorinqite own VrimaryVoeeibili?oeee6eed, |/
tiee: all pooeibleinheractionebef,ween VerceVt.ion,memory,idenlify. Oohemian, avanf,-qarde, exVerimenlinq wilh Iraditional qenreeand otyleemoderna(bisf,e,who brouqht modern arDto ite fullesl bloeeoming eomeIime be|,ween 1910
NrW
and the 193Oe,
ralliedaround poet
Ezra Tound'eballle
cry "Make it new,"eeeinqNhemgelvee a6 creators of the newralher than as ?reoervereof old cultruralforme, )uch aft becamea way t o reVreoenl Ihe eNernalin Ihe mideVof chaos.Cubiemdrew ineVirationfrom lhe eimVleqeometriesof Af rican oc ulVhur e, d emaleri alized objecte, bre akinq lh em down into trheirbaeicgeomelricforme,CubistrafrieT,s Vainted, ag TicagooVut,il,, "nof,what,you oee,but what you knowis fhere."
sensiliveyoulh seek-
aro6ewar machines
ated AuechwiLzand
inqtroeecapethe
Hiroehima.AndNhere
confineeof hie
ao ?owefiulae Ihey were effrcient ln ltaly,
in CatholicuVbrinqing
Ihe war machineof
Dublin,ie baeedon
lhe )u?erman ltAus-
trheancient,Greek
solini.ln Germany,
mfih of the hero
)uVer-
wereolher Vrob' leme-aftietic oneo.
Oaedelueaf,tremVtinq m a n Hitler's NoeecaVethe LabyrinIh. Thue,it, has a
Nazi
rnyDhat it s cenler.
Nrainsran
OneoymbolIhaI
on f,ime,
atlem?f,ed f,o fill in
deliverinq
Ihe Voidlhal had
theirhuman
been left by Ihe "deal,hof God" wao
carqo lo deabh
the oymbolof the
Auschwitzand
machine.Toel Ezra
These buchenwald.
Toundeaw wordeae
cam?oNhemselves
machines.The Voet
drew u?onmoderniet
WilliamCarlos
plannina qndarchi-
Modern
Williamssaid Nhat
arL and lit er-
the wholeVoemie a
NecturalVrincipleo. And lhe Nazl war
machinemadeuV of
machinehad iIs own
increaeingly difficulf
worde,Modernarchi-
center-Nhe myth of
tecle f,houqhl ot
Ihe SuVerRace-f,he
No underetand. Moderniam-
housesae machinee
euVeriorityof blue-
becameHiqhmod-
for livinqin. ln facl, all
eyed,blondmembers
e r n i e mH . i q hm o d -
of society wae be-
of the Aryanrace.
ernismpeakedin
cominqmoremachineraf,ional, Nechnical,
1922,wilh the with moderniemis of Vublication thal scienceand rea- JameeJoyce'o
Fromthie kindof
eon didn't juel create
like:bureaucraNic,
campe like
af,urebecame
9o one Vroblem
machine4ike efficiency ?roqre6e-Nhey cre-
Ulyeeeeand
T,9. ElioN'o"The Wastelandl' ln bolh Ulyeeeeand Finneganb Wake,Joyce exVerimenled with a sNreamof-conscioueneee elyle, plunqin7the reader within Ihe fluid,ehiftrinqfree-flowof hie characNere'?oychee. E]iol'g "Waeteland" exVeri-
Chicaqo,CoVenha7en, Munichor Moscow,t o viewlhemselveeas an exiled,alienahedcultural eliLe. ln "The Metamorphoeie" lhe
menNedwith a fraqmenied poetry full of literary,hieNorical and
wrif,erFranz Kafka eymbolized
mytholoqicaltidbire from around
Nhiealienationof the arl,jet wilh Nheimaqeof a huqehuman-eized
the world-depiclinq a soul and a eocietyin fraqmenNalion and
buqNraVVed in an abeurdhuman
deeVair, eeekinqreinleqraf,ion, a
environmenl.Such afrieIs creaf,-
new cenf,er.1of,h Joyce and Eliof,
ed workseo challenqing and weird
rejected lhe etraiqhttorward, and
tha| Nheycouldonly be appreci-
ralional ffowof the et ory or
ated by a narrowaudience.This
lheme. Theyaleo rejecLedNradi-
onlyfufi,heraddedtrolheir
ti onal characT,erdevelo Vmenl,
elitiet imaqe.
f avoringinetead a fraqmenled otyle. Dul Ihis dislikeof conventional characlerdeveloVment and the celebrationinsf,ead,of Vrv vaf,e,eubjecNive ex?erienceadded
Modernafr,, in fac|,, wao eo far-ouI thal it, dividedculture into "Hiqhbrow"and "Lowbrow." Il, excluded the middleclass,who
trothe t endencyof moderniem'e
could not,underelandiI, and qave riee No a kind of "Vrieolhood"of
arf,iels,assembledin emall
echolarsand crif,ice.Theirjob wa6
qrou?ein ?aris,Oerlin,Kome, Vienna,London,NewYork,
and ie f,o explainmoderniem'e myof,eries,To read James Joyce'o Ulyeeea,T.9. ElioN'e"Waeteland" or Ezra Tound'o"Cantoo" ie an advenf,ure,You needa quide, ae Nhoughyou wereexplorinq the Amazon.
E
differ rhen how doesPostmodernism from Modernism?
E
there ie lirrleaqreemenr on Nhe eubjecl, Varf,lybecaue
"TooT,modernism"-whaleveril is-is
an aNIemVINo
of what ie qoingon now-and we can oeeIhe Vreeenl only in retrosVect,,
)ne ToetmoderntheorieL,lhabHassan,offere a Nableof differenceo the Nwomovemenf,g; beT,ween
Modernism
Tostmodernism
Form (,coniuncf,ivel cloged) <" " " " " " ">
Antiform (digjuncbivel o?en)
{ . . . . a a . . . o o o o o }
{ . . o o . . . . . . o o o o }
Hierarchy
{ o o e . . . . . . o o o r o }
Anarchv
AfL Obieet/FinighedWork {oooo......o..o} TrocegglTertormance/
Ha Tresence Cenlerin
Abeence { o o o o a a a . . a o . . o }
{ o o . . . . . . . o o o o o }
KootlDephh
{ o o o o . . . . . . o o o o }
Diepereal
TexIllntefreKY Rhizome/7ufiace (T?L 267-0)
,': ,g 7
Thue,where and Joyce reoLorea deep new
Yeaf,e,Eliot eouqhrf,o cenT,er.a new
eenoeof Vur?oee, a newl eeneeof deeign,form ' and deVth,a neweenee of grimordialoriqinin m$h,ToetmodernieLe oflen eee no reaoonfor a cenLer,lnelead Lheyf avor a decenLering-a ?lay of chance,anT,iform, and eufiace.AccordinqLo .p'.1
lasean, whereaef,heimaginaLions of mod' ernieLeeuchae Joyce,Ticaoeoand Eliol were conslellatring aroundnewcentere,newcoherenl gf,ruclureg,7ogT,mo dernieIg often create, com?o6eo , r ? a i n I e n t r i r e lbyy c h a n c e - e p i l l i n qo r throwinqpainl on canva;eee,randomlydeter' miningthe qiLchand duraLionof mueical noLeein a melody,eeekingIo de-definearf,l:tr f'
lo create non-arf,or anf,i-arf,.For Haegan,
.t
7
John Cageie a Toelmoderncompoeerwho advocaleecompoeition by chance-by e i m V l yL u r n i n go n L h e m i c r o V h o n eaen d recordinqrandom,everydayoounds,
;
E
lt oll soundspretty chootic.lt's no wonderthqt we need "mop'mokers," intellectuolsto chort the depthlessnew world without q center. Who ore someof these"mop-mqkers"?
THE
MA?- MAKERg
l^?ortant
7oetmodern
Thi nkers
waebornin E Jean-FrancoisLyof,ard Francein 1924andtrauqhtin Alqeria, Braziland California,beforebecoming profeeeorof philoeophy aNIhe Univeroityof Taris in 1968. ln 1985 he becamedirector of the ColleqelnternaIional de Thilooophie. For some 15 yeare he wae associa|,ed with a leflieNqrou? called goaialism or Barbariem,which,amonqother trhinqe,criNicized 3 ovieI- elyl e communiem.AlNh ouqh Lyotard becamedjsillueioned with socialiemand
Marxiem ao earlyas 1964,Vhe evente of the studenL revolt in ?arie,in May of 1968, confirmedhis unregf,.
Discouroe,figure
and drippingwilh deeire.Like muchmodernpainNinq, dreame
ln 1971we find him b e g i n n i naq Ionq,VoeIMaxist,
G o
o o
vieual,dreamedierupt Lhe kindof linearawareneeeNhaNlanquaqe requiree.Thevisual, fiqure-makinq
periodin @
are fragmenf,ed.ln lheir attempV to makeunconocioue matrerial
whichhe is qiven nabureof the unconecioug,Ihou7h N ot h i n k i n q at workwithin lanquaqe,dioruVte languaqe, dieruptrstrherational
about,
ft \
:\ =^-\\
,!i/ttt,
orderof lanquaqe,Thie ie becauee the fiquralnaf,ureof Nheunconand Nhearts. VhiloooVhy,lanquaqe His book Diecouree,figure,ar7uee
eciousie difficultrIo reVreeentin lanquage, ThefiquralreeieNereVreeentra-
with Ihe conceVt,Vut,forAh by JacqueoLacanIhaI lhe uncon-
tion in T,hesame oenoef,haNlhe
eciousmind is likea language,
Holocausl reeisto reVreeentrabion.
lnstead, Lyohardeu4qeotstha|
At,AuschwiNzlhe Nazis would
Ihe unconscious is not so much
drownouf,the ocreamgof the vic'
likea lan7uaqeae it ie visualand
time in the death cam?oby play-
fiqural,like6hefiqureoone draws
inq muoicloudly.7imilarly,t o
atlemptr t o reVreeentAuechwif,z or Vainte.Languaqe, after all, ie ll reVreeeeo in lanquaqe-t o reducethe flat, Lwodimensional. deaf,hand et ench degradaf,ion, desire.Dreamo,on Nheolher hand,are vieual,fi7ural,alivewilh
lo a conceVN-drowneoutrthe
three-dimeneion al dream fiqureo,
ecreame,AccordinqLo Lyotard, itr
is thereforeneceeaarythal f,he
feelinqtrhaI there ie eomelhinq
Holocausf,remaine immemorial-
alion. Of,hert han re?reoent
Ihat, iN,remainebeinqlhal which
LyoNardoffers Ihe examVleof
cannot be remembered-but aleo
Vaeaccio'eTrinity,painf,edon Ihe
Ihal whichcannot,be forgotten,
walleof 1anf,a Varia Novella,in
Thus,any art, af,lemVlingto reV'
Florence, whichdieplayeboth
reeenlthe Holocauetehouldcon-
elemedieval and Kenaieeance
t i n u et o h a u n l u e w i l h i t e i n a b r l i N ymenle, 3y alt.emVtinqlo preoenN differenl eras,Lhe T,heunreVree entable, trwoimVoooibly No reVreeenN lf, should to oay f,he uneayable.
paintrinq6eemeT,oeay Ihal f,here
No haunt ue with the conf,inue
io alwayl an Otrherwhichcannol be truly reVreeented. Another examVleLyotrard offers is Cezanne'eMont 9 a int-Victo i rr- a eimulf,aneou6aI,IemVI Io preoenL NwodifferenT,modeeof vieion:vieionwif,ha distinct, focal cenler and vieionwhich i e V e r i p h e r adl i,f f u s e i, n d i e tincN.Aqain,f,woheteroqeneoueelemenf,g.
I
The Tostmodern Heterogeneous? trl Condition T ln 1974,the year n Yes.Helero' trtl
The 7overnment,. repo(Deurveyothe sf,atrusof scienceand
qeneouerneano "rnadeup of dissimi-
Toetmodernnoveliel
f,echnolo6,y, and hae
ThomaeTynchon'e
becomeoomethinq
lar elementra,"
Gravityb Rainbow,
a c c o m ? l i e h et h ae
wonLhe Naf,ional SookAward,"sfreak'
eame.WhenI eay "my
inq"becamea fad in
thal for lhe past
loveig a roge" I am
Ihe UniLedSIalee,
few decadeeeci-
invokinga hef,eroqe-
lrAamaCaeeof the
encehae increas-
ToeLicmelaVhor
K
ingtyinveoNiqaLed N
neou6difference.
languaqe, linquie-i l il,
Aft,erall, a rose and my love may havevery liVllein common. Oecaueeall f,hese worksof arfi bring our attention Eo f,he Ohher,to a radieal difference,they are
polirical.
ff
N ((n
Lo deaf,h
etoraqe,daf,a banks,
on a eandwich,
of and Vrobleme
and a )oviet
tranelationfrom one
probef,oucheddown
computer languaqeT,o
on Mare, Lyof,ard
anof,her.He Vro-
qainedinternaf,ional
claimedNhat,f,'hese
fame for The Poat-
chan7eo Nechnoloqical
modern Condition: a
would havea major
report on knowledge,
imVacXon knowledqe.
a n a c c o u n lc o m m i g -
fhus, in 1974 he
sionedby lhe Council Vredicted that, no willeurvive of Univereities knowledge of lhe Quebec Ihat cannol be
and etoraqeof informationwillno longer
int,ereot,iNIurno ouf', is nof,so much in oci-
and d e p e n do n i n d i v i d u a l e ,enlific knowledqe Ihe scientificmet'hod, bul on compuT,ere. lnformalion will be producedand eold. Nalione will fight for
?er oe, but,in howsciand enNificknawledge melhod leryibimize lhemeelves-how
informaf,ion they makethemlhe way Ihey ueed to
and selveebelievable f,rusNworIhy,And al
this Voint,Lyotard fory. lnformaf,ion makesa disf,inctrion fight,for Lerri-
willzip aroundf,he globeaL f,heepeedof
betweenecienlific talk and narcaT,ive
and Veo' electriciNy,
t alk.Of couree he
ple willtry No et eal
doeen'Nuge f.,he word"Nalk,"He
it. The role of the sf,af,ewill grow weaker.Takinglhe placeof
u6eoocienlifrc "digcouroe"and
eLalee,huqemulf,ina- na r raf,ive "diI caurga." NionalcorporaNione willdominaNe. 7ul havinqeaid tranelated into com-
allthie about,
Vuter lanquaqe-inf,o Lhedirection quanlitiee of informa- of ecienf,ific Eion.Learningwillno knowledqe, lon7erbe aseociaf,ed
Lyolard adde
wihhhhe lraining of
lhat, scienhific
minde-wiNhleach-
knowledge ie noN
ere f,raininqeluden|,s. lhe onlykindof For f,hetranemieeion
Hie knowledqe.
tltt
El Norrotive? I n Yee.I willqiveyou eome examplee IhaI LyoLard doeenol uee,buLwhichhelVexVlain hie f,heory. Whenmembere of the Winnebaqo tribe ei|,arounda fire and hear a chanl of how Ihe world was created by thought,or Nheboshon0o, a 1anf,uIribe, chanl howNheqod
':.,
Dumbavomiled fofDh lhe Moon
:
lhe eocietyin whichIhey are lold.
or when
Theteller of trhemfih doee not,
the early JaVaneoe
haveI,o argue or ?rove,likea scientiet, whenhe chanNeIhe otory
hearda
of Oumbavomitinqf,he Voon and
chanN
the 1f,ars, Verely in Vefiorminq
about f,he
Lhe myth, in lhe vibrationsof 6he
formatrion
the beat,,the rhyT,hm-lhe chanT,,
of Heaven
6en6eof naf,uraltime is dieeolved
and EarAh
and Ihe awareneoooVenet o
from a
mythic lime: No narcalivetime.
Trimordial S\ Eqq-they
Accordinqto Lyotard, nureery
are lisf,en-
of contem?orarymusicaNIempI
inq to narcative,to poVularst oriee,mythe,legendoand t ales.
t o enNerNhesame o?aceof mylh-
And euch mylhe leqitimize ih ems elvee-m ake Nhemeelvee believable-juot,in the t ellinq.And 24
atr NheeameT,imebheyleqitrimize
and ?lare,
rhymeoand eome repetitiveforme
ic f,ime. Thechanter of the mfih leqilimizesiNeimVlyby etatinq:
*'He"eis fhe
claimedIhaI the chanl hae been chanled forever,thal gumba Him-
r^tylh o0 Bvtvv} )a, Vot tifirtg fhe l.{oon
eelf wae Ihe firel one t o chanV r , h ec h a n t .T h em f u h , l h ec h a n L e r ,
avr| Sfatrg, atS l'Ve
lhe audience, all form a kindof socialbond-a socialqrouplhal
atlwatyshecrA if
leqitimizee ileelf f,hrouqhthe
charrfe,A. lwill char'rf if fo yoh irr
chantring of lhe
r,try fr4vrr. LiSf er\."
authorizaf,ion or Ieqitimizatrion "v" other /lhan
He then chants the myth. When he is finiehed he eaya:
*'He"eenAs fhe
mfih.The myf,h requireeno
iloelf. The
mwh
u'ryfh o* Butr,"rbat. definee The u^athwho hats what hae ttluilWr\ the righl \ cl"l*anfed if lo ro be eaid and \ yoh iS Pontgo." donein Nhecullure. I
'( \
7 u f ,a c c o r d i n q t o
t
The narrator has authority f,o chant f,hechanl becauoehe hao
Lyotard,ecientificdiecouroeie a differenl kind
heardit chanted himeelf,Anyone l i e l e n i n gq a i n et h e o a m ea u t h o r i -
of lanquaqeqameI,hannarral,ive diecouree-th an myth.
ly merelyby lietening,lt ie even
5 cientificdiecoureecannol legitimizeiteelf.
t*o and
Lwo
)r
i(
g^{
T;;*
J
,6;1J I
Ihe work of the Vhilooopher Ludwiq WiVLqenef,ein. ln hie early workWittrgenstidn lookedfor f,hepertecf,,loqical languaqe that could of,ale everylhinqwilh clarif,y and Vrecieion.Anyof,heru6e of lanquaqe-euch ae tellinga joke,reciting poetry,or chanf,inqlhe mfih of Sumba-he wouldhave6eenae meaninqleee. 7 u I l h e n h e c h a n g e dh i e m i n d .H e be6anLo eee LhaLLhereare many differenLlanguaqeqame6thaN we ?lay, For inetance-?r ayinq, oinqinq, Iellinqjokee,qoeeiVinq, makinqa promiee, awearinq, taking a vow,Wonouncinq a coupleman and wife,f,ellinq a lie.Scienceie a differenf,kindof lanquaqeqamefrom thaV of mylh, ll cannot,legilimizeileelf or validate if,eelfby ile own ?roceduree. ln the lanquaqeqameof eciencef,hescientiel makeedenola' rather than myT,hical ones. Livegf,af,emenl,g tl\t
El Denototivestotements? I A denotativesLaf,ementig one ouch as "'Moon' n ie a f,ermtrhatrdenof,esa material body (oafellife) ' whichrolaleo and orbita aroundlhe planel EarIh wilh a uniformand knowneVeedand at' a defrniledislance,accordingf,o knownNewf,onian(or Eineteinian)law6."
qeneralized cribical Do you meqn to
inNell ect-in f act, f,he
soy thot NASA
veryideaof an
scientists,in
intellectual-was
order to legitimize
a Vroductof lhe Enliqht
the moon-shot, chont the myth
enmenl,lnlel-
of how Bumbq
lectualswere
vomited the
called
Moon?
"'VhiJoooVhers
I No.Accordinqto n Lyolard,eciencehas
because
In Francelhey
lhe qreat
werecalled
deVended upontwo
thinkere
' philoeophee,
The ot.hernarcaNives.
of the
wherethey
firet ie polif,ical, the
e?4,
eecond, VhiloooVhical. Thefirst, narrative
men , such ,onf
eciencerelieeu?on
a9
enjoyed6reaf, celebrityand Vreotiqe,and do to thio day.
in orderNo leqif,imize itself ie
associat'edwilh the
Volr,aire, Rougseau,
l9rh century,trhe
buffon,Condillac and
authorlt'yl Downwith
and the Enliqhtenment
DideroV, appliedrea-
old lhinge like meta-
The FrenchRevolution.
son to everyarea of
l9th centurywas also
life: reliqion,moralitry,
phyoice,ignorance, ouperotit ion, int oler-
calledthe Aqe of Rea'
politice,eociallife,
anaeand paroahial-
6on,-in FranceLe Sibcledee Lumibre*
Theideaof a place in oocietyfor a kind of
Reject rellgiouo
ism! Let,t'lheratlional faculties of t,lhemind,
weddedto ecience,
mindfrom iqnorance
to accountfor, exVlain
advance knowledgeto
to f,olal being.
and eubordinate all
everexpandingviotasl
both NheFrench
lesser,little, localnar-
Let reason unloakthe
Enliqhtenmenf,narra-
ratives.)omeother
laws of nature and
live and the German
melanarralivesare
usher in an ofiimletic
knowledqe narcabive
lhe philoooVhiee of
agel Let the praaliaal
are what,Lyotardcalls
Marxigmor t,henarra-
disaoverleeof eoience metanarcativesor
tive of Chrisliansalva-
allow men and women
tion. Thusf,henarra-
to get, on with t,he ?ro?er busineeeof eeekinghapplneeel And happineeemeano
grand narrativeo,biq gtories,glorieg of
f,iveof a successful
mythic proVorLione-
Mare exVedition in
thal claimtro be able
whicha 3" x 3" nanoroverlandeon the
p olitlical freedo ml Let, lhe happinessof humanity on earth mean the libert'ythe
liber-
ation of humanity! All this meano ?rog-
-11OCelsiussurfaceof
reesl Let scienceand reaoon bring ?rog-
lhe Vlanetto qenerate and tranemit backNo
rese and treedoml
Earth diqital imaqee
Joinedto f,his
of the Mare-oca?e,-
Frenchpolilicalnar-
ie a litlle narcalive
rative of freedom is
Nhat io Vaft of the biq ot ory-Nhe metanar-
a Germannarrative: Heqel'oVhiloooVhy of Ihe Unityof all
raiive-of f,hefree-
Knowledqe. For Heqel,
dom,trheliberalionof humanity(French),
knowledqe playedan
and the af,tainmentof
essenlialVarLin the gradualevolu-
a ?ure,self-conscious eViril-the Unityof all
tion of Nhehuman
Knowledqe (German).
-J./
Soporodoxicolly, science octuolly dependsuponthesetwo grond norrotives for legitimizotion. 4fY'
That'e right,.buI lhe Vroblem-accordinqto Lyotard-ie thal einceWorldWar ll, peoVleno lonqer AfLerall, believein Lhesetwo grand meNanarratrivee. aVplyingscienceand reaeonIo Lhe conelruclion of qae Lhe chambereand efficienlrailroadschedules, Nazieexterminaledmillioneof humanbeinqe.Did freedomand liberaLion? theee VeoVleexVerience Anddid ociencefulfillAegel'enarcaNive ol increaeing No. For Vhyeicehas led ue NoNherealizabion knowledqe? lhaf, elec|,ronocan f,ravelI,wodifferenf,palho Nhrouqh 6?aceeimullaneouely-or ?aeefrom one orbil No A Varadoxl anolher withoul croeoinqf,heeVacein beNween. if our And howcan we unfoldthe Unity of all Knowledqe Nhoughtproceeeeeare notrevenabletro comVrehend howLheeeIhinqe haVVen? Oecauseof disbeliefin NhemeNanarcalives trhat had leqilimizedecience,science no lonqerplayeNherole of a herolhat, wouldlead us elowlyloward full freedom and abeolute knowledqe.
@ ,u* if scientificreseorchis no longerobout finding Truth-then whqt is it obout?
E
,r,hat, Whenecienceencount er6 ?aradoxes, suchas the elechron qoe6oVVooihe directioneeimu\,aneouoly, it,abandoneiNesearchfor ' decidable truths and eeeksIo legitrimize itselfthrough performativity. Scienceotopo aokinq,"Whatkind of research will unfold the lawe of nature? " and be7ino aekinq,"What kind of reeearchwill work best?" And t o "work be6t" meano"What kind of
i-
research can qenerate more of the eame kind of reaearch?Can it perform? Can it produce more of the oame kind of research?"9o ecience ie no lonqerconcernedwitrhtruth but,wiT,h?erf or mativiNy-V erto r minq-V rod ucinq mo re of th e oame kind of research,becaueethe more research you Vroduce,Ihemore Vrootyou Vroduceand the
moreyou are oeenao beinqriqht,the moremoney and poweryou getr. 9o whenVeopleno lon7erbelievein lhe metranarcalives trhat,legitrimize ecience,scienceie then forced No leqilimizeiloelf-juef, as Ihe myth of Dumba vomitinqthe Moonand 7trars leqilimizeoitoelf by itself. bolh scienceand VeoVlechantinqthe bumba chant,can then oay,
\e
Ao whatf we Ao,
becarhse fhatf's fhe
warywe A,oit"
Thenwhot'sthe difference betweenthe two, qfter qll?
legitimized by Ihe q r a n dH i n d u
I The difference,for LyoIard,ie n LhaNwheretradilional eocietiee
Nheliberalion
are underthe eVellof one domi-
of the human
nanNnarraf,ive, ouch as the mfuh of Dumba,TosNmodern oociely ie
eoulIhrouqh Enliqhlenment.
a oocief,yin whichno one narcative-biq or litlle-no one lanquaqeqamedominaf,ee, ln Toslmodernsocietrieo many micronarralivesare jammed
',,;r ', .-/
ln conf,ragf,,
otory-tellerat,your localbookslore, or vieitingthe children
Hlqtr
atryour
toqether.And bhis carnivalof nar-
local
raNiveereVlaceethe monolilhic
echool,
?regenceof one metanarratrive.
may tell a t radi-
But doesn'tthis meon the dis-
tional
oppeoronceof our universql
Eskimo
systemof meoning? Doesn't this just creqteq void?
or
Yes,Dut,thie void ie filledin
Naf,ive
by ewirlingqalaxieeof little eto-
Ameri'
riee-lit t le micronarcaf,ives. The
can
void ie filled in by a kind of et ory-
TrickgT,er
IellingIhaf, doee noL seekt o
'f
,/i
|eqitimizeitself Nhrouqhreference t o a eingleqrandnarcativeout-
t a l e ,o r
side if,self.For instance,a f,ellerof
of RaVunzellettinq down her lonq,
talee in ancientrlndia,eitrtrinq
qoldenhair for a handeomeyounq
underhie banyantree, wouldhave Iold Nhousandsof etrories-buI
Vrince,or the otory of bumba vomiNinq f,he Moonand 9t ars-
all Ihese e|,orieewouldhavebeen
and f,ellNhemall in one oiltinq.
the eNory
h
Noneof Nheeeeloriee eeekeleqilimizaf,ion or Vrooflhrough oomeqrand narcalive.Each
E Butisn't
ffi"
[yotord's storyobout disbelief in metonorrotives
just qnother metonorrotive? lsn't he being outhoritorion obout how there cqn be no quthorities?
