Postmodernism: Doubling Down on Change by Orna Gadish

Postmodernism: Doubling Down on Change Reviews

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  Ann Keller

  This book is a concise, yet powerful presentation of the thoughts of some of the leading philosophers in our modern era. The modernist movement has its origins in the middle eighth century. As the world was undergoing incredible and exciting evolution, men sought to attain some stability and universal order through meta-narratives. They embraced the symbol, rather than the real world. Art, science, and business were all undergoing immense changes. Indeed, the only constant seemed to be change itself. For centuries, men struggled to understand the multitude of revolutionary advances occurring around the world, leading up to the postmodern period.
  
  Postmodernists believed that politics, administration, and bureaucracy were intimately related to science, technology and academia. Colleges and universities were tasked with providing specialized training with increasing emphasis upon the flow of information. Anything else was simply considered to be noise. Ihab Hassan, an Arab American theorist, created a table of differences highlighting the distinctions between modernism and postmodernism.
  
  The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, believed that perpetual peace was to be attained through universal democracy and international cooperation, that in order to be successful, one need only apply reason to experience. Friedrich Nietzsche, who achieved great popularity in the 1960s, focused on the creative powers of the individual to overcome social and cultural difficulties. The question of Being consumed twentieth century philosopher, Martin Heidegger, who addressed the western tradition of “enframing” and regarded nature as a personal reserve for all humanity.
  
  Gadish cites one of the most profound literary works of the day, Jean-Francois Lyotard’s 1979 publication of The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. He was a French Socialist skeptical of universalist theories. Lyotard claimed that although the foundations of postmodernism harkened back to the French structuralist revolution in the 1950s, this field of academic study believed that in order for knowledge to be considered useful, it must be converted into computerized data.
  
  The Marxist political theorist, Frederic Jameson, published “Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” in the journal New Left Review while teaching at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Jameson encapsulated our modern practices and cultural forms into three distinct categories. Market Capitalism concentrated on eighteenth and nineteenth century technological development, Monopoly Capitalism embraced the era of the late nineteenth century with the rise of the internal combustion engine, and Global Consumer Capitalism grew from the mid-twentieth century, where our focus now surrounds mass consumption, marketing, and nuclear technology. In the current era, the media frequently filters what the public sees, the role of the individual is suppressed through line labor, and copies of images often bear little resemblance to reality.
  
  Postmodernist Gilles Deleuze, Gadish adds, proposed the concepts of paradox, difference and change to advance humanity in his work Difference and Repetition published in 1968. He suggested that no two things are ever the same and the categories we use to evaluate them are different as well. Experience only makes sense when organized by space and time, while genuine thinking is often a violent clash with reality. Deleuze used mathematical concepts illustrating the theory that to live well, one must express one’s own power and push the limits of one’s ability.
  
  Orna Gadish combines all of these stunning philosophies into a single work. Her writing is insightful and thought provoking. This is the kind of book which lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned. Any lover of philosophy will adore this gem. I recommend it highly.
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  Andrea Jones

  Certainly not a read and forget about piece. No matter if you agree or disagree with the postmodern point of view, you owe yourself this book. It is guaranteed to inspire and trigger your imagination and critical thought.
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  Carsten Hansen

  A surprising reward
  
  I love to read and while I have favorite authors, series and topics, I occasionally pick up a book that is well outside my comfort zone. This book was such a choice and it returned my investment by delivering a fascinating, well-written, fast-read, treatise in postmodernism.
  I thoroughly enjoyed this little book that has encouraged to dive further into the subject.
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  James Callan

  Exactly what I wanted.
  
  This brief book gave a good insight into Postmodernism without taking a semester course on the subject. The author referenced a number of works for deeper study and backed up her points with quotes from many better-known works. For me, this was just the right...
  
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  Megyn Rimes

  A very charming read on postmodernism, with all the ingredients, salt and pepper, and more.
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  Anton

  It's a very nice essay. Not very long, but very concise, well written, amusing, and her perspective is one I found agreeable.
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  Leslie Stein

  This is the perfect intellectual food I was looking for in a cold rainy night. Get ready to feel, breath, and dream postmodernism! Fantastic!