Postmodernism For Beginners

Although no one knows exactly what postmodernism is, Postmodernism for Beginners gives a perfectly clear explanation of the subject. Author Jim Powell describes postmodernism as a series of "maps" that helps people find their way through a changing world. For reinforcement, he cites views from modern thinkers from Foucault to Guattari. Illustrated throughout. The author manages to maintain sufficient detachment from his subject to provide perspective and levity while at the same time taking it seriously enough to provide a substantial explanation of the causes and symptoms of postmodernism, a decoding of its formidable jargon, and a lucid explication of difficult writers such as Baudrillard and Jameson. He also addresses key questions such as the difference between modernism and postmodernism, post-structuralism and post-modernism (let me put it this way: the former "reads" the text of verbal signs, or words; the latter reads the text of visual signs, or images).