I n !'t
Yee.Lyotard has beenattrackedon Nhoee grounde. ln facL,hienotiontrhatrVeoVle
haveetoVVedbelievinqin qrand narcativesbecaueeeuch narrativeemarqinalize minoriliee 7-
tilffi;
definitionof ?oef,moderniem ae incre dulity tow ard metan a rrativ ee conlinueef,o havegreat inffuence.
Whoore some othermopmokersof the Postmodern world?
A eecond infruential Toslmodern Ihinker is Fredric Jameeon.As a
cribe movemenf, through naf,ure
Marxigf,,Jamegon
and ouqqeoltension and resent-
ie int eresf,edin trhe
ment belweenhie
relationehiV of rhe
machocharactrere.
individualto the
The ekillof a bull-
world of objecNe,
fiqhter or t roul
whetherNhoeeob-
fishermanin Hem-
jectre be cans ot
inqwayreffectrsthe
o o u ?o r m u l t i n a -
Americanadmira-
lional corVoratione.
trionof trechnical
Like mostr Marxietrs,
skill-buf, rejecte
his refreclionson
Ihe way in which
Ihie relationehip
induetrialoociety
alwayelead backto
alienaleoVeoVle. Thue skillis dis-
hielorical reality. For instance, leminqway'e?roee olyle-hie bare, Vared-downeen' f,enceg-can deg-
Vlayedin leieure acbivilies,far from indueNry, uoually by exVatriateewho havealienated themselvesfrom
Americaninduslrial eociety, u?oetmodernlem, or ihe Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" Lyotardcelebratee the multiVle, incomheteroqenVatrible, eoue,fraqmenled, conf,radict ory ahd nabure ambivalenf, of Tostmodern 6ociety whileJameson distrusls anddielikesit,.ln hiefal moueeegay"?opl,moderniem: or LheCulturalLoy'ic of LatreCaViIal' ieml'Jameeon doesnot,seeNhe
-:,{ff S E C ON D : Late Capitaliem, whichbrokedown Toetmodernera ae Voetinduef,rial-ae an ebb in the Lide of caVitraliom, Ka|,her,he sees iL ae an intensificaNionand lat eel
rhe 19lh and ZONh centuriesinto definitrehietorical periodo. F I R 9 T :f r o m 17OOr,o 1&5O,the periodof marketr caVitraliom. Durinq
m o n o V o lcya V i a t li e m ,d u r i n ql h e a g e of imVerialiem. National marketre ex?andedinI,oworld markat"s.Thou1h f,haoe mar\els were baeedin Vafricular imVerialnationgNateg,they de-
Vhaoeof a caVifalietrworldeyetem,
Lhis era induetrial
Jameeonwae heavilyinfuenced
caVihalaocumulatr-
Vendedu?onoutlyingareao for raw
ed moetly in
materialeand
n ahi,b r,:1, Al rnarket s.
cheaplabor,
by Erneel Vandel'e
THIKD-i'.heToslmodern Vhaee eruVledon Ihe worldecenewilh the unrestrictedgrowVh of multinalional corVoraThieis Ihe Vureot,form lione-euch ae Coca-Cola. of caVilaliomyeI f,o emerqe-invading nature by deetroyinqthe ?re-capilaliet,forme of agricullurethe unconecioue mindby advefiieinq. and invadinq Mandell'ohiot,oryinepiredJamesonlo proclaim Ihree culNuralVeriodo-in each of whicha unique cu\ur al logic dominaf,es;
Fiv51-is fhe ^ge o0 Reatlisr,"r hietoricalnovel. Theera of Ihe bourqeoie,
SeconrA is fhe ^ge o+ Hoaevhisu culf,ure JamesonadmiresmoderniembecausemodernieN wilh I'he world.TakeEdvard ex?reoaedite dieeaNistact'ion The gcream. For Jameeonit' ie a deeVerate Munch'eVainT,in7 Nhemeeof alienaf,ion, Nheqreaf,modernieV cry ex?reeeinq of identrily,eolilude,and eocialfraqroolleeeneae,lack menf,alion. gimilarly,VanOoqh'o Vaint'inqPeaoantthoee critricizesan enfire world of peaeanl poverLyand mieery. "qreat euchae Le Corbueier'e Modernielbuildinqe, Vilolio"etrandouf,ae grand ut'oVianbeaconsin lo the deqradedcity our' briqhl conf,rastr roundinqthem. Theyex?reeea Volirically visionof Ut'oVia. Vaeeionat'e
Thiv/' is fhe ^ge oP PosfuroAevnisu,t and fraqmen?oelmoderncultural f orme reflecIlhe dielocatrion inlo smallqrouVet alion of lanquaqecommunities-eVlinlered
each o?eakinq"a curiousVrivale
neeewith no linkt o any realily:
languaqeof itreown,each profee-
the collaVeeof Nhedistinction
eiondeveloVinq iIo Vrivate code or betweenhiqhcullureand lowculdialect,and frnallyeach individual lure; maeeeeof oVechaf,,ore abancominqNo be a kindof linguistic
donedf,o a qazeof imaqe
ieland,oeVaraXed from everyone
addictrion:'Nimaqee
el6e" (co 114).
etripVedof reality,
Thue,accordinqtro Jameeon, ?oslmoderncity -dwellersare
leavinqonlya 6urface,a gimu-
a l i e n a h e d , l i v i innqa n h a l l u c i n a -
lacrum,schlock,
f,ion,an exhilaraNinq blur,a reality
kitsch, O movies,
evaporatinqinlo mereimageo, oVectacles,elranqe newwarVein
?ul? fic|,ion,adverNioing,motrele,
time and oVace,fixal,edon com-
KeadersDiqeef,cul-
moditieg,on Vroducf,o, on imaqee, f,ure:Nhemerelydecolikethe exVloeionof Andy Warhol'e ralive, euVerficial, qrapoVa(0, on floweof imaqeeet olen t uitous eclecbicism of from conoumercultrureand re?ro- 7oslm od ern architeclure ducedwilh induetrialreVebiIion,
c a n n i b a l i z i nagl l N h ea r c h i -
CamVbell'e )oup cane,Srillo
leclural eNyleeof the
boxee,botllee of Coca-Cola,collaqeeof idenf,icalimaqesof Holly-
Vaet+f,he Donavenlure lotel in Los Anqelee,a mon-
wood eNareeuch as Marilyn Mon-
umenl of Toef,modern archi-
roe,all eamenees,all surtace-all
f,eclural eVace.
deVthleoaneee. ComVared to Van Gogh'e Peaaant thoes, whichex?re6eeea real worldof rural mieery,Warhol'e Diamond Duet thoee ex?ree6eo a depthleoo-
lile a[ac[doon! lleentens apostmodenn [ypers[ace! lfenides eleuatons andescalatons etennally lloating upandilownlile 0iantgondo'-')t-
I
:.-- 1 diny,dnonlnin0 ina[euuildenin0 emptire$$. lleuuants ftiswaytotheextennal uuonldl * r- Ii amals0tlrathecanmap =:l :1-
i
,;ameeonf eelet'hat, hie dizzineet whenf aced wirh ?oet) our incaVacilyto ma? our relarcrld of vael comVuter nef,worke >ns.Toetmoderntheory, too, offere ,m of the centerleespoelmodern
, worldthan a cure. I
,wellknownfor hie dieT,inclion Onethinq trhal ToeLmodernily hae '
4o. In the aqe of modernitywe sLill L ^ t i ^ . , ^ ) t , ^ , - - r ^^ - . . t ^ ! ^ ^ L Lt- believed in the eubject-the eqo. Afr,ieteeuch ae Heminqway ?oo-
I
eeeeeda unifiede4o and idenlif,y-even if it wae an alienatedone, 1:-1151 : i l : l*\J -n.'
t',tbtl
f-'{tis1
And?oeoeaeinq an identity,Nhey ?oe-
#
eeeseda otyle f,hat could be the oubject
-\.r-'.
of Varody-you could make fun of iI by imit atrinqil. Everyyear,for instance,f,hereis a lilerary conteel in whichwritere imitrale tt
Heminqway's otyle in a humorou; way, ,\lF-.1-
i:tH-.
Everyyear we met at Harryb bar. Wedrank there. And everyyear was a good year. And we sat and drank and imitated Hemingwayb i.,
etyle. And we were good there.
:A
',,4> ('oK
f.t t-
(,) N+
7f
,<,J
but Toetmodernityhao fraqmented lanquaqeand T,heoubject-bolh havebecomeechizoid.Jameaonfeelethat, parodyand ealire are only Voeoiblein an era af healthylinquieticnormaliNy.
r
It\t
lll
You meon like in Gulliver'sTrqvels,Jonothqn Swift wds oble to sotirize the qbnormql longuoge of scientific reoson becouseeveryone knew what normol speechwqs like?
I ie nolinquiot.ic aqe,rhere normaliLy. lfl Yee,Dut,inthe ToeNmodern Thuewe can only Vroducepaotiche-lke an impereonaNor who randomlyet,arls ouNimVersonalingboqarr, and Nhenswirchee,in the middleof hie line,f,oMarilynMonroe,and rhen No Doy Georqeor Jamee Dean,and f'hento KonaldKeagan.lnVaeticheLhereio onlyIhie omorqaebordof quotarione-like a dozendifferent,movieand M'W videoeand televieionehoweeVlicedrandomlytoqether.
As a Varxisl who believee trhat,the world is run by hielorical forces,Jameson'ebigqeet7ripeaboul the ?oslmodernera is lhal it eignaloLhe end of a qenuineawareneoeof hiehory.bu| Jameson feels that an awarenee;of history i6 Vrecieelywhat we now needto VieceIoqether our ehaf,Nered ?oef,modernlanqua7eand eelvee,which,likeHumVly
I
DumVLy,havebecome '
fragmented,Itrie whal we needto unifylhe paoI- Vreeenl-fulureof trheeenNence-t o unifyour ?oycheeand our lives. What we needis whal Jameeoncallean "aesthetia of cognitive mapping"No repre-
eent our imaqinaryrelationehipLo realiLy,What
7't JP
we need,accordinqto Jameeon,i6 Marxism-a eciencef,haf,can f,,ellwhaVie imaqinaryand what ie real-Nhal can recoverlrue historicalconecioueneol and normalcy.
pl rut wouldn't Lyotordsoythqt Morxismis q metonorrotive? I l) Yeo. And 60 you can oee Ihat nol all Tostmodernistsaqree.ln fact,,Jameson eeemeovercomeby T,heffow of imaqee
(t
in the Toetmodernmedia-but, our nexL"ma?-maker," Jean gaudrillard,oeemsIo euqqeet,a kind of paooive eurrenderf,o this ffow.
and the Deathof vhe Real -I1ne gatssivevichu'r oS You arve wiveA. -fl.1,cou,rgullv, auA 42Y4vtiSirrg. 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-volugh^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\ forrgrae glistertirrg 45 if laqs fhe whife
o€ u,roisft^v€,hev eugovgeA feefh.
She leatrrs close",
€eel her cool breo*h, fherr the shat"Phesso* ihcisors Pehetvarlirrg yotar treck. Yoq close yoqv eyes ih at latrrgtrotor,ts ecsfatsy atrrA watiFwatif
wifh beatfirtg
heatrt
t'heoristJean trot'heimaqeryof ToeNmodern This,accordinq gaudrillard, Notrheworld is eimilarto eociely'erelaNionehip newo?a?ero, Lelevieion, of maeemedia,adve(bisinq, Theera of maoe communicat'ione maqazines. invadesour darkenedroome,embracinque with if,scool,lunarliqhl, ?enetrabinA inNoour mooT,?rivale receggeo,We auccumbto the fatal af,Nracl.,ion, ^urrenderinqourselveein an ecelaoy of communication.
Thetrhoughtof Jean Daudrillard ie parl of a New Wave
ln Vay of 1968-while miniskirt-cladAmerican
of French theory lhat
womenwerecele-
brokeon American
bralinq No 7ra Day
ehoresin the'7O9,'BOs '9Oe-replacinq and
by burninqNheir
Nhetrenry over former waveo dominaledW poet-WorldWar ll fiqureesuch as
undies,whileAmerican ,
hi?VieoweretriVVinq No" TurVleHazel"' V ellow Yellow,"and "Mrg. Kobin-
oonn-Tarieian youlh,
)a(Dre. Just ae
backedby Communisteand
Nietzecheonce
other Marxiste,took f,o Ihe
the Vroelaimed Oeabhof God,
etreets in a defianI and jubilant, mood, creat inq oomelhinq
baudrillard's
betrween a carnivaland a
Nhouqhtdeclares
revoluNion. Tarieian univerei-
I,he death of modernity, the death of the real, and the
f,ies wereeventuallyohut down by the studenl eNrike,and factory workerefollowed
death of eex.
suit. Troduction
Oaudrillard
and educabion
underminee deep
camelo a hall,
foundationsof
Underthe threatr
thouqhi in dieci-
of a radical over-
Vlineesuch as Marxism,eemiotice, polit,ical
throw of the oyoNem,de Gaulle left,fhe countrry.
ecience,economice, reliqiouo
Oy June, however, if, wag oummer
eNudies,anthropoloqy, liheralure,
vacabionlime, turning the would-
film and mediaetudies-to
be studenl revolul,ionaries inlo
namejuol a few.
beachqoers. Theworkers,encour-
a7ed by de Gaulle,
Semiotics? lEl Structurolism? T fil Yee,ANthe eametimeae
relurned Notrheir jobe-and thinqe wereeoon back
the etrudenf, uVrieinq, revolu-
No normal. Nevet'Vhelees,
;
the mags conla-
g
o
de )aueeure arquedthat mean-
o
inq in lanquaqeie nof,Vroduced
oomeof the participanT,o. Oneof theee
I #
iI I
lat e caVitaliet societiee.9o he beqanlookinqalso to gf,ructuraligm and eemiolicet o ouVVIemenL Marxiem,
1ausgure,there is ) )
no natural correeVondencebetrween Nhe"oound"horge,lhe
concept"hor6e"and a horee.Katrher,he Nheorized,
increaeinqly that
No exVlainlife in
by a colleclionof sounds
O
continuetrobe inffuenced by Marxiet,thouqhl, but,wouldfeel Marxisf,Vhiloeophy ie ineuffrcienl
placein Lhe eLudyof lan-
IITL'
imVreeeione on
come,would ei'ill
)
NL^
ment left deep
manyyeareto
Iionary evenf,swerelaking
I
gion of Nhemove-
waeJeangaudrillard, who, for
).
Ianguageie a eyelem of differ-
't\N
).\\\ . \ ',\\
".t\
',\\ \..
encee,eomebhinglikeIhe red, yellowand qreen liqhtoin a traffic eignal.
t1,o fu
ct?z?p-
4for"ab-.* 6tern f"t
re
(uooh,
^"a(f.*
ootae'Ff,'ho.' The red,yellowand qreenliqhle qaintheir meaninqeonlyin relatrionehiVNo each oNher.A eyelem of purple,blueand qold liqhtowouldworkjueL ae well. 3 aue9 emioNicsexf,ended intro eure'e linguietic et rucNuraliem obherrealme:mfuh,faehion,f'he reliqion,elc, TheIerm media,Volitrice, "Devil"for inghance, hag no meaninq
ri.
by ileelf. lI onlylakes on meaninq ag an elemenlin a eyet'emol Chrielian Nheoloqy/ myth, where"devil"ig relaied lo
*Q.r',,et
other conceptssuch as "Godr" "Anqel," eIc,
,
',
Earfy Writinge )emiotice ie the slrucluraliet eNudyof variousoyetemeof f,rafficoiqnalo,lanquaqe, meaning,likemyT,he, fashion,eNc.Daudrillard'sworkscombinea eemioNic, eNrucburalisl, etrudyof cullure with a neo-Marxistanalyoio.For insNance,in his early works-The )yetem of )bjects, The )ociety of Consumption and For a Critique of the ToliticalEconomyof the )ign-Saudrillard arque; that, juot, a6 a younqboy who qroweu? amonqwolvee t(
D
{\ . \ t\\\
becomeowolflike,Veoplein ToetmoderneocieLy,qrowinq
.
up in a world of objects-become more objecllike. .i
ThouqhTostrmodern oocietryie basedon Nheconoumpbionof commodities-on buyinqand uoinq thinqo-Ihis coneumVtioncan nevermakeuo happy.
'(\t
\-/-'
lEl But don't commoditiessotisfy our noturol needs? This ie not,what,Marx believed.For Varx, an objectr,beforeif, ie a commodity,hae a natural
usevalue.A car is ueefulbecause iNio Vleaeurableto drive-becauee it lete you feel
\
Nhevoluptuouecurvalureof the earthand becaueeif,traneVoflo you to varioue Vlacee.
However,ltrlarxaleo believedT,hat,
examVle,he ie buyingint o a
in a caViLalieteocietyan objec|
wholesyef'emof needelhaL ie
becomeea commodivyand I,akes
aT,once rat'ional,homoqeneouo,
an an exchangevalue.Thecar
The eyef,emalicand hierarchical.
for money.Dul can be exchan4ed
purchaoeof f'he Mercedeedif-
Saudrillardeaw Ihie Marxiel
terenliateo Lhe buyereocially
of an object ae too aeoeoementr
who driveVolkswafrom VeoVle
l i m i t i n ya, n d e u V V l e m e n t ei rd wilh a semiotic analyeioan analyeieof Lhe
-
^$- ,nffiY'4 . .
! hinr,oyef,em-
F
objecl.For,likef,raf- j
,.',.,.i
Vf\(
ficlishre,com-
ffi-Wfigtffibffit'
moditieehave
Z
\H
m e a n i n a el n, l h i e
donr moditiee
inLegrale
..' jtRf>*-
/gn
m e a n i n qo f t h e
6 e n ea , n d L h i e? u r -- '-r) chase helVe --1--i-;
lM y
aricallyand
rafionallv,
''*i;..;.-y I,N, into a homo\ qeneouelevel
bvetof eociery
i'2ilh,' *ffi (
1ueIea|iefynaf'ur.,4/','lt','..'lso.ffitW.'N.-inwhichevery ','N\ al needs-rathe. $ ,, ,ir*dffiffiffillii I \ __ onedriveoa our dtNi,: crear,ee eocietry ffifllii;1i,, r.\,, $i$'- Mercedee. for \auThue, lluman neede. ffi *NN$ffi. beinqo,afLer all,
'\\lrr \-*-
6-'
havea deeVdesireLo dietrin-
ffi
did drillard, lxrlarx the eymbolic, not,recoqnize
humanbeinqethrouqhoyotemo
aopect'of f,'heobjecleemiof.,ic Ihe factrthal whenyou buy a
For of oocialdifrerent'iat'ion.
Mercedeeif, eiqnifieeeomet,hinq,
membersof tribal cultures Nheeedifferenceomiqhtrbe oig-
beeideehavinqa The Merc&des, use value,gerveoae a eiqn of
naledby rhe uee of certain f,at,toog or f eat'herg.
lhe consumer';Vreoliqe,rank, and eocialelandin7.Thuecon-
from oLher guiehthemeelvee
Oul in our eocief,y,whena conournerbuyoa Mercedes tor inetead of a Volkowagen,
eumVtionie noLiuet conoum7coneum?f,ionbut'conoVicuoue lion, We dieplaywhaLwe buy,
in orderIo differcona?icuouoly,
by ceaoeleoelybuy-
entiatreourselvee oocially. Andyou can'trbuyjuol one
ing inlo f,he lalest'
object in ordert o enNera eocial level,you needNo buy into an entire eyolem
\:::---\-
of objecte. Thue
fads and trends. Theeecodeeare juot likethe
ruleeof --.-----:>.-
whenyou are Vickinqout,your Mercedeo,you also needtro ohop for a T,ennig club,an egt,af,ein an exclueive neiqhborhood, a qood Vrivate echoolfor your children,a faehionablevacaT,ion epof,,etc, A go need,lhen,ig not, mucha
4rammar that, underlie a lanquaqemakinqcom-
needfor a Vafticular object,as it is a need Io disl"linguiehoneeelf eocially,a needfor social differ-
The Voeeible. codeeorganize
enceand meaning,
commoditriee introhier-
NeiLheris coneumption Vrimarilyfor pleaoure-for il requireoimmensereaourceeand enerqy.A VereonmuoT,earn trhe moneyand leieuretrimetro obtain the Mercedeeand ehow it off, The effoft requiredt o do lhie of-f,endemandeNhedenialof ConeumVNion, lhen, ie Vleaeure. not natural-somelhinq we aut,omaticallyinheritfrom naturebutrcullural,TheconeumVtion, dioVlayand uee of objectetakee placeon Nhebaeieof cullural codesthaN demandwe conform
municalion
archicaleyelemo of meaning baeedon Vriceand preotiqe,This Iiring feedinqfrenzyof coneumplion, this searchfor beinq,meaninq and VreetiqetrhroughconeumVtion,cauoeofatique and alienationin the heroeeof coneumVbion. Alwayslatentrin cone u m V t i o n , I h e n , l u r kase V i r i to f rebellion. Coneumersreacha Voint,of refusal-they qeI fed uVand end up burninqtheir brae or eruVtinqinlo more radical forme of eocialchange.
a IttNKt, fi€REFoRr L rMl
'The Ordere of
inNoa new realif,y,
howNherelaNionehiV
9imulacra"
whichhe outlinee in "The Orders of jimulacra."
be|,weentrhe real and
Ourinqrhe 197Oe and 19BOebau-
lhe simulacrumhae chanqedNhrouqhhiotory.Durin7Nhefeu-
drillardet oVVedem' Simulqcrq?
dal era,whenGuinevere; blewkisses
heraldedas the
Isimulocro, plurol;
from the ramVafie
moef,advancedthe-
simulocrum,
of castrleeto Lance'
orief,of mediaand eociety in f,he ?oetr-
singulorl
lote in ehininqarmor,
Vhaoizinqhio Marxist leaninqoand was
modernera, sociTostrmodern elies, dominaled by comVuters and f,ele' vision,havemoved
Yee.For Daudrillardsimulacraare coVieeof real objecto or eventg.ln "TheOrdereof Simulacral' he deecribee
whenthe feudal lord wae Nheoymbolof eafthly auNhorily, and trheVirqinMary the etained illumined qlaeewindoweand
the hearf,sof her devof,eee,oociely wae orqanizedby
elalue
to a relaf,ionehiV
of trhe
a eyetremof fixed eiqne,which
Vrinceeeblowinq kiseeefrom trhe
werelimited in
ram?arLe,ie eiq-
n u m b e ar n d e u ? -
nifiedby her
Voeedlydivine. For insLance,we
dreeeand by her
can read in Lance-
convenNione of
lol's coal of arms
courT,lylove.And,of
h i e e o c i a lr a n ka n d
c o u r 6 ea, l l t h e g e
elalus. The eocial
codeeof behavior
adherenceto f,he
and dreeeare divineIy eancLionedby f,he eymboleof lv1aryand o f J e e u ee h i n i n a
eerenely aI the Iop of the hierarchyof eymbole-throuqh o l a i n e dg l a e o windowe. ln eucheocieLiee o n ei e a e e i q n e d to a fixed social e?ace,
\t
@
likea caeLe,and mobilitybelween eocialclaeeeeor caef,esis imoooeible. A serf, Iaboring in
ffi' w@ ":0
the fielda, could not become a knight.
Then,in Nhe
ruled like a qod over hio pertect,
Veriodof early modernily,from
world made Voeoibleby concref,e-which for him wae like a
lhe Renaieeance mental substance,7lucco aleo f,o trhebeqinninq of Ihe lndueNrial RavoluNion,Iheriqidorderof
emerqedin Ihis Verioda6 a medium of baroqueaft,, and qave riee lo gaudrillard'eeu?remeexamVle
lhe feudalera brokedown
of thie aqe-Nhe 7Iucco Anqel.lt
due t o Lhe rise of the
wasorllyone more oteV to Vlaolic.
bourgeoieie. Durinqthe medieval
DUNsimulacramoldedof etuc'
periodNheworld wae creaf,ed
co, concrele(and latrerVlaelic),
in f,he imaqeof God. but, in
Ihouqh counf,erteif,, Vroduceda
lhe era of early modernif,y,
newworld of torms made of a
imaqeo,oigneand eymbols
d ealhl es s, frexible, ind es|'ruclible
werenot divinebuI atificial
mat erial.1audrillardeeeeIhis
and Vroliferaledin the fieldeof
olaqe of the simulacrumas f,he
otraqeof theaf,er,fashion,aft and Voli- beqinninq lhe simulacrumtriceae lhe newrieinqclaee ed No creahef'he af,NemVt world in iNeown image.
