Terms used by Postmodernists (2024)

Terms Used by Postmodernists

THE FOLLOWING TERMS are presented in alphabetical order; however, someone beginning to learn about these theorists needs to stay conscious of the fact that each major theorist uses particular terms in his or her particular way. It is especially important to keep this in mind when it comes to postmodernsim since critics are diametrically opposed on the issue of whether postmodernism is positive or negative in its consequences for the human condition. I have indicated those terms that are particularly tied to an individual theorist, as well as those terms that are used differently by two different critics. For an introduction to the work of a few theorists of postmodernism who are currently influencing the discipline, see the Modules on Postmodernism in this site. Whenever a defined term is used elsewhere in the Guide to Theory, a hyperlink will eventually (if it does not already) allow you to review the term in the bottom frame of your browser window. The menu on the left allows you to check out the available terms without having to scroll through the list below. Note that the left-hand frame works best in Explorer, Mozilla, and Netscape 4; you may experience some bugs in Netscape 6 and Opera. (See the Guide to the Guide for suggestions.) I will also soon provide an alternate menu option; for now, just scroll down.

A
Aura:
	Definition coming soon.
B
Body without Organs:
	Definition coming soon.
C
Camp:
	A sensibility that revels in artifice, stylization, theatricalization, irony, playfulness, and exaggeration rather than content, as Susan Sontag famously defined the term in her short essay, "Notes on 'Camp.'" According to Sontag, "Camp sensibility is disengaged, depoliticized—or at least apolitical"; however, some postmodernists, feminists, and queer theorists have explored the ways that camp (for example, the drag show) can trouble the belief that gender is "natural" or inherent, and can therefore work against heteronormativity. As Sontag argues, "Not all hom*osexuals have Camp taste. But hom*osexuals, by and large, constitute the vanguard—and the most articulate audience—of Camp." By exaggerating sexual characteristics and personality mannerisms, such queer-inflected camp could be said to contend that all behavior is really performative. Camp is also tied to postmodernism. As Sontag puts it, "Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It's not a lamp, but a 'lamp'; not a woman, but a 'woman.'" In this way, the term resembles Linda Hutcheon's very similar understanding of parody, which Hutcheon offers as one of the major characteristics of postmodern art. (See the Hutcheon module on parody.) Camp's relationship to kitsch is a close one; camp could be said to be a self-conscious kitsch. As Sontag writes, "Many examples of Camp are things which, from a 'serious' point of view, are either bad art or kitsch," though she also acknowledges that "some art which can be approached as Camp... merits the most serious admiration and study." Sontag also distinguishes between "pure camp," which amounts to a kitsch that takes itself so seriously that we can now see it as hilarious (in other words, the camp sensibility is on the side of the audience not the author of the work), and "Camp which knows itself to be camp" and is, therefore, already making fun of itself. (Click here for Sontag's article.)
Cyberspace:
	Definition coming soon.
Cyborg:
	Definition coming soon.
D
Differend:
	Definition coming soon.
Dystopia (dystopic):
	An imagined universe (usually the future of our own world) in which a worst-case scenario is explored; the opposite of utopia. Dystopic stories have been especially influential on postmodernism, as writers and film-makers imagine the effects of various aspects of our current postmodern condition, for example, the world's take-over by machines (The Matrix); the social effects of the hyperreal (Neuromancer); a society completely run by media commercialism (The Running Man); the triumph of late capitalism (Blade Runner); bureaucratic control run amok (Brazil, 1984); and so on. For a Lesson Plan that ties such stories to postmodern theory, see the Postmodernism: Lesson Plans: Matrix/Neuromancer pathway.
E
Ethnicity:
	Definition coming soon.
F
Fashion:
	Definition coming soon.
future antérieur:
	Definition coming soon.
G
Games:
	Definition coming soon.
H
Historiographic Metafiction:
	Definition coming soon.
Hypertext:
	Definition coming soon.
I
Incommensurability:
	Definition coming soon.
Indeterminacy:
	Definition coming soon.
Irony:
	Definition coming soon.
J
K
Kitsch:
	The reduction of aesthetic objects or ideas into easily marketable forms. Some theorists of postmodernism see the "kitschification" of culture as one symptom of the postmodern condition. The term can be as difficult to define as its companion term, "camp," since there are so many disparate examples that can be cited as kitsch. Jean Baudrillard provides us with a useful definition: "The kitsch object is commonly understood as one of that great army of 'trashy' objects, made of plaster of Paris [stuc] or some such imitation material: that gallery of cheap junk—accessories, folksy knickknacks, 'souvernirs', lampshades or fake African masks—which proliferate everywhere, with a preference for holiday resorts and places of leisure" (Consumer Society 109-10). As Baudrillard goes on, "To the aesthetics of beauty and originality, kitsch opposes its aesthetics of simulation: it everywhere reproduces objects smaller or larger than life; it imitates materials (in plaster, plastic, etc.); it apes forms or combines them discordantly; it repeats fashion without having been part of the experience of fashion" (Consumer Society 111). My class on the Holocaust (HONR 199K) defined kitsch on January 23,2001 by way of Spielberg's film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: 1) kitsch tends to simplify and trivialize complex ideas by reducing them to black-and-white stereotypes, as Dale Fresch explained (for example, Sean Connery's speech about the "armies of darkness"); 2) it is oriented to the masses and thus tends towards a lowest-common denominator so that anyone can relate; 3) it tends to be tied to mass consumption and thus to profit-making entertainment. As Baudrillard puts it, "This proliferation of kitsch, which is produced by industrial reproduction and the vulgarization at the level of objects of distinctive signs taken from all registers (the bygone, the 'neo', the exotic, the folksy, the futuristic) and from a disordered excess of 'ready-made' signs, has its basis, like 'mass culture', in the sociological reality of the consumer society" (Consumer Society 110); 4) kitsch remains, on the whole, completely unselfconscious and without any political or critical edge. When kitsch becomes especially self-conscious it begins to tip over into camp. The one point in the Last Crusade where kitsch could be said to tip over into camp is when Hitler himself signs Indiana Jones' book in the film.
L
Language Games:
	Definition coming soon.
Late Capitalism:
	Definition coming soon.
M
Metafiction:
	Definition coming soon.
N
Nostalgia:
	Definition coming soon.
O
P
Parody:
	Definition coming soon.
Pastiche:
	Definition coming soon.
petit* récits:
	Definition coming soon.
phrase regimens:
	Definition coming soon.
Postmodern Condition:
	Definition coming soon.
Q
R
Reality Principle:
	Definition coming soon.
Rhizome:
	Definition coming soon.
S
Schizophrenia:
	Definition coming soon.
Secondary Orality:
	Definition coming soon.
Self-Reflexivity:
	Definition coming soon.
Simulacrum (simulacra):
	Something that replaces reality with its representation. Jean Baudrillard in "The Precession of Simulacra" defines this term as follows: "Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.... It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real" (1-2). His primary examples are psychosomatic illness, Disneyland, and Watergate. Fredric Jameson provides a similar definition: the simulacrum's "peculiar function lies in what Sartre would have called the derealization of the whole surrounding world of everyday reality" (34).
Spatiality:
	Definition coming soon.
Sublime:
	Definition coming soon.
T
Television:
	Definition coming soon.
U
Uncertainty:
	Definition coming soon.
V
Virtual Reality:
	Definition coming soon.
W
World Wide Web:
	Definition coming soon.
X
Y
Z