The period between the late 20th century especially after the world wars and the evils of capitalism marked a period of skepticism and relativism where a wave of general suspicion emerged. The period elicited non conventional styles and nuances in establishing facts and art forms. As a literary movement, the term marks a period where arts as well as well as the cultural tendencies defined an emerging movement of new conventions. Following modernism as a period of human disillusionment, the phase marked abrasive and ambiguous details of culture in literature and art. In history, different philosophies and criticisms emerged to explain a state of coefficients. According to Derrida, 158), the phase was a period of deconstruction as well as post structuralism in culture and thought. This essay introduces the term, in connection to its conceptions and connotations over history.
James Watkins first used the term in the periods of 1870s to illustrate the new ways of paintings that deviated from the French impressionisms (Derrida 164)). As a matter of fact, the term became a means of explaining the gradual changes that permeated the environment of Europe in the early 20nth to the late 20th century. Unlike the delusional modernistic era of the early 20th century, postmodernism covered a variety of factors such as the changed paradigm of philosophical juxtaposition. The modernism era had erupted with new theories and concepts of nihilism which led to decadence in the moral strands evident in elements such as the “beat generation.”
Postmodernism also touches on a new form of art as well as music with a unique taste and contemporary with little attachment to the ancient Elizabethan chronicles. The music of this time followed the trends and structures of the new philosophies. Defining post modern music in this context can only occur in comparison to the modern eras art forms. The major impulse in the realm of post modern music dwells on elements such as classical and the advent of musical minimalism. Artists such as John cage and Harrison openly provoked the essence of preconceived aesthetics often evident in the modernism art forms of the early 1990s (Derrida, 159). Music at this level touched on various dimensions of affiliations such a rock band would promote their songs through T-shirt sales which would gain more popularity than the song (Simonsen, 58).
The era also had a massive influence on literary aesthetics. Special features of philosophies emerged to contain the theory to determine the actual relevance of literature. Short stories, a major factor in this period became a major avenue to exploit different ph8ilosophies of the time. Literary sublets such as the absurd theatre as well as existentialism became common norms where characters such as Camus and Malory wrote books and short stories to reveal their tastes in a new literary aesthetic. Ihab Hassan, an Arab-American came up with a publication on the postmodern literary element. The works of such writers created a liquid standard called “silent literature (Derrida, 160).”
Lastly, postmodernism erupted in elements of architecture and urban planning. As an opposition to perceived modern perfection, the new art form and architectural design focused objective elements of populist ideals so that the subjective nuances of the society of modern times became close to the nearby structures of association. Building lasting impressions demanded a deviation from the norms of subjective aesthetics of the modern times.
In conclusion, the ideals of post modernism became an opposition of the normal conventions of the modern times paying attention to the elements of diversity and close associations. Post modernism, reflecting upon the nuances of the real time modern times and the disillusion and utopian management of post war era derived a preconceived stand in relation to the major factors of dynamism. Essentially, post modernism recreated the society in a contemporary kind of way appealing to all varieties in the maze so that everybody could fit in without having any conflict. Therefore, a reaction to the ills of modernism and the wars, postmodernism emerged.
Reference
Derrida, Of Grammatology, Part II, Introduction to the "Age of Rousseau," section 2 "That Dangerous Supplement", title, The Exorbitant Question of Method, 1967 pp. 158–59, 163.
Simonsen, K, 'Planning on 'Postmodern' Conditions', in Acta Sociologica, vol. 33, no. 1, 1990 pp. 51–62.