NheFireLOrder of jimulacra,
For baudrillard,a "o eymbolof thie aqe wae CamilleKenault,an old who livedin cook,NurnedeculVNor, the Ardenneoand discoveredlhe pertecf,subsNancef or reproducing lhe world in hie own imaqe-Kein' forced Concrete.From thie he fashionedchaire,drawero, oewinqmachineo,an ent'ire violine, orchest ra, includinq oheeV,a hoq,Nrees.AccordRenault' ing to Daudrillard,
6d,
TheSecondOrderof Simulacra a??earewiLhf,headvenl of
nowbecomelhe dominanf,Vrin' Lhe worldof natciVle-reVlacinq
I h e l n d u e l r i aR l a v o l u l i o nT,h ee i m - ural objecle. ulacra now becomeinfinitely re?ro-
7uL,accordinqto Saudrillard,
l aez d u c i b l el h r o u q hi n d u e l r i a m produclion.WhereaoCamilleKen-
we are now in lhe Third)rder of
aull moldedhie arlificialworldby
ernity-lhe era of models.No
hand,in the induef,rial era mecn-
l o n q e ri s t r h es i m u l a c r u m a coun-
anizedmeaneof maeeaoeembly and producf,ion enablea Kenault
LertdL likeCamilleKanaulL'o
aulomobilefacf,oryto Nurnouf,
Iikeaulomobilee rollirlq off the line-bul aeoembly i
maeoeeof exacf,replicaeof care. WhengholograVhy and cinema
)imulacra-the era of ToeImod-
concreLehog,or an i$finiteeeriee,
|JLfl[HlJl IHt5|I,l H[[ill't t5
arriveon trheocene,evenarl ouccumbet o the force of mechanical reprod ucLion, Keproducti on ie governedby markel forcee,which
tT"'$rLF i fiifft4{T ',
!gr'g'rF_g
'l
TheVreoidinq ?owerintrhis m e n f .a c o m m o d i era is Nhemodelor the code. t y , a V o l l , a t , e l e v i "Diqilalityie iVemef,aVhyei- s i o n ?roqram, a c a l V r i n c i p l e . . . a n d n e w oi s s u e o r a ? o DNA ie its l i t i c a l c a n d i d a l e , re6?on6e ie
?rophet,"
our
('tu 63-04).
monitored,
Juet' as lan-
H
El You meon like: " A r e y o u w o t c hi n g erned by Ihe doytime TV or not? "code" of qrammar Areyou buyingPepsior and our bioloqical Coke?Are you for con' ?roce?oeo are condidqteX or Y? Are you trolled by the DNA code, weqring ColvinKlein our cu\ural life ie baeed or Jordoche?' on a variety of codee; T we have oex videos, n Exactly. And such yoqa videos, how't o LesIs nof, only regtrricL quaqe ie qov-
manualg, cookbookg, our reg?oneeoto "yeo" exercigevideog,?armanuale, entrinq
or"no" buNalgodetermine o u r o p l i o n e ,l i m i l i n qt h e
q, t elevieion very eco?e of the issuee advefi,isin a n d n e w e ? a ? e r st r o
and lhin7e we may choose
provideNhesecodes.
from, Thus our liveeare
Theeecodes not,
cont rolled by a oyotem of
o n l y V r o v i d em od ' binary requla|ion-where els buf,also conf,in- trhe queof,ionlaneweroVfion uallylest' ue. Every o f t h e I e s t ' h a s b e e n r e -
time we reepond duced No an eilherlor binary "yeo" or "no" t'o code: a fashion,an adverlise-
This oyoT'emof binarychoicesacf'g ao a "deherrence modell'whicheu??reosesradical chanqe' pl w.tl, I con see how thqt would hoppen. After qll, if we feel we hove o choicebetween Pepsiond Coke,betweenthe Soopsqnd the DiscoveryChon' nel, between o Republicon ond q Democrot, betweenSociolismond Copitolism-oll ruled by whqt more o binory, either/ot4l1-logic-then do we need? ; For baudrillard t'he Nwinf,owereof Ihe H NewYork WorldTradeCent,ereymbolizet'his Whilethe olher ekyecra?ere, binaryeyeNem. buill decadesearlier,are oinqularand compele aqqreaoivelyfor af,tent'ion,Nhe t'wo t owerestrandlor lhe "clo6ureof Ihe oygLem in a verhiqoof duVlicalion"lotutb6-T). Thue, everylhing becomes reduced to cybernetice-t o a binarycode thaL geeme f,o reVreeenNdifferencee but, which, in realiNy,only perpetuateo Ihie oelf-requlalinq,binary eyolem, which only minimizes differenceoae iN Noqqlesback and fofth belween "yeo"or "nol' TeVeior Coke,KeVublicanor Democral.
-
_::+
E E E
Tomeit seems likethefifm park. Jurassic How'oNhat?
Becouse Jurassic Park is obout people eitherpossively occeptingor refusing to buy into beingpossiveobservers of o spectocufor, monstrous worldof simulocro,of copies, generotedod infinitumby meonsof codes.
Thal'e brilliantlbutr you muet, aleo realizeNhaI your veryexample,lhe film Juraeeic Fark,ie it self a monetrouosimulacra qeneraNedad infinif,umvia a code.buI accordinqto 7audrillard,VeoVle inculburat ed int o Toslmoderneociety are 60 surroundedby simulacraNheyno lonqerhavea choice,Considerthe caoe of Joe Tlayer,an 17-year-old behindthe wheelof a car, He is on a narrowmounLainroad. He is Vaeeinganothercar on a curve. He is doinq22O, too f ast to evadeNheoncominqtruck thal
oeemoNo leaVNowardhim.He slams on the brakes.He ekide. CrashlTheNwovehicleego up in a burst of flame. A eecond laNerthe craeh evaporalee. Joe Tlayer'e
n t
\r,
tir
car rea??eareunecathed,He Foore it,,racinglo Vaeo anothercar juetrahead of him,Joe Tlayeris ?layinq a videoqame.Whenhe
runeouI of qua(bersheqoeo ] out,into Ihe Varkinqlof',into hio gx realcar, buI, ae he pulleout'inf,o\ Lraffic, iI doesn'L,eeemreal. Nor do Nhecare on lhe road, He feels IhaI if he ran into them he would juel ea| them likeMe. Tacman eaNsdobs.Joe ?layer is eurfinq the simulacrum. Oriqinallyeirnulac?urn,accordinq tro ?laNo,ie Nhefalse copU
7ut in Saudrillard'aview,Toel-
that overshadowsour expertence
Nhe modernity hae ovefr,,hrown
of bhe essential and ldeal Forme.
very concepl of true co?y. And
A cockeropaniel,a Germanohep-
Ihis hao hapVenedin ef,aqee.
herd,or a collie,for ineNance,
lmaginef,heexVerience of a
wouldbe,in ?latro'eVhiloeoVhy,
Chrietiannun in medievalEuroVe.
imVurecoVieoof a univerealand
the worehipoan icon of the
ldealEeeenceof Doqgineea,
Madonna.The icon reffecle a The icon is divinefemininerealiNy. a qood,Lrue copy becauseit is so closetrothe originallhat, in her meditationeNhenun awakenel,o NheeViritual?reoencebehindthe form, the couldbe calledan idolater-a
worohiVerof an idol.
1uT'trheiconoclasN seeethinqo differenNly. )he doeo not,feel NhaN imaqeerevealdivinily,but mask and perve(DNhedivine.Therefore,euch imageoare evil,bad coVies,and ehouldbe deslroyed. A f'hird ?ero?ect.ive is that of the ekeVIic.He feels Nhat the whole t'hinqie a farce.The icon of Ihe Madonnaonly hidestrhefactrlhat t.hereie no divinebeing-hidee bhe abeenceof a divinebeinq. Finally,t'hereie a foufth pereVective, ln NheToeNmodern 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 thereore o million copiesnot of the Modonno-but of Modonno-which becomemore reol thon Mqdonno the person?
Holy Writ which they, like, wrote down, were only the outer expressions of a, like, deep fntcrcou?le they were 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 who dominates, 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 and forth before everyone's vision as if trying to like, decide between am I like a like Virgin or like a like Whore, in a like, erotic stream of images that MTV viewers, like, edit with like, Beavis and Butthead binary brains: they like think that my image, the image ol my like, 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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,,lilllll1 T his emVhaeizee n Daudrillard 0 0 1nl I
nol wilh hio bellybuIIon bul wit'hI h e
frorqeotale in whicht'he cart'o7raphero of an emViredraw u? a ma? eo det ailedbhat it, ende uV coverinq f,heNerritory.ln coverinqu? f'he berri|,ory,il is t akenfor f,he real. For baudrillard one of lhe characteriet'iceof Tost'moderneocie|y ie Nhat we are all similarlyentrancedby ourfingthe eimulacra. and ln lhe universeof Hollywood,Top ArL,'N, cyberbliNz, of t'he mediaecaVe-siqneand the dazzlinqeVecLacle lo t'he imaqeono lonqerbear any corceeVondence "real" world-bul creale Iheir own
lhat is hVperrealiNy-an orderof represenrafion and is noI lhe unreal,buNhaoroplaced'realiLy'
<--
!
more than real, more real than real, For Daudrillard, ente(bainment'
Varkosuchas
EnchanledVillage
M a g i cM o un ta i n ,M a r i Disn andeoVecially World,
ite Fron land,wilh iNeTirat',ee, f,ier,its Fulure World,its Tom gawyer'eleland,are the pertect exa
Vleeof rhe hyVerceal.TheeehyVerrea ae imaqinary only worldeare ?reeented lead ue to believeIhat, the lAOf, of Loe Anq and Americaare (a21. gut lhey are nol. Theytoo hyVerred-p ure eimula crum.
Los Angeles is enoircled by theoe "imaginary stations" which feed reality, reality energy,to a town
whoee myot,eryio precisely / that it, is nothingmorethan a networkof endleso,unrealcirculation,-a town of fabulous?ro?ortiono, As much but,withoute?aceor dimensione, as eleatricaland nuclear?owergtationg,ao muaha film etudlos,this town, whichis nothing morethan an immenaeocript,and a ?er?etual molion machine, needsthie old imaginarymakeup of childhoodoignalsand faked phantasmsfor its sympalhet'icnervouooyetem (?lM 26). What Saudrillardcallelhe
t/ I
I
home.Here,accordinqIo the
Oeath of the Real arouaes noe-
qovernffient'oethnologigto, f,he
lalgic aNtempteNo reaurrect the real, SaudrillardeeesWahergale
tribe could liveuncorcup\edby civilizaf,ion, 3 audrillard ar6uee, how-
ao one such attemVt, For parad-
ever,that in removingthe Taeaday
inqNheecandalouoilleqalities of
f rom mod ern civilizaNi on, et hnoloqy
NheNixon adminiehraf,ian imVlieo, eimulT,aneouely ignoreothe real f aloely,f,hat NhesaaffronNef,o Taeaday-who wanf,No remain demacracyre?reeenVa deviation
livingamonq'Ws and care-and
from lhe norm-and lhal t:he eyeLemof governmenlin general
creaf,ea mere model,a simulacrumof whal an "ori4inal"
reeVecls law and morality.
pre-civilizedt ribe " ehould"
The Death of the Real also ineVireea VroliferaT,ion of mytho of origin.Thus,in 1971,the qovernmenf,of the ThiliVVines re-siluat ed a emall tribe of Taeaday lndiansl.,otheir ori7inaljunqle
looklikebefore ethnologyl
F Ft H
$
In other words, this representotion of whqt q tribe should look like wos ceqted only by ethnology?
No @ rru. AndrhisaT,NemVN regurrect,the real,the oriqinal, has also t akenVlaceat lhe caveoof Lascauxin soulhern France,lt, wae here,durinqthe clooinqmillennia of the laetr GlacialAqe,lhatrteeminqherde of maqnificenlqrazinqanimals
nificenlformg,bison,marnmof,hg,rhinoceroeeo. Yet f,oday 5OO mef,erefrom f,he oriqinalcave6-an exacl reVlicaof the caveehae been created in order to Vreoervelhe oriqinal.lt, hae becomemore real
Vaeeedin wavesacroee trhe vastrVoet-qlaciallandeca?e,
than the real cave. And in the
fallin7?reyto Nhe occaeionally
recently hao gearedup Lo eave
huntinqtrribeeIhaI deVended u?onIhe herdefor Nheireubeielence.And iI wae here,in Ihe subtrercanean caveo,thaT, primitiveart,iste Vainf,edma7-
oameway,modernscience trhemumrryof Rameeell. Thus,with the Death of f,he Keal,the hypercealtrakeeover* The Taoaday,Wafer' Dieneyland, qaf,e,the Lascauxgimulacrummore real f,hanthe real ibeelf. And wilh hy?erreality all Nhe 6ive, ally Volitical, exVlo VoNentri VolaranlaqonismeIhat had inhabiledand animaledLhe RealcollaVeeint o one anot'her-implod*
eoVecially in f,he
Voliticalrealml
E con yougiveme on exomple? suppose o bombgoesoff
E ' somewhere-Vilnius, Poris,AdisAbobo. BOng!! smokeblossoming oboveon ort '
museum,o grovernment building, or perhopson oir terminol. Ripplingwoves of the explosionsuffocoting deoth screqms.Splotsof humon flesh,flying in concertwith frogmentsof recliningnudesond peocefulttolion londscopes, or governmentdocuments,or perhopsoirline tickets-cohvulsingsposmodicollyomid floweringsof brick or morble dust ond spent plostique,bits of eyeballs,somewhot bloodshot,chosingshredsof newspoperor otom-
izeddropletsof espresso, frogmentsof on ElvisCD,oll whirligigingin qbsurd, blind circles,perverseorbits, surging kqleidoscopi-
E whodidit?
I# aeke.LeftieI ex1remisld H Thatlejuetthe queetionSaudrillard Cenlriste seekinqlo diecredit,Nheexf,remee? KiqhI-winqekinheade? 3 Lo the publicneedfor eecurily?The answer(e), Corrupt VoliceaVVealinq eaye Daudrillard,have nothing t'o do wiih the facts. All Ihe media and all ree?onoesand inlerVreNalione are alreadypreVroqrammed in absurd,?erverge,naueeouecircleo,orbit'ing orbit,,whirliqiqing, aroundtrhemereeVf acV-accordin7 No eelabliehedcodeeor modele.
"9imulation ie charact'erizedW a ?receooionof the model,of all mod' ele around the meregt fact'-t'he models comefirst, and t'heir orbital (like the bomb) circulation genuine magnetia field of evente. the aonetit'utes Facte no longer have anytrajectory of t'heir own,they ariee at the intereectionof the models;a einglefact' may evenbe engenderedby all the modelsat onae.Thie anticipation, this ?receesion,thie short-circuit (no more divergenceof meaning,no more dlalectical polarity,no more negative electricity or implosion of polee) ie what each time allowsfor all lhe poooibleinterpretatione, even the most contradictory-all are true, in the oenee that their truth is exchangeable,in the image of modele from whiah t"hey proaeed, ln a
generalizedcycle"(alu 32),
Thus, f ormer antaqonisyrlo, Volarif,ies, intrermincurveback u?ontheir oVVoeif,ee, q l i n q l i k et r h ec u r v i n qe V i r a l oo f a M o b i u s et rip cut,in half and trhencuf,in half aqain a n da q a i na n da q a i n - e p i n n i nogu f ,o V i r a l i n g g a l a x i e eo f r e ? r e e e n t , a l i o n ;o f e v e n f , e , realand eimulacrum, and neqalive, Voeitive inwardet o a Voint,of abeolute imVloding abeorVtion-where trhe difference belween r e a l a n d e i m u l a t i o nd i s a ? ?e a r s - i m V l o d e e inf,onothinq. trhereis no realiry behind ln the hyVerceal Ihis qeneralized, neulralizedand neutered frowof codeo,aimulationeand eimulacra,ln hyVercealltythe model, the code come6 fireV. AuI it is invisible-one eeeo only its e i m u l a l i o n s - i d e n f ,ai cl e h o V V i n m q a l l ef i l l e d with idenT,ical televisionimaqeo,medicinee, liVotrick,brae, condoffie,foods, furniture, imaqeeof Madonna'ebellybutlon,
tL,&;
Likethe Deaviaand 'tT AuIIhead epieodein which the two, watchinq TV,watch :'i'*1 '.,'r Lhe cope breakin trhedoor and bust them-live!-but
lr,hey are Loo'"",
qluedNolhe tube No realizeIhat, iI io Ihey,lhemselvee, that are being bueted-that
the wholetrhinqie takinq Vlacelive-IhaV the cope and Nhecamera havebueNedinhoIheir livinq room. Life has become TV and W, life. W watchea us, and we watch TV watching over us, It watrcheeover us like whirliqiqs of DNA,orbitingaroundu6,yoverningthe mutaNioneof Nhereal into trhe hyperreal. ry and life,realand hyperceal, conT,r a cL, c olla Vs e, T,el eeco ?e, imVlod e into eimulabion. ^ Volar . dichot'omiee dieeolve.A 7eneralized deterrenceis qeneraled.A1omic war willneverhaVVen.The hyVercealmediaeVectracle of the nuclear arm6 raceand the e?acerace implodedlhe ant agoniemeof the In hyVerreality antraqonisme and
euper?owerotoward a ?eacefulco-exislence. And in orbit',loaling freelyabove allanlagoniomo,Iheul1imaLe end vroduct of Nheevace race ie trhecool,lunar,hyver-eimulation: t h e L u n a rm o d u l e ,
ln The Shadowof The Oilent Majorities tltr
s| Butwhot othereffectshqsthis hqd on society?
r
ghadowof the gilent Majoritiee(ogv H ln anorherbook,In the 1970)'Daudrillard conhends thaL whaNhad beenoocietyhae imVloded inlo a hyVerconformieT' bodyobeeeeed eo muchwilh epectacleNhatil
wouldrather walch'N Lhan NakeVolilicalaclion. lt becomee electrifiedonly by compuler nelworkeand electronic media-by whichif, ie eo polled,teeted, and hyVedby modelelhal itr hae become ine(Yand bored,Dut,atr trheeamelime it, io hyVer,?aogive,resigtanf,,demanding evenmoremoonghotg, rock eVecf,aculare, mago entrerXainmenf,e-yet euoVicioue and eceVlical,aValhetic becaueeif, realizeeIhaN any atrIemVItro chanqeNheeyetremwilleimVlybe co-oVtedby lhe oyetem for if,eown ende, All thie hae oiqnaledtrhedealh of the social,
On 5eduction ln his nexl book,On 5eduction, DaudrillardNalkeaboul love. Couralylove,in the medievalcourte of eouthernFrancein Nhe 11Nh cenNury, wa6 an involvedand elaborate riNual requiringthe exchanqeof love?oemo,blushee behindfforalfane, eyeeeuddenlydowncael aft,ercaolinq a oly eidelonqqlance,kisses blownfrom lhe ramVar2eof caef,lee, implic alione,half unveilingo, double enf,endree, Nitillabione, whiopere, jealoueies,adroiNevaeione, feiqnedrefusale,feint e, f ainlinq, half- eurrend erin0o...
juch moveoin Nhe dielincl et rucqame of court,lylove
Lurewhichie
werearielocraNic,
diecriminaf,.inq,
afbificialand oymbol- cenT,ered on the ic-deliqhf,ingin Nhe
caef,ralion, Vhallue, lhe nameof Ihe
?lay of r,heqame it eelf, Thegame relied faf,her,repreooion. u?oninfinitedeferral-in Nheputlinq off of acf,ualsex-in
Thereion'I any other. lf, gervegno ?ur?o6eto dream of somenon-
Ihe art, Vrolonqing and arAificeof eeduc- Vhalliceexuality tion. Andfor 1authat, is neither drillard,eeducbion
barcednor
ie feminine.
markedeED16). )ince seduclion
)ex, on Nheolher hand,baudrillardre-
ie composedof the
gardeae a maeculine a(Dificeof eiqneand mode-alwaye cengeeburee,il ie a form Neredon the Vhalluo, of mast ery overT,he na0ural, non-a rlifi cial. oymbolicuniverse. Freudwao riqhb:
)exualiNy,on the
f,hereio onlyone ein-
of,herhand,io not
qle eexuality,one ein-
culturalbul natural-
qle libidomaeculine. Sexuali|yio Ihis
,tt/i r::;{
a form of maetrery overIhe real univeree.Feminine eeductionrelies on aflificemakeup, f aehion, the dieplayof
a ehoulder or breaeN beneathblack lace,And it ie onlylhrouqh euchseduclion that the maeculine can be eubvefredl Thieie hoI seduclion. butrthere ie aleo,for Daudrillard, a cool eeduclion-the eeduclionof eimu-
lacra-of filme, radio,
a ccounf'.b a udrillard's
lhe idols of Nhesilver
traveloguealso con-
or Technicolor ecreen-a self-
forms trothe more
seducf,ionin which we geduceoureelveg
tions on such Ameri'
by immeroingour'
the AmericanWlld
eelvesin a Vlayof eiqno,simulalions,
Wesf,,Le Jazz-mye-
recenl Frenchfixacana as NhedeeerA',
NifyinqvariousaeVecte of Americaas e eeeenf,ially VrimiNiv
imaqeothat eoca?e male eexualit'y.
and oavaqe.
ln hie nexl,book
road Oaudrillard's
b a udrillard cont'inuee on his medilaT,ione
IriV, oVeedingVaoI
Toetmodernculture,
endleesvietas of
by taking a road
road eiqne,neon
f,riVIo f,he mosf'
liqhto, empty deserx
Toshmodernof Tost'-
mof,ele, landgcaVeo,
modernculNures-
revealean Americaof
America.
van' surtace qlit'Ner,
America
iohinqinlo emVf,'ineee.
ln the early 19rh cenlury NheFrench count Alexiede Iook a IriV Tocqueville lo the NewWorld,
Americarich in
ln factr,Lhe Iille of an
democracy,but,?oor in civilization.
imVorLanIchapter is "Vaniehing ?oint,,"
l n t r h e1 9 7 O ea n d 19bOs Oaudrillard
referringtothe Death of Meaning,
the Death of Reality, whichVrovidedmaf,er- followedin de Tocquet,lheDeath of the ial for one of hie besl- ville'e f oolst e?6,?ro' 1ocial, the Death of knownworks:Democ' vidinq,in America,a the ?olitical, and the Tostrmodern simularacy in Amenca, He tion of de Tocqueville'e Oealh of Sexuality in wrole Ihat he found
trheTostmodern univerge- thege"realitieg"re-
world,oecaueeof thie Americaie "the cenT,er of the world."And
cede into a vanishin7point in Daudrillard'srearviewmircoron
Americais a deeerf,-esVeciallyin ite citiee-a Vlacewhere"real life"
hie drivelhrouqh Death Valley,ln
hae vanishedinto a kindof qlir-
facf', Daudrillard'elraveloque beqinowilh the warninqonefinds
Lerinq,empNynon-culhure,And rhie emVty,dry, ot erile,lunar
on oomerearviewmircors;Cau-
deserDof astral America,trhe
f,ion:Objecrein thie mirror may
deeerbof meaninqfutoocief,y,
be cloeerLhanthey aVVear!1ae1
emVtya6 a'N f,unedto a dead
The realitieeof NheVre-oimu-
channel-wheNherin if,eland-
lacrumera vanishinglikemiraqee
oca?e6or cirysca?eo,whetherin
in a rearviewmircoris an a?oca-
lhe insanemovemenf, of joqqere,
lyVricvieion-a vieionof the end of the world,For baudrillardrhie
rraffic and Vedeetriansin Loe Angelee,bodiescirculatinqon
visionof Americais rhe model for t'he resl of Nheworldlhe code for an emerqinq hyperrealand eimu-
r? *t
r^+
LB-
^ )
freewayoor Vluqgedinto com?urer circuirs,whetherin the uloVia of California,of Sanha Barbara or of )antra Cruz,Nheparadieeof r- ^lrE^.^,^t ^
,..2L1- .L -
'!.-L ^r
- -r..
| -
in the qreat neonwhoreof Lae -wall prooliluVeqao,t he "wall-No
.b
*
*.
\e
* ' "* ,-* B
iffiffi.,=_*
Nion"of NewYork,with ite VtrJll
r-/l
l\L/VV
lU/l
N,
VVlVll
lV-J
of smokelike Vlumee "girlswrinqinqoul Lheirhair
afLer balhinq,"with ils "beaufy of the blackand 7uefro Kicowomen"wilh ibs allurinq"Tigmenlation of lhe dark racee"wibhiIe Nribesand gangeand Mafia,with itrevioIence-3 audrillard'6 America ie t urbulent,,VrimiNiv e, eleclrifyinq, animalieNic, viNal, pof,enl,,hyper real. It seemsos if Boudrillord hqs surrenderedto Postmodern Americq in q kind of possiveecstosy. T H Actually,Ihisie one of the main criticismsof Saudrillard:Theonly ree?onoehe offere f,o the ffowof mediaimaqeoie paeeiveeurrender-an eceT,aoy of communicaf,ion-which,in facI, is the title of hie nexLbook. The Eastaoyof Communicaiion Accordinqto baudrillardin TheEcstaey of Communication,in the new Toetmodernuniveree of int erconnecT,iviLy-of Lelevisionand compuler nef,works-we are all likeechizophrenics. For f,heechizophrenic, huddledin hie cell,is no|,removedfrom realily-butr realily preeeesin u?onhim,lI is too cloee.ltr ie abeolulelyclose, He doee not mirror realily buf,becomeoa ?ure 6creen.1imilarly,we haveall becomelike
'( tfi.
,\-\ 9 -r
E
-(,t
\'J
1\
\\J ilr N.rr
t elevieion andcomVuler 9Creen6E h o e el u n r i -
noue eyee illum i n a t i n qa n d
fft
Venetraf,inqeven our moof,privaf,e e?aceewith an obecene?reooure. And thie Vromiocuou; invaeionof our former Vrivacyie bolh ecotatic and obecene. The obeceniLynot of the hiddenbut of the allf,oo-vieual. The that no obeceniT,y lonqerharboreany gecret,.An obgcene eceNaey-a coollunar seducT,iv e, electrricVornoqraVhy of excessiveimaqeeand informalionfeeding u?onue, ?enelratinq all our private o?ace6,the obscenif,y of faecinaf,ion,likea
?ornoqraVhic clooe-up, a Vroducinq et aie of giddiness lo whichweeurcender in
forgeLthaf, in trhe
an Ecef,aeyof Com-
theoriee are juet, like
municalion.
commodiliee-trhey
7ul1audrillard
Frenchcullural6cene
are in comVetriLion
informeue in hie
with other theorieein
introduclionlhal
f,he Frenchcullural
Ecataoy ie only a
marketplace,And
eimulationmodelof
1audrillardunder-
oomeof hie earlier
et ands thal trhebeel
booke-a simulation
way t o makehie lheo-
in whichSaudrillard
riee competriliveis t o
him' out-tsaudrillards
Iransform them
eelf-becominq more
inNohyVerceal eimula-
Oaudrillard Lhan Oau- tione of theory, To drillard,We musf,not, eVinoul Juraeeic
sincethe imPoct Tark monsl'ersof Nheory.baudrillard's ' of the undersf,andinq mediahas madehim an eftective comVet'iIor-a
kind of cele-
briNy-because hie atf,acks on hie fellow
Verrealst'af,emenle guchae "TheGulf
f,ance,he hag been criticized,but aleo
so intense.
War neverhappened!' ln facL, oomecritice c l a i mt h a l O a u d r i l lard, in hie later work,
is actuallydoinqoci' Frenchintellect'uals ence ficlion inst'ead are hyVerrealeVectratheory. of Toet'modern cleemean| for Vublic con6urn\,ion,lendinq l$l Butit seems moreand more thot Postmodern t oward a kind of van' iehingVoinLFor ine-
of technologies on culturesis
made famous,by hY-
theory would hove to be similur to sciencefiction,
lrue. ln Thatr's facl, eome Toetmodern f,hinkersoaYlhaN cerlain s cience ficf,ion writ ers do a bet'ter the job al deocribinq impactrof cybefi'echthan doee noloqiee Daudrillard, b ut,frhat, :l
is a Eop,tcwe can ref,urnNo laf'er.
l$l Well, it's oll rother dizzyingoll thesehyperreolitiesqnd whirligigingsimulocro.tt
Weimar,Germany,in 1919by Walter GroViue.HerearXiete euch ae TaulKIeeand VasoilyKandinoky
remindsme of Jomesonbe-
combined Ih eir archilecf,ural
coming so disorientedin the
sludies with coureeoin painf,ing,
BonoventureHotel.Whqt is it obout Postmodernqrchitec-
cra{-le,drama and tyVoqraphy, Theechoolbelieved trhaNbuildinge
ture thot is so dizzying?
