Postmodernism: A Reader

This book deals with the arguments over postmodernism. Going beyond the post-structuralist controversy in its interdisciplinary scope, postmodernism questions the fundamental civil, political, ethical and cultural criteria which make criticism and theory available, legitimate, or, indeed, impossible. Yet since the key texts are widely scattered, the broad range of arguments remain relatively unknown. Postmodernism: A Reader gathers in one volume a comprehensive selection of articles, essays and statements by leading figures across the divergent terrains on which the struggles over postmodernism are taking place: in the fields of philosophy and politics, the artistic and cultural avant-garde, architecture, feminism, ecology, peripheral or Third World postmodernisms. The material brought together here enables a serious and rigorous consideration of the question Are we at - and should we endorse - the end of modernity? The book offers a general introduction which provides a useful overview of the postmodernism debate, and section introductions which place the essays in their social, cultural and political context.