Post-modernism.what is it

Question

My friend wanted me to ask on yahoo.answers what post-modernism please explain it for us (I'm sorta interested in it too) if you can help thanks

Don't worry i never heard of it till she told me either

Answer 1

Post- before

modern- now

ism- belief

Post- modernism= beliving in the time previous to the now.

Answer 2

Postmodernism is probably most easily understood as a reaction to modernism. So let's start with that.

Modernism was a kind of revolution in a variety of fields to push forward toward a perceived notion of progress. Modernists often thought that a certain amount of pushing might be necessary because some of our old traditions, ideas, and customs might be holding us back. So in modernism you see both a complete rejection of the old ways (particularly realism) and an attempt to thrust forward into a kind of super-future where everything is structured and makes sense.  In short, it is rational and untraditional.

Post-modernists are largely just guys who think the modernists had it all wrong. Since there are a lot of ways in which the modernists might have been wrong, that makes post-modern work kind of scattered (which is probably part of why it is hard to get your head around!).

What many post-modern writers reject is the modern assumption that things must have some kind of rational meaning. So many of the works that are described as post-modern HAVE no meaning, no story, no moral, no narrative, and almost no point. They are often just a bunch of things that happen with no particular connection to each other. Where a modern work might have a bunch of puzzle pieces that are meant to be put together, a post-modern work will be pretty much impossible to put together. Chaos is insurmountable.

Look, then, for things that don't make sense. The world is portrayed as meaningless and absurd. What's left? Often either a kind of wry, black humour or else a growing sense of paranoia. In books, look for a break-up in the narrative. Time jumps around. Focal characters and settings shift for no particular reason.  In architecture, it could mean stairs that go nowhere or windows that face other windows.  In art, postmodernism often pushes the borders of what can even be considered to be art in the first place.

Lots of pretty good (and weird) books are considered to be post-modern (few artists label themselves thusly). Catch-22, On the Road, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Slaughterhouse Five. So it goes.