T n
Oauhaueechool,foundedin
ehouldbe funcbional. Theyaleo
lfs a qoodqueotion, becauee develoVedwha| came to be known
archilecf,ureie aclually the realm in whichToetrmodernism began.
ao the lnf,ernaf,ional 7lyle, an atbemVt,T,ounile archiNecf,ure,
BUNin order f,o undere|,andwhatr
t h e f i n ea f r s a n d m a s e - V r o d u c -
Tostmodernarchilecture ie, we
tion technology. The manifesto of archiieclural
haveNo knowoomeT,hinq about modern archileclure,Modernism
moderniem,Towardsa NewArchi-
in architrecturebeganwilh lhe
tecture, wao ?ublishedin Tariein
A Hou5e rsa HouSe rs A llousE. Bur rs tT e HoHe? --=: {*-:
inlo Enqlieh 192b,and f'ranslaNed in 1927.The auNhor,a kind of meesiahof Modernislarchitec' f^)re,wao Le Corbuoier,acluallY f,hepen nameof one CharleeEdouard J eanneret,(1B B7 -19 65) . natriveof He was a well-f'raveled gwitzerland,whowas Io est'ablieh himselfao a ciNYplanner,archilecf,, deoiqner,Vaint'er,sculVtor and VroVhet'of a newarchif,ectural creed. gainedhio Ven Le Corbueier name by virAueof the facl NhaN hie face resembledNhat of a raven (corbeau). And,juel like ?oe's raven,who,in ?oe'gwordg,gaid "Nevermore," Le Corbugieralgo gaid,"Neverrnorel" No more retro, ancient, cluttered, nineteenth-century etYleo, No more custom. No more inherited deoigno.No more gloomY interiora jammed with bunches of uoelessbric-a-brac,no more heavyfurniture, chandelierg,man' tel-piecee, thick carpef,e,No more elaborate bookcaeez,consoles,
coloro, mirrored wardrobeg,No more decoration, ornament, 6Ymbolism.No more heterogeneitY, ambiquity,capricioueneaa,riot, etitchinq toqether of unrelated elemento,No more qarlando, exquioiteovale,triangular doves preeninqthemaelvee,boudoirs embellishedwif,hpoofa of qold and
china cabinete, dreeeera, sidevelvet,no more otiffing eleboards,draped curDaine,cushions, black qanciee!quolh Le Corbusiercanopieo,damaaked wallpaPero, Ne vermore! carved furniture, faded and arty
Juel ae Ihe propheNof literary moderniem,Ezra ?ound,had "Make iI new,"Le CorVroclaimed
booke,Le Corbueiercalledfor a Tlatonicvocabulary of pure,
bueierbeliev ed t hat, archiNeclure
abeoluleforme:cubee,conee,
ehoulduee newmalerialeeuchae
oVheree, cylindere,?yramide, 6quaree,Allthis baeedon a ?lat onic allitude IhaL knowledqe
sleel and reinforcedconcref,e,and newconelrucf,iont echniquee. This newarchiteclure wao t o be ra|,io-
lf buildinqocan be read like
nal,ft ehouldexhibi|a qrandeurof
VroVerlyreeidesin pure,elernal, abgoltffe "|dealFormg,"whichwe
a malhemalicalorder,for by lurn-
can knowwith our inlellecNe,
inqto mabhematical calculalione, lhouqh not,throuqhour eeneee, it wouldrevealunivereallaw-trhe Nhatrqovern VrinciVlee our universe. Thenew
For inetance, it will alwaye be true and knowablethat 2 + 2 = 4,
architectural deoiqne And this will alwaye be true even ehouldbe inlelliqenl, if there are no longer 2 + 2 applee cold and calm-Vure cre-
or orangeeto add up io four,
af,ionsof the mindmanifegf,ationg of men creating T,heirown
Delieving lh aI archilectural beautyehouldbe baeedon Ihe 6ameimmutable,et ernal?lailonic
univerge. Vrimaryforme,he likedslrucLuree euchae the ?yramide,LheTemVle of Luxor,IheNowereof Dabylon, the Colieeum, Hadrian's
1anIa )ophia, f'he Vosqueoof villa,ConeLantinople'e St amboul,the Towerof ?iea,lhe copulaeof but aboveall eleeMichelanqelo. The Tafthenonie the Tarfihenon. Vertect,,Le Corbueierfound in iN gweef,neas, brut alily, inf,enoiNy, delicacyand ef'rengf'h.lI ie bhe climaxof "Vu?eformg in precioerela' f,ionohip"beelowin7u?on ug truth and emolioneof a "ouVeriorand maf,hematicalorder." cture t'hus Mod ern archihe Io ?are downline,eVace atrNemVNed and form Io Iheir ?ureeseenfials. lf Le Corbueierhae a hero it' ie f'he enqineer-f,he creator of bridqee,of At'lant'ic Cubist' linere,of railwaye.Engineero,like paint'ere,are noI dislracled wif'hornament af,ionbuI eaNiofyour opiribeby reducinq maf'h' lheir creationeLo ?ureqeometrric, ematical,Tlatonictorms. Engineeroare virile,ueeful.Theirminde,abeorbedin mathematicalcalculationeand the VerceVlionof primarygeometricforms, are in harmonywif,hnatural law.
ll architects could[e morelilre wilh dilfused electriclighting, and engineers, t[en luildingswoufdfise built ol slandardized matefials lilre uplikeIuteGrcations ofs0ilit-lingGats,Gannons, airplanes! Letgreal ing in unisonwithuniuersal order. newutolianuerticaf cllies,citiesof Ilownwithlriuolous otnamentation! towers, whoselmmense geonellill youmuslhaue diuelsity-then lelil cal glasslacades lefleclthe sky, emelgclromlheinterplay ofprlmary tise in skysga0ers amidgteen torms!let architecturc bet[e cor. of llGGs' let thesesry' lect andmagnilicenl playof such Rlanlalions conlaintheDrains ol the massesbroughllogetherin lighl! sclapels paris's Clearaway narow lel lightshineontheglcatprimary nalion. streetslo admil wide, noble lormsol [risms,Gubes, cones, sFacGs, withtrees.Lel [0pulated pyramids. spheres, cylinders, lel lhe suburls[e gardcncities homes Demachines lorliuingwilh people can[lay ball,and teracesInsteado| roofs,wilh whele garden.let all the citiesol windows all around, withoul clulter-butwithbullt-inlurnishings,Europebe lorn downand reconstlucted in the gaudy without chandeliers, bul imageof Anefican cities.
P[5tmudEI'rl fiI't 3y 1950, ffianyof f,heelemenf,e
of malhemalice ileelf brokedown
Slyle had, of lhie lnf,ernaNional
qeomef,riee into non-Euclidean
af,ionalind eed, beco me inNern
and incomoleleneee Nheo reme?
concentratedlinee the eimplifred,
Andwhat wao modernarchitec-
on func' and forme,lhe emVhaoie
ture to do if its huqe,utogianVro'
tion ae beauty,LheeesenlialmaLh- jecbo-su ch as Drazilia-fl opVed? emalical harmonyof ?ureforms, lhe celebraf,ion of raf,ional,pro-
Whal if the worldwae qrowinq f,iredof f ailed ut ooiae?Thenlhe
greoeive lendenciee, NheadoVbion uloVianlheorieeand the archi' f,eclur al Vrojecf,s f,haL refrecte d leriale,t'heyearninqfor a epiriLu- Ihem wouldhaveNochange-and t h a l c h a n a ew o u l dn e e da n e w a l h o l i e mo f s p a c ea n d f o r m , l h e of newtechnoloqiee and newma-
arbitrary dielaete for bazaar-like,
voice.And f,haL new
reproductionof hieloric etylee.
voicewag
YeL-whaL it all boileddownlo
Charlee
wao cityeca?eefull of concreLeand
Jencke.
glaeoboxes.And whal wae modern architecl,ureLo do-baeed ae il harwao on elernalmaLhemaf,ical mony-if lhe eu??oeedperfeclion
ture (1977),wae
1975,by the histo-
NhefireI workt o
rian ArnoldToynbee
CharleeJencke ie an archihecLural
att empt lo LhemaNizeIhe Toetmod-
Lo deeiqnaLeVlural-
critic who hae been
of non-Weetern
enqaqedin Lhe
ern and No uee "TooNmodern" in
oft,,enheaf,ed
the Litle.
debaLebetween
l n h i ee u b e e -
iom and Ihe rioe culLuree. In the 196Oe the early roote of
modernietand
quen| books What
Toelmodernism qol
Toelmodernistr
is Foetmoderniem?
archilect e about,
and Foetmodern-
starf,ed by a 7rou? of Enqliehintellec-
whelher Toelmod-
igm, he trracesT,he
L.uale, the lnde?en-
ern architecNure
hief,oryof the con-
denl OrouV,who
ceVt,.Originally
werefascinated
He is aleo a major voicein the ongoing
ueed by the 1Vanish wriler Federico
attemptrto defrne
De Onis in 1934 f,o
with Americancul-N, fure: moviee, ade, machineryand
Toelmoderniem, ln
describea poelic reacf,ionNo mod-
commercial culture. TheyteaLed VoV
ernisl poelry,f,he Eermwas subse-
collaqeoof such
quentrly ueed,in
VoVart. ln America,
ehouldevenexist,.
facf,, hie book,The Lan4uaqeof Fostmodern Architec-
objectro-trhe fireT,
in f,hemidet of Hip-
But, accordinq
pieoandYupViee,
t o Jenckg,t,hese
Andy Warhol
aftisis and archi-
crankedouf,a
f,ecNswere raally
bunchof imaqeoof
Laf,emodernioTo,
maoe cull,ure:Mari-
notr?astmoderniefs.
lyn Monroe,Jackie Kennedy, a CamVbell'sSouVcan. Then,in Nhe197Os trheToetmodern movemenlbecame moreacademicand reopectable:in 1971 l h a bH a e e a n? u b lishedan eo6ay, "F0)Tmodernl)M A ?aracritical Diblioqraphy,"and lhe Tostmodernisl movemenlwae offied ciallyinauqurat in Iheory-cele' brabinqwritere e u c ha e W i l l i a m burrouqhs,Jean GeneN,Jamee Joyceand Samuel Deckett,Lhe mueic of John Cageand lhe futurietreMars h a l lM c L u h a na n d Fuller. Suckmineher
pl lote Modernists? T l) Yee.Decauee a u t h o r sg u c ha s JameeJoycewere wrilinqthingo,such Wake, ao Finneqan'o thal veryfew VeoVlecouldunder' eLand. And LhaL's what a lo| of Lat e moderniels-or Highmoderniele did. Com?oeero likeJohn Caqewere wrilinq"mu6ic" lhal nobodyunderetood based on what,moef,peoVle wouldcall noise, or ?ureeilence.In one Viecehe remaineVoioed overthe Vianofor eeveralminules, ae if Lo st rike lhe oVeningchord of a concerl-and
NhecomVooibion consisbsof the eoundof lhe audiencewaiLin7for lhe concert Lo begin,Andthinkere such ae Oucky Fullerweredeoiqninq accordinqto lhe ulopian of aaeum?Nione moderniem.
liore Lo Jencks's likinqie noveliel Umbefr,oEco's recoqnilionof a doubleelemenV in
HEY,tr's THE DuKe l.Jtlo LoVESYou |4AE LY,
Toetmoderniem, ForJenckeand Eco Toef,moderniem ie modernism
alongwith a ToetmodernrelationohiVto lhe Vaei: "Thepootmodern replyto lhe modernconeietre of recognizing that,Ihe Vaet, einceiNcannoNreallybe deetroyed,becaueeits deefrucf , i o nl e a d sI o e i l e n c af ,f i u s f b, e revieited: butrwilh irony,nol innocenbly.I lhink of Lhe Voetmodern albitude as tha| of a man who lovesa verycultivated womanand knowshe cannoNeay lo her,I love you madly,becaueehe knowethal ehe knowe(and thal ehe knows that, he knowo)that Nheeeworde BO
havealready beenwril,T,en by Oarbara Caraland.7ltll, T,hereis a solulion.He can 6ay,"Ae Barbara CartlandwouldVut itr,I loveyou madly."At thie VoinI,,havinq avoidedfalee innocence, having eaid clearlythal iI ie no longer f,o epeakinnocenNly, he Voooible will neverlhelesehaveeaid whal he wantredIo eay lo the womani lhaL he loveeher,buf,he lovesher in an aqe of loet innocence. lf the womanqoeoalonqwilh trhie,she
will have receiveda dec-
of,yleeof lwo differenl
larationol loveall the
Veriode,it, creabeo?arody, ambiquif,y,conLradic-
of f'he eame,NeiNher f,wo oVeakerowillfeel innocent,bof'hwill have accepted Ihe challenqe of the paetr,of Ihe alreadyeaid,whichcan' boLh nol be eliminaLed;
Lion,Varadox.For,in Jencke'eview,a buildinq is noNjuet' a buildinqbuI likea laneomef,hinq can be q u a q eA , buildinq read likea book.lI hae
and with willconeciouely ?layf,heqame Vleaoure
connolalionsand allu' sions,lt' eignifiee.ll has
of irony.. , .7ut bobhwill havesucceeded,once
meaninqe-and off'en oaye t'wo or moreIhinqe
a q a i n ,i n e V e a k i noqf
a Nt h e e a m el i m e ,
rNR67-B) love."(ELo, And Ihie fir,e in wilh Jencke'sdefinilionof ?oslmoderniemae " dou' ble codinq:the combination of Moderntech-
W,&;,
Thus Tost'modern archilectrsmuel be both poVular and Vrofeesionallybaeed.For ingtance,I'he
niqueewith eomeLhin4
cobrtul hand-
elee (ueuallytraditional buildtnfl in order for
railein lhe
architecture to commu-
aVpeal rnueeuffi
nicate wifh the public and a concernedminori-
trothe poVular Iastee of kide
f,y,ueuallyother archi-
dreeeedin Oay-
f,ecta" (wl?14).
Glo colore,while
A tyVical Toef'mod' ern buildingcreales a
iLeclaeeicismiNoquoNationeof
doublecodingthrouqh eclecticism:by putlinq
?ureGreek forme-aVVeale
toqether Nwodifferent'
elitiel, lo f,hehighbrow
)f,ul,f,qarI'
\\
TostmodernarchitecturemueLuee bolh new Lechniqueo and old Valterne.?oetmodernjel architecbeare,Lhen,noT,eimplyrevjvalieNs who eimplybringbackIhe Vaet and elop uoingmoderniem, Theyuee modernism and yef, go beyondiN,They quoLefrom the pasL,but, with irony.TheyVarodythe
on
pasI. Theyuee ?aof,iche.
ooo
o
30
ooo
o
BO
BDDO
o
OD
DOO
o ot
DDO
o
DN
ntro
o
fi
Thusdoublecoding,like Eco's"l loveyou madly," eT,aqee the dieeonanceand ?lay beAween VaeNand Vreeent.Thiedieeonance can be ironic,humorous,Varodic, Vlayful,allueive-buI iI makeglhe "reader"of f,he
Dlr
troD
u oo
otrtr
D
DtrO
o no
ooo
o
o
DD
OD
buildinqreffect.The " reader"becomeg eomethingof an architecf,ural critric. Secaueeof Lhie,doinq?oetmodern archileclure ia one way to do ?oef,modernLheory-_ii,;edoublecodinq makesil'intereebingnol onlyLo Ihe averaqeJoe blow on Lhe sT,reeT but aleo to fellowarchif,ecLe and Foetmoderncritice, Evenan obiecLae eimVlea6 a teapoL can be doublecoded.Deeiqner MichaelGraveedeaiqneda LeaVoT, thal hae eimVle,functionalmoderniet'lines but flaunts an ornamentalbird for lhe whieNle-a kindof a u r a l? u n . In 19Bo Michaeloravee-trhe oame quywho desiqnedthe reapor wibhf'he whistlinqbird-won a com?etiilionfor hiedeeiqnfor the ?or1land TublicServiceoSuilding.lt ie radicallyeclecticand doublecodediLe qlaeehintrethat itris a Vublic6?ace:iLe sizeand ornamenlalqarlande euggeetrEqyVtianand baroquemotife; ite uee of a eculpture,
"?orLlandia",overthe fronl door-creat'eg a wae af,lacked Vlaytulmood.1ul Ihe buildinq who criNicizediI for what'f'hey by modernieNe calleditrslack of diociVline-iNeiukebox-over' eized -Chrief'ma o- pa ckaqe Iook. I uVVort'er6, on f,he olher hand,commenl'edLhat it' relaLedto f,he nearbyCily Hallae wellae oLherpre-moderniel in t'he neighborhood. buildinge and modernisN But why should we even hove Postmodern orchitecture? SecauoehuqeuloVianmodernief'houeinq t'hey inhabif'anNe Vrojeclealienaledf'he very weredeoiqnedNo houee.TheseVlanneduloViae waeLelandsof qraffif'i,vandalismand LurnedinT,o neqlecLThuein hhe lat'e196Oeand early197Os lhey weredynamiled.ln facNJencks,in a Vublic that' on July 15, lecture,Vroclaimed 1972,at 323127M, modern architeature; died, ao a huqehouoinqVroiect'in 91. Louis.waeblownNo smifhereens.
Ientksiustmaileupthgilate- a fail thatilu tepuilPl
Muilernism ThurthelluathufArthiteflural raught. it. simplybyannnuncing wasptuiluteil
I
I
{ { I
i I
rt\\ i\\
ModernisNs were alarmed,of couree,
ment Lo moderniemall alonq. Thedeath of archilectrural
and immediately
"t \
I f
moderniemmay haveeaveda lot beqandenouncin7 of innercitiee,whereNhemodNhenew Toef,mod- erniet Lendencywouldhavebeen ernismwith relito bullddzeNhemand construct giouofervor,DuI,
moreulopian houeinguniis, WhaI
accordin7Io
Tostmoderniemofferedwae eclecT,ic,incremental reqenerationthal ie Io oay, reqeneratin7, elowly
J e n c k e , I h em o d ernigl atf,acks on
Tostrmodern archileclure actrually
ueinqthe mixof whal io already there alonqwilh what,ie new.
inviqoraT,ed its For Jencksmoderniemhad qrowth.For ineNance, beeneomethinqof a reliqioue Vhewhenil wae announced nomenon.Aftrerall, iNdeclared in a columnin Le Monde ornamenlation heretical, and in Octoberof 1901that
viewedit self ae Nheunivereal
"a eVectreis hauntrinq
gtyle lnternatrional EuroVe, the eVectreof ueinqnewconetrrucTogLmodernigm," mooN Iion techniquee and Frenchmen juot ehruqqed, newmateriale,lt had bit.inlo lh eir croieean|,s a mieeionto transand ffippedthe page.DuI modernieiledidn't oimply
form eociety.
ehruqoff the announce-
Jencke,mod-
menT,; their panic effectrivelyinfraledthe epectre
ernist,buildingo,
into a full-fredqedmovemenf,.Therefore,rea-
ChicaqoCivic CenIeror Chica-
eon6Jencke,lhere musl haveexieNed a hiddenresenN-
Accordin7Io
such ae lhe
qo'e Lakethore houoinquniNs,
1972-ie a bookcalledLearning from Lae Vegas.Thio book
5 ailemPf, Io build moderniem' qlaeeand ef'eelboxes,t o define ae encloeedepace.lt archif,ecNure e?aceie eacredto moderniem, and literthen paintinq,eculVt'ure
atlempl No be nothinqmorethan eimplegeomef,ricf orrne-gl aoe and eleel and concrd,e boxeewhichin t'heirequareneasaay "f,hioie what I am-a equare box*and nolhinq el6e."Theform does nol refarlo or alludelo or meananytrhingout'oideitself.
archi- ,,.< ToeNmoderniel N (''{\'al
t-arrrt rre
nn f.hc.
nf.he.r
'
alure, meredecoraf'ion,are opVoeedt'o Vureo?a6e.lvlodernisN archit'ecfereiected,anenNireNradilion of archiheoturein which painringe,eculpt,ureand qraPhice were integraf,edwif'harchilecture, Modernlelbulldin7o had at'lemphed sqq$
Io oymbolize nof,hinqbuL idealqeomet'ric forms. ln lhe idealizinq
buildinqerefrecl and refer f,o
well-enqineeredqeometric f orms
lf Le Corbusier lheir environmenl. of TransaNlantic ele amohi7e, wao lhe Veosiahof modernist Americanqrain elevalors,and V eft enluri, Rob archileclure, had ended CubistVainNinqo,I'heY Oeniseecolt Arownand ?f'even a bravenewworld u? oymbolizinq lzenourare lhe 7roVhatsof Tosf'- of scienceand Iechnoloqy-a modernarchif'ecIure.AndLheir naut ical - ind usNrial - CubieN worl d . in firet publiehed manifest'o,
Down w i?h
trh e u niv e r g all
L e t , r h e a r c h i t e c r unaulhorif,arian qualiliee become ajeetert,Let archv neededfor livinqhumortrecture, rikethe vovart of
ouolyin a eocietymade
proclaim Venf,uri, Warholand Leichlenslein, u? of diflerenl raceo, ScoNt Brown and
uee familiar moNife-
eexualorientaf,ione,
lzenour.
deeiqninqnon-authorita-
clasgeoand culr,ureo.
Accepttheclut-
rian buildinqetrhat in-
For we do live in a
ter of mixed,maee-
siead of eayinq,,1am a
culf,ure,ornamenf,ed, oquare"eay manythinge
Vluraliot eocieLy,reflectedin mixed,glitler-
ticky-Lacky, eubur-
inq,ffaohinqbazaareof
at once.Let ?ostmodern
ban,Ginqerbread,New buildinqeex?reeoirony,
neonliqhNeand oiqne
Orleans, French 7ro-
alongwith comedy,eor-
on the Las Vegao
vtndal and Kanchotylee.
row, paradox, and the
9triV,thehodgeVodge
Downwith the archiLeclure of 6?ace,
b6
of conlradictory,com.a,-
form and functrion.
Velingand confricNing etylee,the roadeigne
1rinq in lhe icone -t#ffi
and billboarde that
of 7o? Arl,, of
whiz by in a blur of
advefi,isin4, of every- ,,'
comVlexmeaninqo,
day commercial ob-
a
jecL,o-
ecaVein whichthe
b e l l ' e6 o u ?c a n o
mix of oymbolo is
in a qallery,
more
or of imaqeefrom
trhan ?ure torm-
comic eIriV aft,, Tn
l h e d a z z l i n q? i c -
euqqeotgaf,ire, sor-
t orial themes of
rowand irony,
lhe caeinos(the
roadscaVe/car-
imporf,anl
flamboyantFlamin-
No expert,.but the opec-
qo, Ihe Deeert lnn,
NaIor elrolle Vaet a heN-
lhe exotic TroVicana,
eroqeneoue ?layground
the arabeoqueAlad-
o f m u l t i V l e v, i t a l , i n c o n -
din, Caeear'oTalace,
qruoue,chaotic, inf,ertex-
trhe )tarduot, like
i u a l , a l l u s i v eu r b a n o i g n o ,
the
facades of
meaninge,orders-all ex-
Gothic cathedrale,
ploringthe archif,eclureof
almoet,all eiqn
the paot,.
and eymbol)the
Let architecture be funl
caeinoehoVVinq
Turn et,aid architectural
malls like orien-
nolione toVoy-Iurqy! lndul-
f,al bazaare.Las
qently embracecomVlexity
Veqao erriV
mixingimaqeeand eymbolo
architrecture
from the hietoricalpaot in a
io a qrabbaq,
nootalgiccollagelLet image
ecl ecf,i c ,
def,ermineforml LetrdeveloV-
allu6ive,
menl be baeedon incremen
?aradoxi-
f,al, diverse qrowtrh,ralher
cal4he
than uf,opianplanelLet,build-
Alad-
din is Tudorwith a Moorishfacade.
inge retlect the diveroiiy of
Caeear'eTalaceie Early Christrian,
uoereand clienf,s'f,asf,eglLet
Roman,Neo-Classical, MoLelMod-
archif,ectodeoiqnfor oVecific
erne,Ef,ruecanand Miesian,Motifs,
?eraono-ralher than from gomeulopian,abgtract,conce?-
eigno,columne, winqo,formationsand froorsVarodyand queobioneachother. TheLas VeqaegtriV ie an inclusive
buildinqefit in wilh Ihe build-
order.Thereie no one dominant,Iheme.
i n g oe u r r o u n d i nt qr h e m l
tion of Man, Let, Toetmodern
Accordinqto the aubhorsof Learningfrom Loe Veqao: "Theemergingorder of
TheN&T of,yleoand lanquaqee, buildinqIraneformef,,hetraditionalqlaeoand steeleky-
the 1trlp io a aomplex order,lt is not the
ocra?erint,oa qrandfather clockf,opVedoff wilh a ChiV-
eaey, rigid order of the
pendale brokenVediment,.
urban renewalproject
leade @ ffrie eclectriciem lo a digsonant,beauty,a disharmonioue harmony, an
or the fashionable 'total design' of the megastructure.,,1tio not an orderdominat-
oxymoron, a ?aradox.After all,there ie diseonance
ed by the expert and
belweena buildinqand a
made eaey for the eye, The movingeye ln the
clock.Dut,his diesonance ie
movingbody muel workto pickoul and interpret,a varlety of changing,jux-
humorous becauee many buildinqe dioplayclocks. @ ff',eAT&Tbuildinq dioVlaye an urbaneurbanism.
taposedorders" i
lf, doesn't stand oul
(LLV135-6),
alone.lt lookepretby
ln Jenck6'oview,Toetmodern archilecturedioplayo10 charact erief,ice. Let uo ueeThilip Johneon'eN&T in NewYork building
muchlikeother modernisL okyecrapers, buNiL blends into, mirroro,mocke,Varodiesand exf,endsother buildinqo in lhe envi-
City a6 an
ronmenl.
example. ralielic-radi-
@ ?ootmodern buildinqe are antrhropomorVhic-trheir orna-
callyeclectric-
-
E tr io Vlu-
celebraling
oft,enouggeetNhe
differenceand
humanform.The
othernegg.
AT&Tbuildinqdoes not,do this, buf,oug-
Itrquoteo different Bb
ments and moldingo
,!\\],$
qeoto indirecf,ly,
throuqhmimickinq a humanalci-
fact-a clock. a rela6 tt dieVlaye lionohipbetweet Vaet,and preeentqrandtaf,herclockand
//,
buildinqalso oaye"qrandfather clock."
fl
tV."reie double
codinqthroughihe juxtapooibionof of,yleegrandfaiherclockand moderniet, oky6cra?er-eo thaI irony, ambiquity, and conlradic-
Vutf,inqt oqetherof
tion emerqe, ?oetmodern buildinqooay no| "eilherlor" bul"bobh/and." TheN&T building oayo"bothland"by combininq
w h i c ha l l o w s lhe archi'
V a r o d yt h e m , l o invokenootalqia a n d i n d u l q ei n paoliche,
trhecontem?orary (okyecraper) wilh the
@ There ie a yearnin7for con-
antique (qrandfather clock), f,hefunctional(officebuild-
tenf,, for meaninq,
inq)and lhe decoralive (ChiVV endale brokenpedr
lnef,eadof juoV oayinq"qlaee and gf,eel box" Nhe
menl) in an ironicdouble coding,lt can meantrwo thingeat, once.
