Postmodernism and Cultural Theory (Revised Edition)

Author: Jameson
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Since 1985, Professor Jameson has taught Western Cultural Theory courses at Peking University, and this book is a translation of the lecture notes from those courses. In this special lecture, Professor Jameson focused on the cultural characteristics of late capitalism. He argues that late capitalism, following state capitalism and monopolistic capitalism (imperialism), is a highly technological, fully commodified information society. In such a society, individuals' perceptions of time and space undergo new changes, and the depth of history disappears. Concepts such as multiculturalism, decentralization, anti-authoritarianism, narrativization, fragmentation, and lack of depth are the main cultural features of this society, while "postmodernism" serves as a summary of these characteristics. The "Introduction" and to Chapter Four of this book present the theoretical framework of the author's research work. In discussing issues such as culture and production methods, culture and religion, culture and ideology, and culture and narrative analysis, he critiques the theories of representative figures in contemporary Western thought and applies some basic principles of Marxism to new theoretical elaborations. Chapter Five, "Postmodernist Culture," is the most excellent part of the book. By combining insightful analyses of cultural industries such as architecture, literature, painting, photography, and advertising, he provides a theoretical summary of postmodernism and cultural theory. This book is the only academic work by Professor Jameson that has never been published in English. It wasn't until 1991 that Professor Jameson's comprehensive work on postmodernism, Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, was published. The theoretical analyses and arguments in this masterpiece were, in fact, already disclosed in Postmodernism and Cultural Theory.