Postmodernism

My sister has a PhD in French Literature from Paris, so I have had some contact with trends in modern literary criticism. I have made just the one serious attempt to come to grips with postmodernism and deconstructionism, however. This involved a close reading of Easthope and McGowan's A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, which was used as an introductory text for a course on the subject at Sydney University. As you will see from my review, my evaluation is pretty negative.

On the other hand, I was a little ambivalent about Sokal and Bricmont's Intellectual Impostures.

A good collection of negative material on postmodernism (with links to more positive pages) is Edward R. Friedlander's Why I am not a Postmodernist page.

To read:

• I've pretty much decided not to bother, but Carole Cusack recommends David Harvey's *The Condition of Postmodernity.
• Helen Darville reommends John Frow's *Cultural Studies & Cultural Value (OUP, 1995).

Last modified: March 2000