\\Y/1. @ ?oetmodern buildinqe are multivalent-they can mean manythinqo eimultaneouely.UnlikeNheunivalenceof modernisl buildinqo, whichonly 6ay onethinq-"| am a equar6,"-7ogtmodern
KD Many
archilecLureie multiva-
Tostmodern
lentr,non-excluoiv e, allu-
buildinqeyearn f,o
oive,reoonant,,oymbolic.
ref,urnto Ihe abgenl cenf,er-f,o a
@ ?oetmodern architrecT,u re reint er VreT,s cenlral communal o?ace.Duf,Nhen f,radiNion. ll doee not, merelycolV lhe Vaot but realizelhat Lhere reinterVrets it,.The AT&T ie nof,hinqwe havein buildinqdoes noT,eimply
commonto fill it, wiIh.
reviveNheVaeI; iN mocke it playtully.
9o why not fill it with a clock?
Jencks defines Postmodern claeeiciem as a revivaldrawing u?on motife from Oreece and Rome, He identifres frve eireams of ?oet modern alaeeicismz
Metaphysical classicism Narative
classicism
Allegorica1 classicism Realist classicisn Classical sensibility 90
Meta phyeiaal Claesioie m Velanaholicclassicismis a claooi' modeof metaVhyeical cism thal focuseeon a relurn to the urban,ao oymbolizedbY Lhe lhalianciVyequare-the Viazza-but wilh a difference. Toetmodernarchitecf'esueh ae LeonKrierand Toef,modern arliate euch as Kito Wolff render euch ViazzaemelancholybecaueeLhe Viazzaeare deeer\ed.Yel,Nhereis a yearninqfor a cenherhere-and Nhereis a cenIerbut
the cent'erio emplY,
NarrativeClassiciam TraditionalnarraliveVaintinqdeVictetrhe heroicact'ioneof great Ynen-euch ae Socratee drinkinqf,,hehemlock.they arl meanf'lo inepire. narralive?aintinqofLenVainbe The ?oef,'modern unheroicmenenqaqedin immoralactions, ln TaulGeorqe'eMy Kent nude 7tate, a vulnerable, muoe-eymb oI of freedomaVtemVNot o Feet'he 6cene of sf,udenf,sbein6elayed.
This6enrecan f.akeon erof'icand eubver' sive ovefr'enea,ae in Eric Fiechl'oOad Doy, a lad watchinqa nudewomanwhilehe eleals from her puree.
I
Allegoriaal Clas siais m G ranL Dr umheller's Lt4 hf,nin6 Thrower reVeal.,o the pooeof a f amouesLatue of Toeeidon aqainaf,a dreadfulbackgroundof what Jenckecalls "radioactive gloom."Ootrhefraehinqoin Nhebackgroundoignify a nuclearwar brought on by ?oseidon,Thorand Jupiter nuclearmiesiles? A eub-genre-naiverealiem-returne trothe innocenceof Granl Woodand Grandma Moees.An examVleie DavidLiqare'eWomanin a GreekChair,
RealistClasaiaism Kealielclassicismie alwayeeomethingof a
?aradox,an oxymoronor conlradiction.ln t,heclaeeicielIradilion the individual Vafbiculareof a body-Lhe hands,toroo, head,etc.-rendered in olone, wereeubordinatedNo ldeal baauty. ln realist claseicismthe ecaleie NiVVed Ioward the uqly,realiolic aepecte of Ihe eubjecl,whichXheVureclaeeicietoverlooke. Example?Workssuch ae ?hiliV?earletein,s TwoFemaleModele on frrentwood Loveeeat and Kuq.Accordinqto Jencke,"A parody of eexualit'yie eugqeoted by rhe way vael sf"reNches of Lhe body are focueedon, ae in a Flayboycenlefiold, only lo be lurned inlo sacko of eagginqmeal," (?M1zr),
, TheClasslcalSensibility Jenckefrnde thal eomeartiete are faithful Io a 7eneralopirit of claeoicism-they exhibita claseical seneibilityin their worke-even Nhouyhtheir eubjecT,e are conNemporary.MileluAndrejevic'eApolloand Daphne,for examVle,relells Lhe Greek nrybhof ApollochaeingDaVhneto xhe river,only to eee her f ather, the RiverGod, transform her inLoa laurelLree.lL ie double coded in thaf' t'here ie an ironic Vutlinq to7elher of Vaeear-Nype coede, a poet-hiVpieguilarieT, and a claesicallheme, 92
theorists? E *no trresomeotherPostmodern oneeare l, oomeof r'hemoeLimVortanf, E Wel 7osNslruclu ralisNNhinkere,
E Poststructurolist? E ?os?slrucf,uralismie a rnovemenf'associated wit'h Julia JacqueoDercida, a waveof Frenchf'hinkers: FelixOuaf,Krieteva,KolandDafi,hes,OillesDeleuze, t'endt'o f,ari and MichelFoucau\^TosNsLruct'uralisNs reAard all knowled0e-hiotory, ant hro2oloqy, lif,eraThismeangt'haL ef,C.-as t exf,Ual, Nure,?sycholoqy, nof,iuof of aoncept'obuLaleo is comVooed knowledye focuoon readinqNhe of wordo,?oolslrucNuralisNs wriltlencondibionof the le>(^Readin Ihis man' ner,Iext g Vroducea varielyol mutrually "tPt
conNradichory effects,
a7
-l ToslmodernieNe aleo lend lo
ForhimLhereio onlyLhe of Vower.
think thaV langua7eand meaninq are fragmenlary. We knowthat, ?oetmodernismqueelionet he wholenolion of dominance,For
d t*-how powerie exercieed
instance,it queeT,ions the idea that, one qrand etory can domi-
in variouelocalsituatione.The
nale smalleronee.ll queelione Vrioon,lhehospilal,the aoylurr, the idea that Lhereie a hierarchy the univereiNy,lhe bedroomare all Vlaceewhere?owerrelationehiVo are at, work, Even9/M, for ,._r,,
of storiee,wilh the grand narcaNiveeon t oV and Ihe emalleronee lowerdown on NhetrohemVole.
,/
Tosteirucf,uralismbacks uV ?oet-
-4
moderniemwith ito analysisof lanqua7eand knowledge. Oneof the moet VrominentTostef,ructuraliete hae beena FrenchinlellectualnamedMichelFoucaulN.
-=
s
-N \r
\
FrenchVeycholoqiot born in ToiIiersin 1926, He was concernedwiih Ihe relaNionehip between?ower and knowledge. but, he ridiculedlhe ideathat ?owerio a huqe,monolilhicet af,e slructrureand was distruetful of biq mef,atrheories thatr attemVt, lo Vrovidemonolilhicexplanatrione 94
N
ee?oueedeuch localot ruqgleo, DUNDaudrillard commande thal we torget Foucault,becau6ehis ideaeaboul ?ower are obeolele.
l9l whyobsolete? f,o accordinq E Decauee, Oaudrillard, Vowerie dead,die'
=a ID
4
"#
solved,canceledand made hyperreal t hrouqh simulalione, modele,aodes. ln the newTosf,modern universeof mediablilz,we no
lon7erhave?owerVeree-but, q Foucault f orqot somehhin aboul-simulations of Vower,For inetance,RonaldReaqanruled like a kinq merelyW posing-bV offerinq eigne of powerin phohoope Foucault,,ie a kind of qama a way
and sound bites-ratrher Nhanby
lhe dimeneions of of explorinq
exercisin7power,
-J
?owerlocally.No 6rand general theory can exVlainhow ?ower worksin all Nheseeit ee.
Fur\hermore, Fur\hermore, eve\ even lhere ie Vowertrherei: lance. Andthe onlyw
oaye,iemtntsT,s,iormer com-
iW
d7
flutif rougris
t5 dead-su
sErrualit
Accordin7to Foucaullsexualif,,yrefereLo lalk and wrilinq abouN erotricVracticee,whichcontain rulee and distinquieh and Vrohibitione 7ul normaleexfrom pervereione, gaudrillard, in the new accordinqIo Toetmodernera sex ie dead becauee ie eex.Sexualeimulationeare everyLhinq in advefi,isinq, in fashion,on everywhere, 'N, in filrn.)exualitryie no longerinlimafe, lf, io oVen, ?ereonaland Vrivatebehavior. encouraqe d, unlimited,unreetricled, mandaf,ory-a commandt o releasesexualLeneione(builf uVthrouqh Lhe sex-everywhere dieplayof eexualily)throuqh eexualcodes. Thus "Everyfihingie oexualitry"(FFt+1,Duf,if everything ie eexuality-Lhen nothing ie oexuality!
Poststructurql @ *.,,, if sexis deod in the Postmodern, universe,then is there onything left? lt seemsthot everything hos been destroyed. AndNhat,brinqeue Lo deconetrucLion-lhe brainchildof French' t rainedphiloeoVher J acqueeDercida,
96
Weren't Foucoultond Boudrillord Frenchos well? Why is so much Postmodernond Poststructutrolist thought domi-
notedby Frenchthinkers? the [ *r,, France,durinq (the l9rh cenEnliqhtenmenl tury), ae we havealreadY t alked abouf',reallYinvenf'ed
;
lhe idea of lhe inlellectualthe idea of a cerebralelitrewho wouldsil back and iuol sofD of Ihink abouf,thinqo. And from the f,imeof the Enliqhtenmenl,,Francehag beena kind of Varadieefor a Vlace intellecNualo, and wherephiloeoVhers thinkers have beenreqardedao nationalf'reaeuree.Their books are ena??edu? ao readilYae the Iheir dioPut'eoand lat eol 'r'hriller, divagalioneare writf'en uP in qloeey,maoe-media ma qazinee, rhey a??earon'N ralk ehowe, they qeVqood-lookinglovereand qood seaf's at' reslauranls. ln exchangefor f'hese favore, theY are ex?ect'edf,o getra moral I'one, Io buckeet'abliehedvalueo,and
mosl import'anf'-No be avanN qarde.TheYreetreecurein t'he think Nhatrwhal tr'heY knowledqe today, t'he resT,of France will be t;hinkinglomorrow. At times, Nheir wiedomevenovereVilleFrenchbordere,floodinqT'heqreaLerint'elleclual worldwilh Frenchideae,
For decades,on
acro99
p?e. Ae we
the eidewalkeoubeide the cafes of ?arie,
abouf,,Frenc
light,has danced
denLg,eu??o
downthrouqhthe bouqhoalonqNhe
the Marxietrs,loo
boulevardo, playing over the eufiacee ot
Ihe army and policein
objeclo,dappling
the governmenLThey
tableclotheand vari-
nearlyeucceeded, but wereevenT,ually
havealrea
lhe etreete, fiqhling order to overlhrow
ouelyattired loreoe with ewarme of
quelled,Failinqto demoliehehaIe ?ower,
eVhemeral huee. Frenchcafe-qoers,
Lheybecamedieillueioned, inwardlo oking.
manyof them peoVle of inlelligence and culture,haveVlaced orders,fumbledfor ciqarettes, and found iI very aNlractive Io
lked
guddenlyexhibitinA Affi,l who,beeideswonderinq if trheNableis or ie notr,was to be found engaqedin poliLical
Toelmodern ciemabouLq mythe euch iem and ffimmuniam,
be ableto eiNat a t ableand t alkabout
and Vublicaffaire.ln Nheybeqanto commif, recenT,limes, up unNil Ihemeelves Lo lanLhe t ableand, raioinq the late 196Oe,Jean- quaqeitself. Dieenan intelleclualeyeTaul1afr,re defined gaqingthemselvee browin Lhe daVpled the imaqe.7ut I,hen from Volitice,Ihey liqht,,Lo aek if the the icon of the intelbecamelinquieticrevt ableie. lecLualchanqed, oluLionariee, findinq Treeidingover Af the earnelime revolulionin turne of all thie Lablet alk, youn7Americanowere eVeech,and they from the time of the t r i V V i n gt o J i m i H e n - beqanlo viewliheraFrench Kevolution, f,he drix, "H6y Jude,"Hair, f,ure,reading and imaqeof the Vhilooo- and 2OO1:A gpace writingas eubvereive
9B
pher wa6 one of the
Odyaey,a eludent
intellectualenqaqe,
movementreweVtr
polilicalact e in [hemeelves.
French intrelloc,tu' t.:'..
..
ale beqanattehdw'4 lo how wordo oaY f,o \\,a rneref'han what words
dieoay. lncreasinqly
causedmany previouo
IrusLfulof lanquaqe
Io be VhiloeoVhere reagoeosed,and it'
claimingf'o conveY
onlya oinqle,a$thori' set Lhe Nonefor f,arian me#6aqaT'heY muchrhoughf,lo come,lNwas eome' how baganry,lVlorinq thinqof a disharmoYnanydifferent t'hinqe niouschord,for his DUN forbe wae a subver' eimulf,aneouely.
lanquaqecan oay
\
by Nhelime all this ,"
sivemodeof reading
had taken Vlaca
authonlaiimiSXf;,-
JacqueoDerridahad emerqed,in t'he laNe
or any f'exIs. This otyle of readinqcame
196Oe,as t'he moeN avanf'garde of f,he
lo be knownas
avanf'qarde'Hie leclure qivenat' Nha
France,decongt'rucT,ion, ki ckinq exieben-
i
*"
I
deconstructiofi.ln
Johne AoVkineUniver' lialiem aeide,wao oily in 1966,"91,ruc- euddenlymuchin lure, Sign and ?laY in voque.Oerridabethe Dieaoureeof t'he cameIhe VhiloooVher of the day,t,henew Human Sciences," enfant terrible of Frenchint ellecI'ualism. Andthen, afI'er Ihe Americandebut, at JohnoHoPkine, and deconst'ructrion Jacqueo Dercidat'ook America bY of'orm, Lurningmuchof Nhe Westernworldview toVey-IurqY. YV
Well,tell me then,whot is deconstruction? Defininqdeconslruclionis an aclivity Nhat'qoee aqainotr the wholeNhruet'of Oerrida's lhouqhl, AcLually,Derridahas eaid lhal any eNat'emenleuch as "decono|,ruclion io'Y" auNomabi' cally miseeslhe Voint.OUN deconebruclionofaeninvolveea way of readingthat concernb itself wilh decenterinq-with nature unmaskinq the Vroblemabic of all cen|,ers. Decentering?Centers?Whot is c center?Whqt is problemotic obout one?Why should one
r
need to be decentered?
fl Well, Dercida,whenhe ie not deconsNruclinqa t exl of some difficult VhiloeoVher euchae Nietzsche or Heideqqer, writ,eeabouN cen|,ersin euchabeNract,lanquaqe, whichie usuallycaVitalized,and whichquaranleeeall meanin6. Nhat I will offer gome concrete examples.Accordinqto Oerrida,
for 2OO yeare, For insT,ance,
all Westerntrhouqhlio basedon
much of Weslern culf,urehas been
trheidea of a cenler*an oriqin,
cenf,eredon T,heidea of ChrisNian-
a TruNh,an ldealform, a Fixed
ity and Christ,.Other cu\,ures,
?oint,an lmmovableMover,an
as well,all havetheir own central
Egsence,a Ood, a Treoence,
eymbole.
Well,whot's the motter with thqt? Theproblem cenlerg,for Derrida,ie IhaI Ihey at0emVt,Lo exclude,In doingoo Ihey ignore, re?re66or marqinalize others (whichbecome the Other).ln male-dominat ed socieliee,man ie cenf,ral(and womanis the marqinalizedObher, re?re66ed,iqnored,Vuehed Io f,hemarqine). lf you havea culture whichhae Christ in lhe cen|,erof it g icong,lhen Chriotians will be cenlral No that culf,ure,and 7uddhiete, Muelime,Jews-anybody different-will be in the marqino, marqinalized, Vuohedf,o the oulside. (Wemuet remember that Dercida wao born into an aseimilated '. Jewieh family in Algiero, qrowinq up a6 a member i of a marginalized, d iopoooess ed c ultu re),
3o Nhelonqing for a cenl,ere?awnobinary oppooitee,wilh oneLerm of fhe oppooitioncenlral, and NheoNher,marqinal. Fu(Yhermore, cenlers wanl fo fix, or freeze,the Vlay of binaryoVposiNee.
realiNy.All olher
Fixthe ploy of binorY whot does opposites? thqt meon?
[
*r', , r,he ovpooir,ion
manlwomanie juot' one binary oVpooiNe.Ot'hersare eViritrlmat'f,er;nature/ culture;Caucasian/ 3l a ck; Eurocent riemI Afrocenand Chrietrianl T,riem; Vaqan, Accordin7tro Derridawe have no acceesto realitryexceVf' Nhroughconcept's,codegand
viewgare
repreooed. Drawing suchan icon is an af'NemVINofix t'he fo ?lay of oVVooiteebet'ween, or Ch examVle,Chriet'ianlJew ianlVaqan.lheJew and Ihe ?a7anare nof,evenre?reoen
in euchart'.Dut iconeareiue oneof lhe eocialVract'icesLhereare manymore- ihat'
and Ihe humanmind t o fix Ihe Vlayof oVVooif,eecaNegories, functioneby forminqconceVt'ual advefrieing,eocialcodes,t a pairosuch as Iheee,Yousee
convenf,iong,caNeqories, rilu a
howone memberof Ihe Vair, The (herethe lefL),ie privileged,
e t c . 7 u l r e a l i t ya n d l a n q u a 7 e
riqhl-handlerm then becomee
as iconswith a cenf'ral,exclu
lconewilh Chriet, marqinalized,
siveimaqein their middle-t
or Suddhaor whaleverin f,he cenler trry I,o Iell ue trhaNwhat'
are morelikeambiguouofiqu The int ereotingthing abo
ie in the center is t'he only
such figuree ie lhat at' firet
are noI ae oimVleand einqula
One oee only one ?ooeibilit'y. "cenbral"for a Voeeibililyio
or ?eroecuted. The imaqeof Ehefaces becomesNheVrivi-
momenl.For a momentt',he
leqedmemberof lhe oriqinal
fiqureeignifieofacee,bul t'hen, becaueeNheVlayof lhe eye-
Vair,lnoNherworde,a violent' hierarchyie formed in which
tremis nol arceeted,T'heolher viewdawne,and t'he oamefiqure
memberof the cenf,ralized
a candle. eiqnifieo buI eu??oeea qrouVoeizee ?ower,a qrou? calledNheFace' iete (l havedeliberaf'elymade this sound like"Faeciol'e"). Theymighl draw eyeoon f,he
lhe Vair,Nhef ace, becomee ineNilutredae NheKeal and lhe Good. Derridaoayo t'hat all ot Western thoughl behaveein ihis 6ameway,forminqpaire of binaryopVoeileein which
aT,temVt,tro fix or arreot t'he
one memberof the Vairie VrivNhe?layof the ileqed,lreezinq
free Vlayof differencee.
Nhe eyelem,and marqinalizing
f aces.Thiewouldbe an
iels wouldbe marginalized,
olher memberof the pair.but' Nhefrqure,in realif'y,eiqnifieo
re?reaoedand evenoVVreoeed
both facee and a candle.
ln eucha eilualion,Candle-
@ ,"r, but how doesthis cpply to longucae,to literoture,to reoding?
r
ie a t actricof decenterinq,a way H Deconstructrion of readinq,whichfirst remindeus of the centrality of the cent'raltrerm.Thenir att emptrof,o subverrlhe centrralNermso rhat the marqinalized term can becomecenf,ral.The marginalized Ierm lhen t emVorarily overLhrowelhe hierarchy. )uvpoee you havea ?oemeuch ae rhe followinghaiku:
And eu??oeethaf, for thoueandeof yeare Ihe
onlycorrecrwayof readingrhe poemie to read "pine6"ao a verb-like piningfor one,slost love. O.K.But whqt qbout the other meoning?Cqn't "pines," in the context of the secondline, switch over ond becomeo noun: .,pines upon the mountqinside?"
E
Yee,that'o riqht, That wouldbe lhe eecondmovein deconetructinqa pieceof literature-to eubverl trheVrivileqed T'ermby revealinqhowrhe repreesed,marginalizedmeaninq canjuet as wellbe central.
But whot good doesthot do? Doesn'tthis just instituteo
f,hebinaryo??o6iteein a non'
new center?lnsteod of
lhal both readinqe, and many
"pines" the verb we hove
olhere,are equallyVoeeible,
hierarchical way,Thenyou can eee
"pines" the noun. Or insteqd Yes!Like"pines upon the mountoin sighed" (insteod
of Foce-istswe now hove Condle-istsin power?
of "mountoinside")! Exachly.DercidaclaimelhaL
9o youcan eeef,he Voeeibili-
ie a Volitical deconslrucT,ion Vractice,and f,hat one musl noI
E
paeeoverand neulralizethe
muniel Manifeeloor f,heTorah
f,oo quickly. phaeeof eubveroion For f,hieohaeeof reverealie
or trheKoranor lhe Sibleor f,he you coulddeconConetifuf,ion,
neededin orderf,o subverLthe
elruct any frxed,auf,horifarian,
oriqinalhierarchyof f,hefirel
dogmatric, or orthodoxreading.
lerm over the second. 7uf,
Of course,such lexlg are much
evenf,ually, one musNrealize lhal thie newhierarchvie e q u a l l y u n e t a b l e ,a n d
tiee. lf the lexT,werebhe Com-
morecomolexthan our haiku. Theyare more multifacel,ed, likethe drawinabelow.
gurrenderto the comVlele free-?lay of 105
lf you havea eyof,emof trianqleo such as Nhie,Nhenyou will nof,iceIhaN if you sf,are aN il,, a eeries of configuratione of trianqleo preeente itreeltNo your vision-one aft,erthe oT,her. Sul each ao-calledpreeent confrquratrion, whicheeemsNo eachqrou?of Nrianqlee be momentarilypresent,hao emerqed and is alreadydieeolvinqinlo a fuNurecon' ouVof a prior confi7uraf,ion Thereie no cenT,ral figuration.AndNhie?lay qoeeon endleeely, confiquno marqinal ration that, attemVte NotreezeIhe play of the oyef,,em, one,no Vrivileged one,no re?reesedone.Accordingto Oercidaall lan' 7uaqeand all t exf,,eare, whendeconslructed, likethis. And eo ie human Nhouqht,, whichie alwaysmade uV of lanquaqe.He eayo we ehouldcontinuouelyaltrempl lo eeetrhisfree play in all our languaqeand Nexte-which otherwisewilllend toward fixity, inelif.,uNionalizaT,ion, cenlralizalion,totalitarianism,exclusion,For in our anxietywe alwaye feel a needNo construcf, newcenf,ers,Lo asgociaNeourgelveswilh Nhem,and lo mar7inalize f,hosewho are differenlNhan their cenT,ral valuee.
see,then. Deconstructionfirst focuseson
D inttlllt,,tt''
the binory oppositionswithin o text-like mon/womon. Next it showshow these oppositesqre reloted, how one is regorded os centrol, noturol ond privileged-the other ignored, repressedond
morginolized. Next it tempororily undoes, subvertsor decentersthe hierorchyto moke the text meon the oppositeof whot it originolly qppeqredto meqn. Then,in the lost
\f
step,both termsof the oppositionore doncingin o free deconstructed-seen non-stoble ploy of nonhierorchicol, meonings.Butif longuogeisjust thefreeploy of meonings-withno fixed mecnings-ifqll textsdegenerote into the ploy of meqnings,then thereis no bosisfor politicoloction.
\1
T Marxislsand lfl ffnar'oriqhl,ln fact',many
d deconebrucf,ion f eminietrehave af,tracke becauseiNcannotr7rovidea firm foundaf,ion for poliricalacNionor even?olilical crif.'icism'
is frogmented,then @ o"O if longuoge people,who uselonguoge'mustbe somewhotfrogmentedtoo. I f'heowhaNmany?osAmodernisls ljl Vru, t'hisie rize.Whereaslhe menlal diseaeeoof modernism is \ and Varanoia,ochizoVhrenia werealienat'ion the ?oslmodernmenf'aldieease.lf lhe een-
lence breaks down,so does lhe peyche'5o does our ex?erienceof paev, Vreoenland fuLure' itr eurts Nhese Thue?oelmodernismwallowsin the ?lay of meaninqo, meaninqsand is concernedwit'hVertormance,?lay and Vroceoe delighlo raNherNhanwilh trhe finiehedvroduct,,?oetrmoderniom t'han wit'h in lhe ever-changing ?lay of appearancez,raf'her eourceeand rootreand oriqino.Whichqet,sust'o our nert whoeeidea ol fhe ?oslslrucluraliets, Deleuzeand GuaT't'ari, rhizomeio oV7oeedIo f'he root.
GillesDeleuzeand FehxGuaIlari are f,wo FrenchYoslsf,ructuraliste who havehad a major imVact,on Americanthought,.
For,accordinqto them, mo6f, of Weetern lhouqht ie dominatred by a elruct ure of knowledqe they call aboreecence.The way of knowinqie treelike, ve(Dical,For instrance, in bioloqywa haveLinnaeantaxonomies.
|rrhEHirtrr ue hrue
fut Fhqria n
uEhaue ln [inguirtirt
EhrHIlt{iln
\
VP /\ is
wise
guchNreesshowuVnot onlyin the freldsof bioloqy, and analomy,butr alsoin Vhilosobotany,linguistics treee,theoloqical ?hy-wherewe havemetraVhyoical qnoolicf,rees,TheWorldTree,qenealoqical lrees. Nreeo, TheeeNreesare hierarchical, imVooinq limited and requlatred between connecf,iong Iheir comVonentre, Alleuchlreee oVread outrlikemanybranches and sf,emsfrom a sinqlelrunkfrom an ori1inal eachef,eminq oneneea or unity. n m a
C m o
e
nhodospirillum rubtum
treelike becauseall lhe varioueVeychic ?roceoeeecan be f,racedback No an oriqinaltraumaf,ic evenLin whichIhe child ie eeVarated from Nhemother.Thie lack of the molher ie the basieof deeire, and is com?enaated for onlyby the child's enIry into the oymOf couree,all thie can be LracedbackIo
Doqqineee ie Ihe single Tlatonic Oriqin-
bolicorder-Ihe order of Lawand the Name-
?laf,o,whoee ve(Dical,
the Trunk-of the
of-the-Fatrher.
f,reelikeVhiloooVhy proclaimeda material
lree of doqo.Toodles, colliee,etc, form the
OuatLari reject Ihe
worldof manifeela-
branchee.
idea of the OediVue
tions st emminqfrom T,he"f,runk"of a realm of ldealFormeor Eeeences. For instance, OobermanVinechere, GermaneheVherde,
9u1 Deleuzeand
A major Nree-
Nrianqle-of the like etrucf,ure that f af,her- Vrincipl e, and Deleuzeand GuaIf,ari of deeire baeedon criLicizeis the )edilack. Deeire,for ?uo comVlex.lf, ie ..
r\\ ll\l
'
;,,, tt."'.
Deleuzeand GuaNtrari, instead of beinq baeedon lackand
colliesand Voodles are all material manifeetationsof an immaterial Eeeence-an ldeal Form of what, Tlato might,call Doqqineee.
110
"f ,s\$ -li
rooled in an oriqinal )ediValLrauma,ie
and GuaLlari ?ro' claima rhizomaf,lc,
crealed horizontallY, radicallyhorizonfal, way of by oocialinlerconnec- crabgraes-like Crabqraeo, lione. Andthe inT'er- knowing. bef,ween for ingtance,ie a connecf,iong planI. 7uI instead of the infant'and hie
Whereaelhe lree eeekef,o eef'ablieh ileelf and eay "lo bel' lhe rhizomeie alwayo rearranqinq inf'ercon' necliong,eayinq"and,
eocieNY ourrounding
one cenlral rool, if'
a n d ,a n d ,a n d , . l ' Thug the tree ie
are alwayein movernent,frowinq,t'akinq
has zillioneof roob6,
concerned with ori-
noneof whichie cen-
gine,foundat'iono,
a lineeof friqht',like
lral-and each off-
ontologiee, begin-
elrinqer of crabqraee shoot,inLerconnecls nlngeand endingoin random,unrequlat'' roots.The rhizomeis . . . t i k ea r h i z o m e . ed networksin which concernedwith sur3o, oppoeedLo lhe vert'ical,f'ree'
any nodecan inler-
like sf,rucl'ureof
conneclwith any
faoe conneolions, lines of flight', wit'lh
Deleuze knowledge,
olher node.
Lhe "andl'
not mean anythinq or repreaent,anything. Theyare not Lhereto be intrerVreted. It, ie good enouqhmerelyto
character,Greqor gamea,
deecribedreamsand, in doinqeo Nowalch howlheir eymboleo?en
awakeeone morninqonlyIo find that he hae beenIraneformed into a huqebuq.SomecriNice
u? new,horizonlalinterconnec-
reqardtrherelalionehiVbetween
lione bef,ween olher eymbole. For ingtance,in Kafka'o"LeN-
Greqorand hie molher and father ao NypicallyOedipa|Dut,
ler f,o Hie FaIher"he inffateshie
aqain, Kafka exVlodeeLhe Falher'e
faNherto lauqhablyabsurd, dreamlikedimeneionl,unlil his father's oingularFalherneeeqeto
einqleimaqeinlo many,including
eo huqeNhaI iI Vope-explodinq int o a vasl rhizomalic networkof f at herlike eocial conneclions
a chief clerk and a bose. Kafka thue triee Io de-OediValize Greqor'o fabher.Dut in Lhe end Greqor'6lineof ffiqht faile,and likea qood 6on, he diee for hie family,
lN is only in Kafka'enovels trhat the rhizomaf,iclineof friqhf, truly succeedo-eo?eciallyin y from him
a The Trial.One miqhl exVecN
alwayeone roo
novelnamedThe Triallo have
ral Nunnelof in the rhizomaNic,
Nodo wibht'he law, eometrhing
the coufi,houeewiNhiNecrazy
3u1 Deleuzeand Guaf't'ari find
connecNcorridoreand ?ervereely NhrouqhwhichK. ed paeoaqewayo
lhaN Just'ice in lhe novelis noT' leqalbuLerotric.JusNiceie reallY desire.Thue,t'hereare obecene an drawinqoin Nhecourl'houee; af,Norneyequaileobeinqaccused wilh beinqaf't'ractrive;a series of euqgeoNive encounf'erg
\
with eexy, antrifamilial S;-t women;and a Vaintrinq of Just'ice ae winqed, and evasive. K.,tha ?ro' Iaqonietrof Nhenovel, neverreaches Justice. ")he" ie never?resenl, buf'
ie led by erolicizedwomen.Thus Jusiice,likelhe coufi'houeeand degire,ig rhizoma|'ic,neverreach' Kafka'swrif,ing, inq conclueion. and maVVinq troo,ie rhizomaNic, toying with lhe ebrucbures Lof ingf,it'u' u. .VA
t.iongand eocial relal,iong.
The biehoVindicat'edie lsn't the Internetrhizomqtic, horizontol?
JacqueeGuillof',who was exiledbY the VaNican No Algeriafor his
opiniono,)f'uck in the hor- "hel,erodox" Yee.lt, is non-hierarchical, middleof Ihe desefi,-in an izonlal.lls nodesintersecl in whichany nodecan inf,erconnecl
ancienl dioceeeIhat for all Vracno longerexietelical VurVoeee
with any oT,,her node.ln thie
the he went,online,becominq
reoVectrDeleuzeand GuaT.,Iari
world'sfiref, virtrualbiehoV.
random,unrequlatednetworksin
werecorrecl,whenthey declareda
It was a visionaryauthor,Leo
newform of rhizomalic,horizonLal )cheer,who hookedup Ihe biohoV, knowledqe. ln f acN,f,here He ie quoted ae oayinqthal " lnstead of a metaphyeical idea is a sf,oryin t,he
M a r c h1 8 , 1 9 9 6 NewYorkerenliIled "Vifr,ual
Oiehop;'
of a biehop,attached to a real place, we would have a metaphyoical idea of a place, attached to a real biehop." ThevirLualdioceee,whichcan be acceoeedfrom anywherein the world,imitalee trhemind of Goda horizonf,al, rhizomalicGod. ln facN,lhe biehoV,who counle amonqhis triende VeoVlelikeJean baudrillard, comVlaine that, until lhe oVeningof lhe virtual dioceee, "The Church hae been orqanized veraically,when we ought to be organizedhorizontallyi' Of couree,
-N \i:
the Churcheoonwent,online ae well.
H
El lt seemslike E committed s u i c i d e !B u t verticolis out ond horizontol h o w ? is in.
t
\1,\
T n Hejumped n Yeo,but t,he off a tall vertl' \
.N
lronicthing io HOW,in 1995, Deleuzeaommitted euiaide,
aal etructur* a buildinq.
(
w
The Condition of Poetmodernity It seemsqs if hisselfmusthqvebeenpretty -of ented.Butwheredoesthe frogmentotion self, ond of "things"-common to both modernism
ond Postmodernism comeFrom? T n Well,accordinqto DavidHarvey'oTheConditionof Postmodernity,
changeein our ?erce?trion of lime and epaceoccur,this brinqeabout equallylarqechanqeoin Nhewayowe re?resentthe world-boLh in the art,e and in Vhitoeophy. The hielory of caViNaliom hae brouqht,on whal Harveycalle e?aceLimecom?reoeion: Therehae beenan increaeein Ihe Vaceof life. And lhe increaein7 com?ression in Nime,e?acehas ehrunk.rhe Varalleling worldoeemoto collapeeinwardeon u6. oul it' wao not alwayelikeNhis.DurinqEurope'ofeudal era, each tf Jt f'F-t
) ' feudalfiefdomwae a
ffi._ts
definireleqal,Volitical,economic and social
world.ANt'hecenf'erwaethe caetrle,lheLordand Ladyof the caet'leand rhe nobiliLy. Workingrhe fieldsand the foreeto,a laee of eerts wereloyalto trheirfeudal lorde,of course, of a ff,hiofeudal world wae trhoughVto be onlya reffectrion ';., coemosruledon hiqhby God and a qanq of heavenly hoeT,e, and VoVulatedby darker characfero,Nhecreaturee of myfh and folklore-wiT.,ches, qianNe,dragono.
MedievalmaVmakereoften
With t'he Kenaiesance,lhe
lhie world in eensure?reoenhed ous det ail, almosl likea Vaintinq.
princiVleof Verepeclivemade iIe
ln such ma?e,a riveris a sensuous frowof blue Vain| Ihat' cuts trhrougha dark foresl (reVreoent'ed by painbinqin a numberof Nreee)-and beyondwe find lhe castle. A crose ohininqfrom t'he oteeVleof the churchand it s 6ur-
and religion. etiNioneof m;yl'lh At the 6ametime, t'he Ttolemaicoyotremof ma?makinqmade ilo way t'o
lhat reV- \i are aleo all reV' EuroVe-a oyotrem roundinqbuildinqo resenled o?ace obieclively. resented ae they might,be in a Fromtrhenon, a malhemalical
Thesedet'aileare oeen Vaintrinq. ae from a bird's-eye?ereVecNive, if God werelookingdown upont'he
qrid-a qeometricframework
ecene,Ar the edgeof such ma?e
lowns oure dislanceg bet'ween
allowinqviewerslo acf'uallymea-
and oceane-wouldaVcosmicdraqonwait'inqNo ewallow ?earon all ma?o.Nou einceallof o?ace,all of anyonewho woulddare venbure lhe world,couldbereVretroocloset o trheedqe eenled by a qeomef'ricqrid, t'he andf all into hie wholeqlobewae euddenlyknowmouth.
wae Nheend of t'he world-and a
ExVlorero, ableand conquerable. oettinq oul on voyaqeeol dis' covery,drew such ma?e,which wereNhenvaluableto merchants and Nradere,
At the eameNime in everyephereof Nhat o?acebecame choVVed uV mathematically,the clock,
Thenbhe lBrh-
Kenaiesance culbure. cenlury Enlighl,enln archileclure,Golh- mentrgaw e?aceao ic cathedralehad eomethinqtro be con-
or chronomeNer, made been?o?ulahedwith if,eaVVearance. groleequeqargoyleo
quered.Vlapewere purqedof all elemenNe
Thesenewconce?- and angels.DuNLhese of fanNasyand reliqion Nionsof sVaceand qaveway,in lhe baand becameabsNracf, time werereflecf,ed
roqueera,f,o a more exVansive archiheclure, to lhe eoarinq enerqieeof Dach'e
qeomeNric, cold, mathematical,and etrictly funcIional. Bothtime and
fugueeand the ex-
o?acebecameuni-
Vaneiveimaqeeof o?aceand time in
form, mechanical,
John Donne'sVoetry.
Iime. but if the whole
NewDonian o?aceand
7uI thie new,infi-
worldcould be envi-
nile, meagured
eionedae uniform,it
imaqeof time and
landcouldbe laid ouI
o?aceeNillreflectred on a grid and divided God'eqlory. u? equally-ae wae d o n ei n t h e U n i I e d St atee-trhen thie couldcreate f,he
braNedGod's infinitreqlory but dioplayedIhe dimensions of a universe Ihal couldbe dominaf,edby MAN, And ueedby Man for hie own freedom.No lonqerwouldone fear fallingoff the edqeof Nheeafth int o Ihe mouf,hof a coemic mongf,er. EuroVeane thouqhl lhat, now Ihere wae a Vlacein this conquerable e?acefor everyone. Africa could Vrovide slaves,and oiher basiefor equalityin
wholeuniformqrid of
conlinenbsand climee
oociety,lf, could cre-
Ihe qlobe,Spacewao
could Vrovideraw
ate Nhebasislor
knowable, and
mat erialsfor lhe
democracy.
throughEuclidean
imVerialEuroVean
qeomeIry,conquer-
and American?ower6.
ln other worde,
trheviewof a ratrional, able.1pace, natstre,
Thechronometer
uniformqrid of 6?ace
and trheworldcould
and trimeallowed
be measured,known
allowedtime,like g?ace,Io be geenae
Enliqhlenmenl
and dominated.
mathemal,icaland
thinkerst o envision
For Enliqhtrenmenl uniform.Timenow
colonialand uNoVian
thinkersthis vaet
t,ickedaway in a
planothal couldbe
qrid of epaceand
et raighl linefrom the
rolledout, overT,he
time no lonqercele-
Vaet,lo trhefuture,
9imilarly,workere
rul
in variouscountries beqanto oympathize Voderniem
.\?
\.6..2 =
:l
wilh eachotrher, and in such an
eaw Lhe break- environment, lhe Communis| inq up of Lheee Manifeelo,couldgain an audience.
uniform,linear,conceptriono of opaceand
Lime.DurinqLhe Enliqhbenment eocialtime and Vhyeicaltrimehad merqed,had becomeuniformand mabhemabical. Timehad become
AfLer1B5O,Ihe major Euro?ean naNioneexpandedqlobally, etriVVinqmuchof the e?ace in Nheworld of iNeVrevioue nameeand ueee.ll becameroutine for nations,cilies and individualeto be deeVlyinluenced
Vroqreeeive. Butrin the mid-ninetreenlh cenLury,thie ?roqreaoiveeenee
by evenlslhousands of milee away,The radio,Ihe mol,orcar,
of lime wae ehaken.Vany Euro-
and Nhetrain acceleraledtheee
?eanewho had pafricipatedin uVrieinqsand revolulionehad had a Iaele of exVloeive T,ime, ThoeecaughT, up in class otrug-
developmenVe,
qlee had a eeneeof alternalinq, cyclicIime. Also,by the mid-nineLeenLh cenf,ury,iN becameevjdent,thal economicand socialtime had chanqed.With improvemenlein t ranepo(Cat ion and communicaf,ione,all of Europewae becominq economic ally interdeVendent. If Taris should euffer a financial crisie,Nhecrieis also affectred Londonand berlin.
Howcould any wrif,er,T,hen, still write a realisNicnovelwilh a Vlot unfolding?aqe after ?aqe in eimVle,et ep-by-eLeV, chronoloqicalorder?
Now,in the
Writers
Toebmodern
e u c ha s
world,rhe
Flaubefi,, Trouet,and
ohrinkinqof
James
eVacehae
Joyce
chanqedNhe
beqant'o
waye lhat, moneyand
capt ure this
commodiliee
eeneeof g i m u lat n e o u a
oVeraIe,CaVilal
trimeby alf,erinq Nhesf,rucf,uresof their Vlobo. NheoEinstein'erevoluNionary riee of relativity chanqedthe Ver' ceVtrionof oVace
is noweleclronically movedaroundIhe qlobalmarketVlacewibhsuch raViditythat' it, hae los| much of if,eeNabilily and meaninq.ln our localeu?erwe can buy French markeT,g,
and time even
cheeeeeand wines,beersfrom
more.lmVreeoion-
Canada,Mexico,Asia and Euro?e, qreenbeanefrom SouIh America
iot Vaintere euch ae ManeNand Cezannebeqanlo
or Africa,Tahilianmanqoee,Cali-
decompoeetrhee?aceof object'e qo-object'e dieeolvwilhin Vaint,in inq into dabe of liqhL Cubismfur'
fornia celery,CanadianaVVleo,
in 1912,foundedthe seneeof time
made increasinqly
in socialrhythmo.lt became
uV of minorities
a??arenLtha| there are ae many
suchae Vietnameae, EasNern Europeane, Koreans, Africane,ef,c, Americane, Cenbral
eNc.)Vace is aleo
compreeoed in the ?o?uIhe obiecL.ln ther decompoeed lationsof the oo ciology Durkheim's EIementa ry ciliee, Forme of ReligioueLife, Vubliohed larqeet,
of e?aceand lime experiences as f,hereare ?eroVectrivee.
Pust Ae eVaceehrinkl moreand more,Nheindividual qualitiee of differenl epacee,differenl localihiee, qrowe in imVoftance.CefDainVrovinceein Francebecomevery impoftan| if Nheycan ?rovidea cefr,ainkind of wine
oVVooed ro f'he fixedaccumulationof the early zorh centrury, when corporaT'ione likeFord Mohor Companyand Lheir capiNalbaeicallyoat, in one placeand Vumpedoul cars for a relatrively ehablemarker. Harveybelievee that Ihe ephemeralily, collaqeand fraqmentalion of Toetrmodern aftifacte such ae booke,frlme,archiNectureand art, are oimVlymircoreof thie Vhenomenon of frexibleaccumulahion.
An examVleof thie ie trhemovieSladerunner, which contraineeiqnific ant ToeNmo dern elemente. "Olade Kunner"ig a Viclorian word for "Vrivatreeye." The film becamea cull film-and t,hena kind of natrional
eVecimen of Tosf,modernism. ltreven
inepiredWilliam Gibson'e
AlbhoughNheyhave
novelNeuromanaerand
beenqivenhumanemo-
lhe movemenf,lhaf,hae
tiong,lhey are con-
comeIo be knownas
sideredsomewhatdan-
ovberounk.
qeroue,and as Vafi, ol lheir qenetic?roqram,
<--
Olade Runner ie about,a qanq of qeneti-
havea life e?an of only
callyVroducedhumane called" replicantl" who
four yeare,
havebeencreated to \
oerveae hyVeref,ronq,inlelliqenl and ekilledelavee. Theare uged"offworldl'in trhehaz' ardouework of
l$l tt looksos if they would be good shortcontroct workers in q Postmodernworld. But qre they humqn beings or not?
colonizinq Ihe
I Do you remember H e conJ ean Daudrillard'
out er planete.
ceVt,of trheeimulacrum?
exVlorinq and
Sure,the simulocrum is the copy thot is so closeto the originol thqt the originol is no longer importont.
And Nhat'ewhat reVlicanlehavebecome-simulacra lhat are naarlyindie-
Ihe huge TyrellCorVoraIion,and ie in commandof trhere-
t lfl Yee.Andthe Loe Anqeleelhey rehurn lo, ouppooedlyLoe
tinquiehable from
Vroductiveproce66eo Anqeleeof the year neceoearyfor cre2019, ie no utopia,ln
humanbeinqo,ln fact,
alion of reVlicants.
facL iN ie a dyetroVia,
Blade Kunner ?or-
The reVlicanleare
a decayed,Tost-
Iraye a baudrillardian anqryabout Iheir world in which"The eho(Clife eVan.Howreal ie produced from ever,TyrellexVlainolo miniaturized units,
Koy,Nheleaderof trhe
from matricea, memo- enraqedreVlicantro, ry bankoand command modules-and
lhat f,heyshould
with these it can be
becaueeit, is more
reproduced an indefi-
inf,ense-like a ffame
nite numberof timee"
thal burnsT,wice as
(erM 5).
briqhflybut,hae only
enjoylheir shofv life
a ehoftduraiion, I canls haveret urned l$l Butdoesn'tthot Io Los Anqeleo,where mqkethemlike they weremade,in the Postmodern order to meeNtrheir personolitiesmaker,a qenetric coughtup in the deeignernamedlyrell, rushof time? AndIhe reVli-
who is Ihe headof
industrialwaeleland.
likeareVlica,asimu0nthelowest 0nthehiUhestlacrumof a ?yramid,
hish ware- l0U0l,eoarins f 0u0l, emvty
houeeeand induet'rial abovelhe etreeN -buried ecum,f,owerg a hiqhVlanto lie half t ech worldof corVoin heaVeof ro|t'inq
loel amonqa bazaar of Oreek,Koman, and Vayan,Chinese, Victorian motifs.
raNe?ower,architec' The Vrofusionof ecavenqedby roaminq Lureand advefVieinq: corVoralearchiZan Am,CocaCola, bandsof punksand leclure and adverrubbish,whichare
Dut,hovotrherhumanvulNuree Sudweieer. livinqon lhe decayinq erinqaboveall Ihe remainsof the VaoI.
0nt|temiildle of l0U0l,rhe busrte elreet, life, itr looke likeHonq eometrhinq Kong(on a bad day)
Iioinq oiqnein Ihe ciNy,whichcom-
corporaNeoffices is
of bineeelemenNe
NheTyrellCorVora'
NewYork,Tokyo,
tion ileelf.
HonqKonqand
Not onlythe reVli- Loe Angelee,ie canls are simulacra, noNhinq eo much buVthe archil,ecf,ure a6 a chaosof of lhe cily io too, lT,ie circulalinqeiqno
crowdedwilh Vunko, variousriff-raff,Hare
an eclectic ?osf,mod-
referrinq
of ern hodqepodqe
Eo other
KrishnadevoT,eee,
The eimulacra.
otqne.
and oNhermarqinal
TyrellcorVorale
etreeNfolk.
headquafi,erelooke
TheToebmodern a(Eistic atrworkheraia pae' VrinciVle tiche,a eerieeof neutralquoq varioue tabionemimickin archif,ecNural styleeand frlm eVylee E,v e f f i h i niqe d o u b l e coded.
E
whot is doublecoding,ogoin?
T
!f You will rememberthaL in architectruredoublecodingconeieT,eof ueinglvlodernietmelhode,bul lranecendingthem by simullaneouelyquot inq archilecf,ural mof,ifefrom the pael or from a localcullure-buf, coneciouely,in a Vlayful,Vaelicheeort,of way thaL can be humoroue or ironic, I lll Likethe ArEr building thot is of onceo pieceof modernorchitectureond o quote of o grondfother clock?
r
lil Yee.And doublecodinqcan occur noI only in archilecLurebut, injuet,abouf,any art form. 3o in Elade Runner,everythinqie doublecoded.Thereare nol' only humanreVlican|e;everythingie a reVlicanl,Theacf,orereVlicalean ecleclicblendof movieqenreoand periodeVylee-for Elade Runner
yearb in Lhe fulure (from t'he
a humanbein7 differencebeLween and a Nexue-6android?WhaI is
19BOo)and eeI simulf'aneouely
an oriqinal Lhedifferencebetrween
40 yeare in f,he VaoL-it quoLee ertensivelyfrom lhe genreof noir
a n da e i m u l a c r u m ?
filme of the 194Oe.Someof rhe
belween headin Lhe relatrionehiV
ts bolh a lulurieNicfiln, eeV40
Thiequeelionie broughllo a
Kick Deckard-a Vrivateeyewho SoqarI and JameeCagneymoviee. hao beenhiredby the TyrellCorpo-
eeNeare aclually eeLefrom old q ie Archif,acNurally, everyft,hin
raLionf,o acl ao a eearch-and-
quoted also: Frank LloydWriqhl, Greekand Komancolumne,alonq
deof,royaqent,in pureuil of Nexue- 6 replicante- and Kachel,
with Orienlalmotife and 4Os qanqeterseNNhemeaThuethe
a beautifulbrunel'Lereplicantwith w h o mh e f a l l e i n l o v e ), h e d o e e
mof,iveie noVVarodybuf,VlaY-
nol,knowwheLherehe ie a repli'
canf,or nol'.This caueeeOeckard paeliehe,ltr is t'he eurtace plaY and dioVlayof Lhe simulacra.JueL Io doubt hie own humanhief'ory. are morehuman AfLer he killoone of her fellow ae the replicanhe t h a n h u m a n a , f , heei m u l a c r ah a v e becamemare realt'hanIhe real, ln facf,, a main queaNionof
androide,Rachaelie vioiblYdieturbed, Deckardeaye "KePlicanf,gweren'lou?-
ference bef,weena
pooedIo havefeelinqe, b u LI h e n a q a i n ,n o r
m a c h i n ea n d a h u m a n
wereSladeKtJnnere."
the flm ie,Whal ie Lhe dif'
beinq?ReVlicant'o a n d h u m a nb e i n q e are 60 muchalike Ihal it io very difficult to Nellthe copyfrom the "real ilhinqi' What ie the
)
lqff ,il| OL
69" qi
qrowinqconcernwith f,herelaIionehiVbetweenhumanbeinqe and compulere. AN another VointrDeckerand
Couldthis, then, be onother
Kachel,humanand android,are
differencebetween modernism
abouLlo oleept ogelher.Kachel eaye,"You'renot goinq to bed
ond Postmodernism?
with a woman..,.Kememben
E
How'e Nhar?
though,don't think about it, juot do it, Don't pau6e and be philoeophical,becauaefrom a philooophrcal otandpoint it'e dreary for ue both," Out,the moviedoes makeus think about it Vhilooophically. ln facf,, much of ToeLmodern afr ie juet,a way of thinkinqabout,lhe Toetmodernaqe, lt, ie a way of fheory. And doing Toef,modern after all, the movieopawnedtrhe wholemovement, of ayberpunk,a movemen|Lhal dramatizeelhe 120
Well,one of the centrol imoges modernistsusedto fill in the post-Nietzschion void wos thot of the mochine.PerhopsPostmodernismhosjust reploced the imoge of the simple mochinewith thot of the Monmochine-the hybrid of mon ond mochine. Acf,ually,lhaf,;e exaclly what DonnaHarawaydeclareein anoth-
er impofr,anf,Toelmoderneggay,"A
human,half com?ut-
mylhe about beinq
er. Harawayarquea
humanalwayoqo
CyborqManifeeto:
thal in f,he lat e
backf,o eomeidyllic
)cience,Technoloqy,
twentielh cenf,ury,
lime of wholeneoe
and )ocialiet Forma-
and unity and inno-
tion in the LaNe
and probablyfor gomeNimeT,ocome,
Twenlielh Cenluryi'
we are all cyborgo.
Garden of Eden.Dut,
Thiee6oayie actually a chaVter in her book )imiano, Cyborqe and Women: The Keinvention of Nature, Well,whot's o cyborg? A cyborq io a cybernetic orqaniem.Half
cence,likein the Ihe myih of the
Butore we oll cyborgs?| don't hcve ony mochineports. I n Harawayuoee "cyborg"to conelrucl a new mfih abouf,beinq h u m a nO . ld
cyborgis neveraboul wholes;iNdoes not, looknoetalqically backto eomeunified oriqin.A cyborqio alwayea oplif,,a hybrid idenbiLy, a cybernetric orqanism: a human-comVuter.
tllrtlttllllltrtrttttrtltltrlllllrllrlrll t I I I I I I I
I
I
I
T
T
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
T
MltrlD
BODY
cutfuRe
NIr\]URE
Mi\!.8
teMi\Ie
clvl!.lzeD
?RlMlnvE
tY Rer\!.|
+\??ti\iti\Nlqe
YVilott
?i\ttf
Mr\i(Eit
M+\DE
For in our culture, we alwaye
T
I
boee,everycheck-out'clerkal t'he
try to favor t'he words on the
qroceryetrorewhoeeeVeedis cal-
left and re?reoe t'lheonee on the rlght^ Dut if we oee oureelveoao
culated by a computer,every vofer,everyconoumerie bein4
cyborge,Ihenwe can knowNhaN
monilored by a comVut'er-ie
we are alwayebot'h:mindand
?art of a comVutrer-ie a cybernetic orqaniem.lI ie hard t'o tell
body,cu\ure and naf'ure,male and female,etrc.-fracf'ured idenf,ilies, human-comVuf,ers,And,in
whereT,hecomVuter et'oVeand Ihe organismbeqino,
a way,we are. EveryAsian woman l$l well, why don't theseworkers who,wilh her nimblefingero,worko just rebel? in f,heelecLronicsinduslry,ao' That'e one of the eenNimenls everyoecreeemblingcomVuNero, Iary whoeefyVinqeVeedie moniIored on Ihe comVut'erby her 13,0
tha| 7ave rise No lhe whole cYberVunk movement',
E cyberpunk?
I wasonceconsidered lfl Yee.CyberVunk of all Toef'modern Ihe most Toetmodern lhinqe,Cyberpunkbeqanao a hybridof BOs cybefrechnologyand anarchy. counterculr,ure,
indicatee The"cyber"parLof cyberpunk to do Ihaf,,likecyborq,iI has somef'hing wilh comVuNere. Theword"Vunk"qiveeuo a cluelo T,heatfiilude thal cyberpunkshave Ioward comVul,erI'echnoloqy:hip,oexy, violent, mind-allered,anNi-auf,horilarifor trhe wilh a distrasNe an, rebellious, t-
dominanNlifeolylesof NheReaganl gush era. Nendlo oVerReallife cyberVunke aIe eomewhaV oubeidethe law,ae lhey are o??oeedlo the cenlralizeduee of by huqemeqacomVuherf,echnoloqieo corVoraf,ionsand et at'es.Theyare oft,enhackerswho uee cybert,echnoloqy t o traVinto lhe international grid to futfittlheir own elecf,ronic individualdeeiree.A cyberVunk quy who wanf,st o seduceoome corVorale eecrelary miqht,soften her up by eofr,eninqup her soft-
wear (".q,, by alt erinqlhe eofLwarein Ihe corVoraf,emainframeoo that, iI apVearslo her boes-who monitrorsher key elroke raf,e-lhat, she ie IyVinq f,,wice as faeN as ehe aclually ie).
5=tnE*Hn
CyberVunks, unlikehiVViee, are nol, aqaineLt.echnoloqy. Theywant lo uee Iechnoloqyae a meanef,o reeiet the infringementr on our individualfree-
=
t? =1 €:
>i
doms by centralizedtechno-qiante, JueNao Mary thelley'o Franken: -:
etein warnedagainet Ihe exceeeee and danqereof Nheinduetrial and ecienbificrevolulionin hhe 19fh cenNury, ecienceficlion writinqI,hal 7oee by Ihe nameof cyberVunk warns of a techno-futurein whichhumansmusl fiqhf a7ainoNtrhetechnoloqicalVowere of giantrinternalionalmeqacorporaNions, Dutrt hat, lechnoloqical fut ure is now!
Neuronr ancer Thefirsl cyberVunknovel,which wao inepired,in paft, by Dlade Kunnen ie WilliamGibeon'sNeuromancer.The olory ie about,Caee,a pelty comVuler and dala thief who has elolen informaIion from his bosses.As Vuniehmenl,, hie nervecellehavebeenburnedoul. Case'snervoueoyelem ie reVaired, however, whenhe ie hired by a myeterioue emVloyerto Verforma Big HeioN.
m
ffi
m
t
by oomehiredmueHe ie accomVanied cle in Lheform of Molly,a qal brimminq e, includinqrazore wilh bio-imVlant Nheyeleal beneatrhher naile.Toqetrher conglrucl. a coYn?uf,er The major adventurein the novelie a planel trheirmieeionNo Freeland,
-I,
---
wherethey are f,o eleal an Anificial lntelliqence enlily namedNecromancer
4
wilh whomWinlermale (Ihe myef,eri-_
ou6 emVloyer)wiehestro mergeeo lhal he may becomeGod and Iake overf,he univerae, The ditrerencebeNween Dlade Kunnerand Neuromanceris that, in NeuromancerIhe ditrerence betweencomVuterand human,naNure oriqinaland coVV,oriqand Lechnoloqy, i n a la n d e i m u l a c r u mh,a e c o l l a V e e d imVloded,ln facN,Neuromancer sla(be ouf,wiNha deecriplion of nat ure lhat is in Ierme of t echnology:"Ihe ekyabove ihe porb wae the color of Neleviaion, tuned to a dead channel"(Nb).
-,4
S
'\
And ir ie Caee'oown reVaired nervouooyelem, for ingNance, nof,
CybereVaceis a cyborq-a merqinqof humanand comVuter
oomecomVuIer,whichenableehim caVaciNies, Andthis conceVlof Io enter cybereVace, AndIhouqh everyonetoday knowswhaf,cyberepaceie, Gibson wae the one who invenledthe Ierm. He did oo by eayinqthal cyberopaceie: " A conseneualhallucination experienced daily by |
/ , billlonsoflegitl,,' mate o?era.-/./ | ',/ tors in every
|
o-o%\ ,frfr
wlr
K(_ NtI c\-nr ,, 1r\*ffi14
:
' -
cybereVacewae euqqeetedto Gibeonone day in Vancouver, a6 he wae wat.chin7gometeenaqero Vlayinqvideo0ame6in an arcade: "l could see in trheVhyoical intrenoityof their pooNureshow raVt,f,heeekidewere.,,.You had NhiefeedbacklooV,with Vhotone cominqoff the ocreeninto the kids'eyeg,Nheneuronemovinq
nation.,,a
Ihrouqh lheir bodies,elecNrons
gnphia re?re-^-L^Lt^^s sentation of
movinqthrouqh Lhe comVuter,
data abstracted
Ihe oVacelhese 0arne6Vrojected!'
Andthoee kide clearlybelievedin
from the banke of
everycomputer in
CyberVunkscienceficIion is not,eo muchaboul the fulure ae it, is a way of drawinqa map of whatrie qoinqon t oday-a ?resenl in whichdat a are conf'rolled caVit'aliot'iccorVoby vaot, Nechno raf,ions.buI t'heeehuqedat'a tions of data, Like city lighte reaedlng"(N51).
banksexiel in a epacewhere'N, telex,t aVe recorder,VCR,laser
f 7
@o if you werea ou?ermodelstrultinq in thigh-hiqho
inf,oa glitzy trhemereetraurant, euch ae the FaehionCafe, or) whileenqaqedin noieyLeledildonice
-
.-1 .a
wilh eomeoneof Nat ional-Enquirer-
diek, camcorder, tel edild o, a ud ioa n i ma I r on ic Va Va ra z z i , nano-roverand t eleVhone are wiredtroqelherlikea eprawling eleclroniceVeciesof coemiccrabqraoe. Andthey can be Vluqqed int o by thoee with Ihe hacker, cybVerVunk ethic of "informaNion for Lhe VeoVle." Audioonimqtronic E reteditdo? pqpqrozzi? Nqno-rover?Whqt qre those? Teledildoniasinvolveea kindof comVuter eex in whicha joy- et ick-dildo can be animated by a uoer on a digT,anf, comVuter. Audioanimatronia ?a?arazziare eound-acbivatredrobotic paparazzi whichena?your photo
fr onl- cover st aIuo-o omeone such ao a dieLant,Maft]an. A nano-roverie an imVoeeibly small robolic lhaN eende back pixel imaqeetrom lhe eufraceof Mare. And eo you can 6eethe Voeeibilitiee: Nhedata trom teledildo, Mafi,ian,nano-roverand audioanimaf,ronic ?a?arazzi- all interactinq in one huqecoemicelecLronicevenT,.
(tltfta - ' -
'9,:-$
:.1
2L ;ri './4
fiction @ aro.rpunkscience seemsto provide o more occurote mop of the contoursof thesePostmoderntimes thon doesBoudrillord'stheory. ThaN'eright, ln fact', many
zineehave CyberVunk becomemainglream. MONDO 2000, a
think that, Saudrillardis really
qlooeycyber-qlam 'BOo crezine,latre
doinqeciencefict'ion,and trhatr
alion of R.U. ?ir-
muchof cyberpunkeciencefict'ion
iue and Queen Mu "domined-
ie reallyVretIy qood Iheory. AfLer onlydeecribeea all, Oaudrillard
itrixl'ie ToeImoderneociet'ylhat Vaeoive- etruffed ly ourrendersNof,hesensual, obecenefrowof hyVerrealilyand
wilh raV on gmarA
ecience druqo,cybereimulacra.7uI cyberVunk fiction not only deecribesa world fashion(cyberpunke of simulacrabut aleo showeiI to ofbenwear mirrorbe a world dominated by vasf' me7a-corVoratione,and euqgeetre
ohadeo),cyber-qoeoip,ef,c. lvlond o'e Vopularit'y wae
ecliVeed,in 1993, by Wired,a eile a form of resistancelo Nheconexer- for cyberVunk aulhors euch as trol these huqecor?orat'iong WilliamGibeon.Wiredwenf'online cige over uo, like1aucyberVunk, However, drillard,hae nowceasedt'o be avanNqardeand ie now merelYhiV,
in 1994 as HotWired.
lTe[iloltlireil www.wirBil.G0|l|
e r n c i v i l i z a l i oinn t e r m i n a ld e c l i n e
SeeideeLhese?o?ularmagazinee,f,oneof cyberpunk eci-fihae
hookeup wiLhrebellioue ultrimalely
beenVumpedouT^1uT,il all eounde and lou qh-lalking (youlhI aftifrcial culto) who offer pelly muchNheeame.Ae Ceicoery- inlelligencelrock Ronayaeke: "Howmanyformulaict ales
nol of (communithe alt ernaLive,
can one wadeNhrouqhin whicha eelf-deetruclive bul eeneilive
tranecendentalvieion),buLof eu-
t y I ooc ia l i e mI t r ad i t io na l va l ue eI qoinq ?reme,lifeaffirminghippneee, wilh lhe flow whichnowflowein
younqVrolaqonieL with an (imVlanf,/ Vr oeIheeie/ Lelecht ronic t al ent) trhaI makeeLhe evil(mega-
the machine, aqainet,the epecf,er
neI police el at eeI corVoraT,io
of a world-eubverLinq (arLifi cial inf,elliqenceI mulbina -
c r i m i n aul n d e r w o r l d ep)u r e u eh i m
tional corVorate web/ evil
Lhrouqh(waetredurban|andecaVeel qeniue)?" elite luxuryenclavee| eccentric
(7Re1O4)
q
e?aceef,alions)full of groheeque (haircuLe/ cloth esI eelf- mulila t ioneI rock mueicI eexual
t I
h o b b i e/ ed e e i q n edr r u q o/
f
f,elechf,ronic qa d qeto/ na oty newweaponeI ex\eriorized hallu ci naIi one) re?reeentin g Ihe (moree/faehione) of mod-
.,t\j
f.,.,,
/
'1t{l \t
just E well,cyberpunk soundslike o bunch of boys with high-tech power fqntosies.How ore theseony different from Rombo?And whot does cyberpunk hove to soy obout the problemsof crime, drug oddiction, sex qddiction, obout women, obout ecology? I
reVlaceo [if Wharever
t h a n I h e o r i q i n a lT. h u es h e i s deliberately Irivial, shallow,formulaic. And not,only in her videoe. the realizeethat "real" lite ie juol show biz aleo.Thueehe collecf,s her VaycheckbuNneverreallyqoee t o work.Whenshe dresoeeu? ao MarilynMonroeshe does so wilh the knowledqe IhaI MarilynMonroe, hereelf,waejuet a VuT,-on, a juot consbruction,a simulacrum, likedreeeinquV in draq or voqueinq,Thuoher dreseinqu? ae Mari'
cyberpunkwill havef,o be
lyn Monroeis doublecodedin Nhe
more eart,h-cenf,ered and
oame 6enoethat Dlade Kunner
more woman-cenf,ered,
and Tosf,modern architecbureare doublecoded. Some of her crilice, VeoVlelike
Whot'sso Postmodern obout Modonno?
Tlanned?ar' f eminiets, Neachers, enthood,Veteransof ForeiqnWars, ehc.reqardMadonnaae juot a
Well,tor one thinq, she ie
cheese'
all surtace, quitreconeciouely
cakeywhore
all all Vut-on,all dreoe-uV,
dreeeedup
all simulalion,all make-over,
in Nraehyjunk jewelry,with
the knowebhat eimulacrum.
a hrNherebellybulf,on
we livein an aqe of hyVe,of
and a fondle-myhyVer-reality.the knowstrhat' bra, boy-toy simulationand a??earance attitrude. meanmorelhan subsf,ance
and reality.the knowsthat and fhe apVropriaf,ion replicationof lhe oriqinalare morereal
oexualdifference,For Madonnaingtrance, it, io oloqisfs,on Nhe ou??o6edly a of,herhand, ref e m i n i nqea m a qard Madonnaao noNa maoculine deconelruclinq eooenq a m e , t ow e a ra lialisl notionsof malel blacklace bra, with a female,hiqharr,lVoVafi,, little bit of etraV ohowblackl whiNe,virqin/ whore, inqaI f,heehoulder. Dut, fucker/fuckee, et c, in Vadonna';videoemen I essenlEl Deconstructing havebreaste and wear tialist notion of whcrt? bra6,imVlying NhalXhey genderrole6, havebreaotrenvy(inotead E Traditrional of the womenhavinqVenieideaoof whal it Nakesto be 6nqy),wornenhavehard-ons, maoculine or feminine, are virginsare whoree, and eluNe keVIin Vlaceby fixedpolariare virqino, triee-binaryo??osites of 9ome
-
.: ).4i-, -2_
TIITII
IITIII "DieVlacemenl, ie at,lhe core
videoJuetify My Lovehae become of f,hevideo'olraneqressionwhere a k i n do f g a y a n t h e m .I I b l u r eL h e bodieeintereect in the infamoue
differencebelweeneexualorienta-
bedroomecene.Vultiplebodiee
lione, belweenqenderand sex,
ehiff poeitionein a eerieeof diewhilecameramoveplacemenf,s,
Vortrayinqan erotic flow of fractured imaqeoLhal refueeto play
menLeimulaleethe ffuidilyof
eitherthe leebianor Nhehelero'
erolic activity as iI ranqeeover
eexualqame,eiLherthe eLraighf
bodiee,undieNurbed by subetitu'
qameor the qay qame,eilher
f,ione.CoreidenliLieaaurcender
t h e b l a c kq a r n eo r t h e w h i l eg a m e ,
Io lhe aeeumVf,ion of erof,icrolee
e i t h e rt h e m a l eq a m eo r L h ef e '
in a oplif,tinqbetweendark and
maleqame,buN,wibha litIle imaq'
liqht,maleand female,gay and
e inabionand crose-dreesinq,play
eLraiqhr- differencee multiVlied ibo-g). and compounded" 1u?F 3y deconef,rucNing the riqid
lhe hybrid,mulanl, hyperreal,
belweenmaeculine boundariee
heferosexual-leebi an 6ame,t he mulaf,to maleI esbia n qa me,the
a n d f e m i n i n em, a n a n d w o m a n ,
half-breed-temale-gay- man qame.
qay and etrrai7hl,Madonna' e 140
Iesbian-heleroe exual qame, I,he
Butif Modonno's videosdecontruct gender,sexuolity ond roce,don't thesevideos-ond the wholeModonno phenomenon-hove something to do with power?
E Yee,Or with?ower fant aoiee,Naf,ually, the ?owerleselike?ower. And a largepafi of \Aadonna'e ?ower derivesfrom herabiliby Lo Vroduce imaqesof rebellinq aqainstestablished?owere.buL, often the only?ower Madonna fane haveie Nobuyher Vroducf,e: t o increasethe wealth of the mulLinatrional enlerLainmenl cor?oraLioneNhathaveIhem hypnoNized.
>-
((i
somef,hinglike maeke, o?eninqa letler, elc. All of trheeeimaqee concealinq"Cindy'o"
Untitled Film ?tills
I l9l Hypnotizedthem? T fl Yeo.Theflow of mediaimaqeohyVno'
face (whichie nol so
eeem otrranqelyfamil-
familiar lo ue) but,
iar. buf, this io only
remindinqu6 of eome- becaueeIhey were ineVired,in Varb, Ihinq familiar (yeL,
lizee and conditione
we cannol someT,hinq
by clich1efrom old
quile qraeV).
Dri7iINeDardot and )oVhia Lorenmovies.
ue.The hyVerreality
Whenyou oee one
of Vadonnaimaqee
of her Vholoe,you think you recognizea
becomeemore real NhanNheMadonna wanna-beswho imi-
characler or ecene from an old movieyou
t ale her.And Ihis
have6een,Dul, in
Vhenomenon-of lhe imaqebeing
fact,Ihe phot'osdo
more realthan t'he
opecificaceneoin any
human-is drama-
notrreVroduceany
movieebu| pullup in lized W VhotograVher What'we oee,t'hen, our mind'e eye t'he Cindytherman in a ie noI Cindytherman, kinds of vieualalich4e eeriesof Vhof'oqraVhe and roleo womenhave butran imaqeof a laken bet'ween1977 glarlef', a Vlayedin old moviee Vaooed-ouf' and 19BO ent'it'led we havegeen. hitch-hiker, a woman Untitled Film ?tille, The imaqeaare act'uallyall of Cindytherman,the phot'ograVher, hereelf,bu| we do nol, eee Cindytherman.Whal we eeeare imaqeothal a??ear in our mind'oeye. Theeeimaqeoact' 142
Thus,our momenf, io only of recoqnif,ion a n i l l u e i o nT.h o u q h Iheee imageeoeem lo refer No eomething oNherthan them' selveo,Iheyare all oufiace,all deVthlessness.
@
lhal whirl by wirh
Another Tootmod- such velocitythat ern arLifact ie MTV f,hey have been
ET El whyMrv?
etriVVedof all mean-
becauseit, is like a
of t ot al saturation
t ornadoof imagee
ae lhe meaninqlees
inq-refercinq only T ,lelevision,in tro olher imaqeefl Wall general,ie considered Nheaudiencehavinq t o be TosT,modern reachedthe point,
imaqeeqlowand fricker,makinqthe viewerinlo a kind of mindecreen.
barbiedollein compromieinq poeiT,ione, dreeeingthem up in boy'o
Butsomeof the imoges dO mokesense.Mostof the sit-comsond soopshove stories-qrrotives.
clothinq,or,ae lhe barbieLiberatrionOrqanization did, ewitchin7 the voice-boxee of barbiedolls wilh thoee of G.l.Joe.
E whqtmokes
AndNhaf,'ewhy
\.
is consideredto
[i
o novel or o film
ti !
be eepeoially Toslmodern. ---r/a gecaueefor \:
I
Postmodern? naalaaJ^--2
E Modernist novelgconcern
moel of IV,
trhemeelves with the limiteof individ-
narrative-hae been the norm. Ouf,Mry ie not basedon etories but,
ual congciousness\- howthe individual knowsNheworld.ln
"4
on disconneated
novelesuch as
flowe of images.Then
James Joyce'ePor-
there ie subvertleing,a
tmit of the Anist ao 5-r'
q c am--.;
io plungedinto lhe st ream
of huqe(,-#ffi paiqno
corVoraf,ione
of thouqhtreand feelinqo
\ \i
of a youn7manae he
by creatinq Varo-
attemVte to knowthe world
diesof their guch meogaqeg,
aroundhim.
ao: "American Excegg: Don'l Leave Home Wil"hout,
fft'i ffib hH
ciatedwithAarbie-art,, {T }tj the af7 of subveftin7 Oarbie-ismby Vlacing
a YoungMan, the reader
In the ?oatmodern novelor film,how_ eventhe queation ie not,eo much Howdo I knowthe world? but,What ie a world?
Coneider the film Blue Velvet,for
rt iuxta?ooeatwo
:::^!,", fe re n tw o rl d g :
veryutt dif_
2 utnnr)^; _ .' vrx
r.ow n,middre-c,I nlJ romance,and "!"^'l,l ""niTl' a worldof murder and It juxtaPoseo them in suchlitY' a waythat we do not knowwhichworld ie more,"uti.
sadietic 6exua
Anotherfilm that iu ott"n branded*?ootmodern, i6 WimWendere,s Wingeof Desire.Again, the filmjuxtatwo ?oeeo verydifferent worlde. Theplace is tserlin_international, coomo?olitan, filled with different languagesand cultureeand iden_ tities. Eacho.
mented^,o,l,!,2:Z' ;,::t; others.
"
Each man livee in his own private world.
ITITITIITITI WE ARE CAPABLE OF LISTENING IN ON PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS: T 0 A Y O U N G t q A N C O N T E N 1 P L IANTG S U l C I D E :
T 0 A D YI 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 1IUNTG I N C A R S ; T 0 N l O T H E R SA 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 DI V I D U A L H A S B E C O N 1 E L IKE 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 RI E R S , A N D A L L IS SURROUNDED B Y A N O - N l A N ' S L A N D T H R O U G HW HI C H O N E CAN PASS ONLY I F ONE HAS THE RI GHT PASSWORD.
T H E O T H E R t / { O R L D , J U X T A P O S E DW I T H A P O S T M O D E R N B E R LI N . I S R E A L F 1O 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 BI T E D
BY ANGELS. THE ANGELS CAN HEAR PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS AND NlOVE INSTANTANEOUSLY THROU GH SPACE. THEY ATTEIqPT T O I N T E R V E N E I N W O R L D L YA F F A I R S B Y B A T HI N G P E O P L E I N S P I R I T U A L V I B R A TI O N S . B U T O { : T E N T H E I R H E L P F A I L S . THE Y0UTH CONTEtqPLATING S U I C I D E J U t L l P ST 0 H I S
DEATH.
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 SA R E 0 F E A C H 0 T H E R ' , S E XT 9 T E N C E . 0 F T H E E 4 ! l l A l Ay-JARE O T H E R N E S SO F E A C H O T H E R ' S E X I S T E N C E .
IIIIIIIIIIII l+to
But how obout in fields other thon the orts? Whqt impoct hos Postmodernismhod on the reol world?
f
haoeven trhouqhl E ?ost'modern
move' had an impacl on Ihe ecoloqical redwoodo, ment-and thus u?onmount'ains, oceano,rivers and lakee.Aft'erall, Toslmodernisf's are eue?icioueof qrand narcaf,ives-ofbiq eNorieeof ulopian vieions.And coneervalionists-t'he kind of VeoVlewilh "gave the Kiver"bumVerelickerefree of dream of a ut oVianecoloqicalwilderneee pollulinqinduetrries. ie t'o diemiee T,endency The Toef,modern Lhe conceVtof euch a ?ure ulopian wilderneelae a qrand narraf,ive.And
whaf,'e more,IhiebiqeIory ie basedon that rucf,uraliet, evile-a binary evilof Tostret ln Ihie ca6e,lhebinaryo??ooVVoeibion. nr
eition wilderneeelcivilization, o7ut, olher environmenT,alist eeVecially by Nhoeeinfruenced Gary 1nyderpoel and eco-acbivist,
Nhat ie are aclinq ouNa Vhiloeo?hy boNhToetmodernand ecological,
fft
tl;/ ,
ineteadof engaqingin empty f,heorizinq whilethe foreetreand rivereare euffering.enyder'e environmentaliem ie baeedon hiE longimmereionin Zen Suddhiet, medilaf,ionand philoooVhy. The SuddhieIuniveree, like
1nyder's poeli c eco- Vhiloeophy danceoarounddeconslrucVing the eeeming"IeVaraf,eeelvee" of "wilderne66" and "civilizalion." ln Vractice,thie meanedancinq bel,weenand weavinqt oqether
the Toetmodernuniveree, is made
ecologicalallianceebetrween Lhe "oe?aratre6elve6"of landowners,
uV of counhleeehelero7eneoue
corporaf,ion6, f ed eral agenciee,
selveswith counf,leee heleroge-
f oregIg, mo unf,ain e, mounNain
neoueviewVoinbe. Notra utoVia, basedon onevieion,but a het-
Iioneand troqe. lt mean6,too, lhal,we are all membersof a
eroto?iabaeedon the vieioneof counlleee)lhere. Andall of
muf,ualeating eociely.We both
f,heee)r,her selves-l,he selvee of mounlainlione,redwoods, rednecks,con6ervalioniele and rivere-are inLerconnected and muluallyinherdeV endenN.And becaueenoneof theee eelvee etand alone,by themeelvee, wilhoul all the Of,here, their ee?araT,enees-t heir Otrhernes s-i s EmpIy,an lllueion. Thue,likethal NaLiveAmerican trickster figure,Coyote,
eat and are eaf,en.The eyeeof lhe mounl,ain lioneXalkina ue are our own.
rhe aniu,lgf i7
.
ana the n d t hc
a-
n5rr..tt! \./E
artsdtr ,t5
'-'2
uh* [ln RetrospEdJ Sothen, whot lS
a n d c o n f u e i n cq o n -
Postmodernism? loure of our late
;urcender. Vaoeively Accordinqto
caVitalief,ictimee,
cyberpunk, il ie a
Accordingto Saudrillard, ToeL-
worlddominatedby m u l t i n a l i o n acl o r -
about Grand Narra-
moderniemie a flow of ullr a -fe ch noloqical
Vorationeand lhe dala they conlrol.
Livee:and if, ie about
i m a g e ei n a c o n e u m -
Yel cyber?unkeadvo-
heleroqeneily.Ac-
erisl hyperreality
caf,ea hackeref,hic,
cordinqf,o Jameeon, iL muet involvea way
acroeea mediaocaVe I a p V i n qi n t o a n d or mindecreen Lo ueinqeuchdala for
o f m a ? ? i n qt h e n e w
whichwe can only
Accordinqt,o Lyotard,if, has Lo do with eceVliciem
?eroonalende.
Accordinqto
ity; by lookinqback-
CharleeJencks,
ward t o trhepaol, or
however, all these
eidewaysto a local
thinkereare only
culture.Thue,while
deecribinqlahe
ueinqmodernietr
capilaliamor
f,echniquee,lhey
laNemodernism.
includelhe Other,
AuNhenIicToet'
humo ro uoly, ir onically
moderniem, he dou' ar0ue6,involvee
or Vlayfully,ralher trhanexcludinqit, Thie
ble codinqIhe a(bie-
ie why Jenckewrites
lic repreeenf,at,ion
?oe|,-modernism wii',h
of moderniemwith
menNof NheOther-
a hyphenz becausein
somethinqdoe-
whetherIhat, Other
Ihese Toetmodern
6ome )Nher.For,
ie Other individuals,
f,imeg,Nhereare a lol
ae all ToeNmodern
Other qrou?e,Other
of hybrid identritiee.
Ihinkerewouldadmit,
oVecieo,Other raceo, f,heworld ie ohrinkinq. the }ther of "malel'
AndIhis ie eometrhinq quiNenew.For,ae we
Thereie no one dom-
the Other of "f,he
havediscuseed,in
?luinan| worldview, ralism rulee.Tradi-
Westl' the )ther of "Europe,"NheOther of
VaeI centurieowe lookedfor eome
t r i o n a lm , odern,laNe
T,heconsciouemind,
SuVermyIhor meeei'
modernand ToeL-
rhe Orher of Nhe
ah Io unile all of
modernattitudeg
ratrionalmind,trhe
humanityundertrhe
all rub elbowein the
Otrherof moderniem, rhe )ther of "our-
umbrellaof one overarchinqphiloooVhy,
gelf" or in "ouroelf,"
The Tostmodernmind
oameculT,ure. This meanethat,
the Other increaeinqly
Throuqhdouble
hae qivenu? eucha
encroacheeupon
coding,Toef,modern
hoVe.Thie hae led to
what had once been
architreclure,arA and
a radicalchanqe
our VrivaNeopace.So
liNeralurerepreoenl
in how we believe.
We are forced lo much of ToeNmodern rhe Obher,and t'hus recoqnizeLhaNour thouqht,has t'o do Vreoent,hetreroqeneworld resisle qrand with lhis encroach-
narralivegae much
gucha mage,in guch
objecf,iverealit y, And
as individuals and qrou?ocravetrhem.
and euchan orbil
few believe that any
thal can be mathe-
one eyelem of
ThaI our world is a
maNically deecribed,
thouqht,any one biq
carnivalof colofiul
or lhaN WeeT,ern med- etory or theory of
and contradicNory
icineio ouVeriorf,o
mythic Vropoftiono,io
worldviewe.We have
Orienlalherbalism, or
caVableof exVlaininq
cometro realizethat
trhat beinqfeminine
everythinq.Not,even
our viewof reality
equaloouqarand
ocienceio objeclive-
ien't ae real as it
eViceand everyfthinq
becauseiLe data are
once eeemed.We have nice,or T,haN the Caucomelo realizelhaV casian race is Nhe
alwayedependent
there is noI one reali-
areeocial,linguislic
magT,errace-
ty buVmany different,, ' all theee are mant, oft,enconfficlinqreali- €l made nolione. tieg. We havecometo
\ 9 , < ,'
on lheory. Realitiee congt,rucNiongueefulfrctione,rela-
eee thaf, our ideas
NiveVereVeclives. lf rhe qrand nar-
about,trulh are notr
ralives, the mastrer
et ernal,but,made. Theideaethat the
narraf,iveo,f,he big gT,orieg, are no lonqer
only God isYahweh,
believable-if Nhey
or Allah,or the God-
havedieaVVeared-
dees,or lhat oome qod named1umba
Ihey havebeen
vomitedlhe Moon and 9t arg, or the gcientific nolion NhaI trheMoon ie a phyoical bodyof such and euch mae6bhat,
I ney are
t na n
replacedby a hodqepodqeof litlle narcalives. Toelmodern VeoVle,instead of dreaminqof the day whenall lhe world will be unihed
orbite another Vhyei-
underthe univereal
cal body,Lhe Vlanet
bannerof Marxismor
Eafbh,of such and
161
Chrietianityor gcience,are more intrereetred in oeeingLhe world as a kind of carnivalof culluree-a tribal qaNherinq. Theshininqounof Universal Truth and Meanin7io ecliVoedby
fofth, and anotherotory proclaimo Nhat,the moonand sNarswerecreated by God. Tostmodernaudiencee don'|,demandIhaI allf,heheteroqeneouoslories add up t o some
qrand,qlobal,univerealtotal oenoe; the colofiuldieVlayof little dancee, instead,they celebrateihe f act, lilf,leeloriee.giq etories are that il's ?Kto etop makingeo reVlacedby little etories.gtorieo muchoen6e,Because are no longeraboutran attemVV lo establishsomesofr of univer-
I
of the exVloeion of cultural meeeaqee, weare
oal UIopia,unlessii be a hetero-
beqinning to under-
toVia. Theydo not try to ?rove themselveo by makinquniversal
st and lhat, nol onlyour stories but also our rit-
claims.A Tostmodern etoryteller
uale,religioue dogmao,
maytell in onenighVthe Grimms'
mytrhe,qenderroles,eelf
fairy t ale of Haneeland Grelel and trheevilwitch in lhe dark forest who livee in trheqingerbread
conceple,beliefe,historieeand trheoriesare culbural, social invenfione.Weare beqinninq
houee,a NaliveAmericanNricketer
lo realizeNhaNwe livein a worldof
tale of CoyoLeeeducinqthe chief'e
man-madeeiqnoand eymbole, and
dauqhter,and an ancientmyfrhfrom we havebequnto playaroundwith lndiaaboul the creationof the uni- f,hoseeignoand eymbolshumorouoveroefrom a qoldeneqq,Theetory-
ly and ironicallyeo that we are not
tellerand the audience form a
enslavedto them. Thieoft,enmeano
socialbond,but it is the bondinqof
acceptinga Grand Narrative,but,
a heheroqeneoue eocietythat can
havinqan ironicattitude toward it. livewith lhe inconqruitieo, conflicf,s, Thuswe may be a "quasi"fundaand qa?obetweenthe variousst omenlalist,Chriet,ian or Muelimor riee.This Toef,modern societydoeo
orAhodox Jew or Calholic;weqo to
not mindif one et ory oayelhal lhe
churchor lo lhe eynaqoque or the
Moonand Slare werevomiled
mo6que,eventhouqhwe may have
o o m e d o u b t e a b o u l t r h em e l a V h y o i - m u l t i p l e ,l o c a lf o r c e s h a s l i b e r a L e d c a l c l a i m o ? r o ? o u n d e df , h e r e W . e
Ihe concernfor Othere.Whereae
m a y b e l i e v eI h a I o u r ? a r f , i c u l a r
m o d e r n i s Lw r i te r e o u c h a s C o n r a d
v o c a b u l a r ya n d i d e a ea b o u t L r u b h
t h o u q h l N h e yc o u l d 6 ? e a kf o r
have no opecialclaim to reality.
Olhere-for Lhe colonized,for
ThaL VeoVlewith other orienLa-
Africane,for women,for Lhe
Iione may bejuet, ae oriented No
Or i e n t - ? o e t m od e r n i o me' e m p ha -
lheir own realif,y.Juot, ae ofNen
e i e o n d i f f e r a n c e( i r r e c o n c i l a b l e
i N m e a n e V a r t r i c i p a L i ni n q more
difference)hae allowedformerly
than oneqrand narraLive-beinq
e i l e n c e d) N h e r s s u c h a o w o m e n .
a b u d d h i e l C h r i e l i a n ,f o r i n s l a n c e ,
q a y e , b l a c k eo, r i e n l a l ee t c , l o
The fraqmenLaNion of qrand nar-
expre66their own storiee in Lheir
raLivesunder Lhe oreeeureof
own voices.
YouBerruR Do tr l"lY WAY.
hopE Butisthisreotty pening? Hoven't thesePostmodern times producedjust os frequentlywhqt Boudrillord describesos o prolifer' otion of myths of origin? Hosn't Postmodernismseen o multiplicotion of cults, suchos Jopon's SqrinGos Sect?And sincethere ore so mqny millionsof people cought up in cults ond sects ond mojor religions,it seemsos though there is q need for Grond Norrotives ond thot the Postmodern erq hos even produced o proliferotion of them. So how doesone reconcilethe Postmodernnotions thot peopleno longer believe in Grqnd Norrqtives,thot Grond Norrotivesoppress qnd morginolizeminorities, that there is no Big Picture, thot there is no DeepStructure to reolity (ond thot if therewcs, the humon mind could not know it) with the foct thot Grond Norrotives are vety much in evidence?
Yee,f,ha|,'gf,rue.The NewAqe
opiritualiNy, whileoflen serious
movemente of Nhe'6Osand'7Oe
and eclecNic, tended t o be
drew ineVirationfrom a mixbure
narcieeisticand worehiptulof
quruo euch of poV-peychedelic
aulhorily figuree.
ae Timolhy Leary,rock-ehamans
qh many Generaf,ion AlLhou
such as Jim Morrieonof the
X-ers reject lhe poychedelic'
Doors,and mantra-chant ing
fueledcommunalhedoniemof lhe
eavanls from lndia oteeVedin
boomer6,rrluchof GeneralionX
the Bhagavad Gita. baby boomer
eViritualitrycontinueeNo circulaIe by meaneof imaqeeborrowed from VoVand rock.Thue,in the oameway trhat,a big chunkof Doomer'6Oe oViritualibydepended on trheima7e-mixof the 1eaI-
| r+r \{Al I
lee and lhe Mahariehi,in the '9Oo, publictelevisionelevated
I V,lrtrctt-1
Io mylholoqielJooephCamVbell
rGl
{ ssrcarI
L]^'J
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to fill in the postNietzscheon Voidby inventingour own imogesqnd grond norrqtives.Arethere ony troditionolgrond norrotives from otherculturesthot ore copoble of embrocingditference?
inundatedM'N: and
cyberVunk morphed introcyberehamaniem, Cyberohamanism, or technoshamaniem, by the way,is a Nechnopagan at Iemptrlo creale ancienar,
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throuqh comVulerizedfract al
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Hinduism-LhaNcan and do embrace Ihe ditrerence;in our increaeingly pluralieEic world. Duddhiemie democraT,ic, cool, practrical, inexpeneive, and (becauae the liberationof Tibet,from Chinahas becomea hiVcauoe)Duddhismje Volit ically correct. ?oetmodern Veoples and culr,urel livein a world of differencee.Buddhism'ephiloooVhy of interdeVendence lele ue eee our differencee ae a vaeNinlerconnectred web.ln facN, guddhief,e the imaqe use Io illuslrate
thie ie Ihat of lndra's net. At each intereeclion of the elrande of this vaeVnetr, whichie lhe universeof differenl eelve6,i6
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mutuolly interdependent.Neither con exist without the other.
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baudrillard,Jean (A) Amerique.(?arie:Orasset,lgSO). ()ED) De la aeduction.(?ario:Galilee,lgSO). TheEcataay of communication.Trans.oernard and caroline )chuf,ze.(NewYork: Iemiot ext(e),1gBB). For a Critique of the PoliticalEconomyof the Oiqn,Trano. CharlesLevin.(9t. Louio:Telospreo6,1gb1). (FF) For7et Foucault.Trans.NicolaDufresne.(NewYork:Semiotext(e), 1gS7). (99M) In the ghadowof the Silent Majoritieo. .. or the End of the )ocial and Other Eoeayo.Trans,?aulFoeo,?aul ?atton ana John Johnoon.(NewYork:Iemiotext(e),1g\b). (9 l M) ) im ulat ion a .T ra n e .N i c oDl au fre s n e .(N ew Y ork: S emi ouexv(e) 19S b). La eocietede consommation. (yario:Gallimard,lgTO). Le oyoLemedes objete.(?arie:Oenoel-Oonthier,1967). Ceicery-Ronay,letavan "Cyberpunkand Neuromanticisml'in Storming the Reatity gtudio, Larry (9R9) McCaffery, ed. (Durham:DukeUniv.?rese,1B4). Deleuze,Gillee and Gualtari, Felix Anti-)edipue.Trane.Kobert,Hurley,Mark )eem, and HelenK. Lane,preface by MichelFoucault.(NewYork Vikinq,1g7T). Kafka:For a Minor Literature,Trane.Dana ?olan.(Minneapolis:lJniv.of Minnesota 7ress,19BO). 'Khizome.'Trans. TaulFossand ?aul?alton, I and C S (1951):4g-71. A ThouaandFlateauo: Capitalism and gchizophrenia.Trane.grian Maseumi, (Minneapolie:Univ.of Minneeotra ?ress,19B7). Derrida,Jaoquee Of Grammatolo7y.Trans.Gayatri gpivak.(balNimore: John Un P76). Eco, Umberao (fNK) ?ootocript to TheNameof the Kose.(NewYorkand London:Harcourt DraceJovanovich,1984\. Foucault,Michel Diociplineand Funish:Thetsirth of the Friaon.Trans.AlanSheridan.(New York:?antheon,1977). The Hietory of Sexuality,VolumeI: An lntroduction. Trans. Robert Hurley. ( NewYorkz?anIheon,1977). TheOrder of Thinqo:An Archaeologyof the Human gciences.Trans. Alan theridan. (NewYork:Tantheon,197O).
158
Gibson,William (NewYork:Ace,19B7). Neuromancer. (N) Haraway,Donna and gocialist Formationin lhe "A CyborgVanifestozScience,Technology, Late TwenliethCenturyi'in gimiane,Cybor7eand Women:TheReinvention of Nature. (NewYork:Rouiledqe,1991). Harvey, David The Cond iti on of ?oetm od ernity. (Dla ckwell: Oxford, 199O). Hase a n ,l h ab The Dismembermentof Orpheus:Towarda FostmodernLiterature. (TLf) (NewYork:OxfordUniv,?ress,19b2). Hemingway,Erneet ThethorD gtoriee of Erneat Hemin7way.(NewYork:gcribner'e,1925). (ggEH) Jameson, Fredrlo NewLeft "?oslmodernism:or the Culf,uralLoqicof Late CaViLaliom." (?CL) Keview,146 (19B4): 53-92. "?ostmodernismand Coneumergociety|' ln FoetmodernCulture,Hal (?CO) Foeter,ed. (Londonand Sydney:1985), Lyotard, Jean Francois Discoura, fiq ure, Taris:Klincksieck, 1971. (DF) The 7oatm od ern Cond it'ion, Trano. Oenninqton and (?c) Univ.of Minnesota?rese,19B4, Massumi.(Vinneapolis: first edif,ion1979). iohwiahtenberg, Cathy "Vadonna's?ostmodernFeminisml'in TheMadonnaConnection.Caihy (MfF) 5 chwichtenberq, ed. (6 oulder, CO:Westview 7rese, 1995). Venturi, Robert;5oott brown, Denlee;and lzenoun Sbven (LLV) Learnin4from Laa Ve7ae.(Cambridqe,Maoe.zMIT 7ress,1977).
A adverAieinq,l44 aesLheticof coqnitivemaVVing,40 Africansculplure,lS Age of Reason,g-13,15,2b-29 Aqeeof Moderniem, Toelmoderniem, Kealiem (Jameoon),36-37 Allegoric al Claeeicism, 92 Andrejevic,Millel.,Apollo and Daphne,gb anthroVomorphiom,B B-Bg anli-arL,1B arboresence, 10B-14 architecture, 72-02, B4-B B art for arL'ssake,13 ae moderniet, ree?on6eto the void,lb-14 audioanimalr onic paparazzi,135
o b a c h ,J . 9 . , 1 1 O Oacon,Francis,9 BarbieLiberat ion Orqanization,144 baroqueera,11B barLhes,Roland,93 b audrillard, J ean, 41-71,95, 11 4, 123-24, 13O, 149 America,6T-69 The Ecotaoy of Communication,69-11 For a Critique of the PoliticalEconomy of the )iqn,45 0n )eduction,65-67 The)rders of the gimulacra,4B-64 thadow of the 1ilent Majoritiee,64-65 The)ociety of Conaumption,4S The ?yetem of )bjecto,45 b a u h a u e5 c h o o l , 7 2 O e c k e t t 1, a m u e l , 7 O DhaqavadGita,155 binaryoppooiteo,lol-3, 105-7, 13O,139, 147 binaryrequlalion,52-53 "7lade Kunner"(film),122-Zb,133 b onaventure HoIel (Loe Anqelee),57-b B Borqeo,Jorqe Luie,SB Drown,Deniee1colt, B5 Ouddhiem, 147-4B, 156-57 burke,Edmund,I Durrouqho, William, Tb
c C a 4 eJ, o h n , 1 B , 7 B , 7 9 CamVbell, JooeVh,156 capitaliom,35,116 cenLral oymbole, 1OO-1O4, 1O6 Cezanne,Zaul,121 Mont 1aint-Victoire, 21 Chriolianity,11,12,29 Cla s eical I enoibility, 93 codeo,of Vower,95 Communism,19,90 com?uter6,and knowled qe, 22-23 conoumVtion, 45-47 CoyoLe(Snyder),14O Coiceery-Ronay,letavan,137 Cubiem,13-14, 121 cyberpunk,123, 128,130-38, 149, 156 cyberopace, 3-4, 134-35 cyborqo,l29-3O,134
D Death of the Real(Oaudrillard),59-64 deconstruction,96, 99-107, 157 Deleuze,Gilles,93, 10b-15 democracy,1l9 denol atrive ot at ement, 26 Derrida,Jacquee,93, 96, 99-107 ?tructure, Sign and Tlay in the Discourseof the Human Sciencea,gg deterrencemodel,53 Dionyouo,lO diecourse,ecientificvs. narralive, 25-33 D o n n eJ, o h n , 1 1 B doublecodinq,01-83, 89, 126, 13O,15O dreame,20,112 Drumheller,Grant, Li7htninq Thrower,92 Durkheim,Emile,ElementaryFormsof Keli7ioueLife,121
E eclecticism,B1-83, 84, BB Eco,Umberbo,BO e6o,3B Einstein,AlberL,121 Elior,T. 9.,14 TheWaateland,16 Enlightenment,28, 97, 11 B-19 environment alism,147-4B value,46 exchanqe existentialism, 99
F
I
f alsification,ruleof,27 feudal era, 4b-49, 116-17 fi\m,145-46 Fischl,Eric, 1ad boy, 91 Flaubert,Gustave,121 Foucaull,, Michel,93, 94-96 freedom,29-30 Frenchinlellectuale,2O-29, 97-99 9, 2B FrenchRevolution, F r e u d9, i 6 m u n d , 1 4 7O, 79 FuIler:7uckminsf'er,
S6 iconoclaem, GrouV,Tb lndependent, lnduetrial Kevolution,50, 51 lnternational 7tyle, 72-77, b4 int ernet,l14 lzenour,St'even,b5
G 6enderroles,13942 GenerationX,155 Genel,Jean,TO George,?aul,My Kent )lale,91 Gibson,William,136 Neuroma ncer, 123, 132-34 Gogh,Vincentvan, ?eaoantthoeg, 36, 37 arratives grand narraf'ivee.I ee metran (Lyorard) Graves,Michael,B2-O3 ?or\landTublic)ervices buildin4,B2 Gropius,Walter,72 Guatt ari, Feliz,93,1OO-14
H Haraway,Donna,l2B-3O gimiana,Cyborgoand Women:The Keinventionof Nature, 129 Harvey,David,The Conditionof ?ootmodernity, 116-22 Haeean,lhab,17-1b " ?OOTmodernl)M A Taraarilic al 9iblioqra phy"(eeeay),7O He6el,G.W. F.,29-30 Ernest, 12,34, 3B-39 Heminqway, heter oqeneify, 21-22, 15O helerolopia,l4B,152 (rhizomatic) vs. non'hierarchical hierarchy, thinkinq,lOB-15 " Hiqhbrow'culture,16, 37 Hinduism,156,157 hiot ory,awareneooof, 40 Hitler, Adolf,11,15 Holocaust', 15,20-21, 3O HotWired,136 hyperrealily, 60-64, 13B
J J ameeon,Frederic,34-40, 140-49 Fostmoderniem,or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitaliom,35-30 Jencke,Charlee,7O-b4, OO,90, 92, 149, 15O The Lan6ua6eof ?oet-modern Architecture, TB Johneon,?hilip,AT&TFuildinq(NewYork),BB Joyce, James, 14,7B, 121 Finneqan'eWake,16,79 ?ortrait of the Artiet aa a YounqMan, 15,144 Ulyeeee,16 "Juraeeic Zark" (film), 54
K Kafka,Franz,112-13 "Letter Io His Falherl'112 The Meta morphooie, 16, 112-13 TheTrial,113 Kandineky,Vaeoily,T2 Klee,?aul,72 knowledge and comouters,22-23 and poetetr uct'uralism, 9 4 and ecience,29-31 Krier,Leon,91 Krieteva,Julia,93
L Lacan,Jacquee,20 lanquaqe and Vootetr ucluralism,94 and ecientific inveetiqation, 22-23 t y V e oo f , 2 6 , 3 2 v g .t h e u n c o n e c i o u s , 2 0 Lagcauxcaveo,simulacrumof,60 D. H.,14 Lawrence, Learninqfrom Lao Vegae(Vent'uri,Orown, lzenour),B5-Bo Leary,Timothy,155 Le Corbueier,36,73-76
Liqare,David,Womanin a GreekChair,g2 lo6ic,9 "Lowbrow"cull,ure,16, 37 LyoIard,J eanFrancois,19-33, 148 Diacouree/fiqure,20 The Toat-modern Condition: a report on knowledqe,22
NewWaveof Frenchtheory,42 Nietzeche,Friedrich,10-11,12-13 non-arl,1B novele,modernieLve. VoeLmodern,144, i4b
o objecLe,ae commoditiee,45-47 )ediVue comVlex,110-13 Onie,Federicode,7O other,the,15O
M m a c h i n ea q e m y t h o o , 1 5 Madonna,lSb-42,156 "JuoIify My Love"(video),140-41 "makeit, new"(?ound),13,74 Mandel, Ernest, LaLe Capitaliom, 35-bO Manet,Edouard,14,121 M a o T e eT u n q , 1 1 market,capitaliem,SS Marx, Karl,9 Marxism,19,29,40, 42, 43, 45-47, gO Masaccio,Trinity,2l m a o oc u l t u r e , 4 1 , 7 B M c L u h a nM , arehall.TB meaninq in lanquaqe,45-47 in poeLmodern archif,ecf,ure, b9-9O Medieval era,117 me la nc h o lci C a l s s ic i s m ,9 1 met ana r raf,iveo (LyoI ard), 29 -33, I 4, j 4 b-O7 metaVhor,Voetic,22 Met aphyeicalClaesiciem,91 micronarratives, 32-35 modele,5l-52 of power,95 moderniem,lT-18 artiet ic etylee in, 13-16 meaningot, B-16 ve. Vostmoderniem,17-1B M0Np0 2000,136 M o n e t ,C l a u d e , 1 4 monopolycaVilaliom,35 Morrieon,Jim,155 M o s e eG , randma,92 M'N,leJ-aa,66 multiculturalism,l-4 Munch,Edvard,Thegcream,36 music,24 Museolini,15 myrLhe, 24-27,32, 59
N n a i v er e a l i e m , 9 2 nano-rover,135 Narrative Claeeicism.91 Nazia,20,3O NewAqe movemenle,155
tol
7 p a r a d o x , 3 1B, B parody,3B-39, 02, 09, 92, 127 ?arf,henon,75 ?aetriche,3B-39, 82, 89, 126, 127 Tearlotein,ThiliV,TwoFemaleModeleon BrentwoodLoveeeaL and Ru6,92 perlormativity, 31 philoeophical narcative, 2B-29 piazzao,9l ?lato,74,11O p l u r a l i e mB,B Voliticalart,22 Volilical nar raf,ive, 20-29 ?oVArt,37,70 Toef,modern Claeeicism,90-93 Voolmoderniem in architeclure,7B-9O i n t r h ea r L s , 5 beqinnin7of movement,7B l a n q u a qo ef , 6 - 7 meaninq of,7,14O-57 ve. modernism,17-1b ?oetet ruct uralism,93-121 ? o u n dE, 2 r a , 1 3 , 1 5 , 7 4 "Canl,og,"16 ?ower and knowledqe (Fouc ault), I 4 of Madonna,141-42 microVoliticeof, 94-96 ?roqreoo,idea of, b-13,15,29-30 7roust,,Marcel,121 Tlolemaic maV- m akinq, 117 Tynchon,Thomae,O ravity'o Kainbow,22
R Keaqan,Ronald,95 RealietClasaicism,92 reagon,9,20-29 reinforcedconcrete, 50, 74 -1B Renaieeance,50, 117 K e n a u l tC , amille,50
I 1ade,Marquiede,9
SarLre,Jean ?aul,42, 9b 5aue6ure,Ferdinandde, 43-44 oceVliciom,36 )cheer, Leo,114 ochizophrenia,1O7 science,9 and tranemissionof knowledqe, 22-25 sciencefict ion,71,136-37 seduction,6ffi7 eemiotics,43,45-46 eex and oexuality,6MT, 92, 96, 135 thell ey, Mary, Frankenstei n, 132 Sherman,Cindy,UnbitledFilm ?tills,142-43 simulacra,95, 123-27, 136, 138 simulacrum-ism,56 Snyder,Gary,147-4b Socialismor Darbariem(leftiet qroup),19 e?ace, perceplioneof, 116-22 opace-time comVreaoion,116 9t alin,Jogef,11 gteel,74
Wired,136 Witt genetein, Ludwig,26 Wolff,RiDo,91 Wood,Granl,92
Y Yeaf,s,Willianrbur,ler,O,14
eNorytelling,lM stream of consciougnegg, 16 stucco,SO student uVrioinqe, 42-45, I O eubject,SB subverLieinq,l44 SupermanconceVt,10-11,12-13 ?uperRaceconcept,lS
T t eledildonics,lSS televieion,l4S f,ime, perceptionoof, 116-22 Tocqueville,Alexisde, Democracyin America,6T Toynbee,Arnold,TB
U unconscious, the,20 Unity of Knowledge (Heqel),29-30 urbanism,BB use value,45 utoViao,36, 77, 79, 83, 119,147,148, 152
v Venl,uri,Kobert, B5 verification,rule of, 27 void,the, 8,11-13,32
W Warhol,Andy,37,7B DiamondDuet thoea,37 WebenMax,9 Wenders,Wim,"Winqs of Desire"(fi|m),145-46 Williame,WilliamCarlos,15 Willto 7ower,10 163
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Artaud for Beginnerso revealsthe life and art of the man known in rhe avantgardeworld as a "totally rebellious artist." His book, TheTheaterand lts Double,was first publishedin 1938,and is still consideredone of the most important contributions to 20th century theater.Leading figures in the theater haveattemptedto rurn into practice some aspectsof futaudt theory on drama, such as his 'truelry theory." futaudt "cruelty" aspiresto a type of theater where the languageofphysical movement and gesrurecould be applied on a multirude of psychologicallevels. Artaud'sintention was ro abolishthe boundariesberweenlife and arr. He appliesthis criterion to all his ardstic productions,including: poerry cinema, drawing and painting.
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Artaud had suffered from illness since he was a small boy; larer in life he endured drug addiction, rehabilitation treatments, nine years' confinement in a series ofpsychiatric hospirals, and electroshock therapy. None of the horror that futaud experienced in his life prevented him from gaining international recognition for his contribution to rhe art and theater worlds.
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Bukowski for Beginnerso examinesrhe life and literary achievementsof this unique American wrirer. Charles Bukowski is a cult figure of the dissident and rebellious,novelist,short story writer, poet and journalist. Bukowski was born in Germany in 1920 and died in the United Statesin 1994.He wasone of the mosr unconventional writers and cultural crirics of the 20th cenrury. Bukowski lived his life in his own way and wrote in a style rhat was impossible to classifr or categorize. His work is cynical ar times and humorous at others,but alwaysbrilliant, and
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At long last, a Divine Comedy with jokes, a Dante with shtick, a trip through the afterlife with a happy ending. Actually it always had a happy ending, but who could have known rhat after The Inferno comes Purgatorio and Paradiso? Dante
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Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) is not only one of the major writers of the United States after'!7orld War II, but also the best known figure of the Beat Generation. "The Beats" were portrayed by Kerouac in his best selling novel On the Road as aesthetic pilgrims-pilgrims who were "mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved." Kerouac and his contemporaries used this madness to test the boundaries of everything: frenetic Buddhism, fast sex, writing, living,Zen cars, freight trains and be-bop Jazz.
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