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 ffi ffi ffi
people notsure
, Yotr're whotPostmodernism
is.And
if this,,erelike
subiecf,
it probobly
wouldn't
tellyou.
fewgrumpy
dernism isnot
intellectuol ,u-

trory,
itis .i(

ofound ffi
/, Erlfl
'f,r)t a
IVIIH

I crises ( !d

ofthe ['
Enlightenment.
JimPowell
tokes theposition
thotPostmodernism
isoseries
of"mops"
thothelp
peopfe
find
their
woythrough
ochonging
world.
Postmodernism
for Beginners@
feotures
thethoughts
ofFo.ucouft
oripo*rrono
knowfedge,
Boudrillord Jomeson
onmopping
thepostmod
onthemedio,jrrvev
r1r,1;!ri9compresion,
Derrido
ondeconsrruction
ond
/|4odonno,
ir,,
il:l::::*9,:Tl::llf:mr,,i:il,il;,;;;;ffi'i,,n
Pt/ oniro,r
such
os
cyberpunk
scFfi,
Buddhist
ecology
*d teledild'nics.
BYJlfrtP0wELL
II.I.USTRATED
BYJOE
I.ET
A /h6{a,tt

@
lsBN 0-86316-188_X

PHILOSO-PW
us $11.95
uK t7.99
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Text Copyriqht@1998JameEN. Fowell

llluelrationeCopyriqht@1990Joe Lee
conceVtand Deeiqncopyriqht@1998writers and Readers?ubliehinq,lnc.
Dookand CoverDeoiqn:RenbeMichaele
CoverArt: Joe Lee

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?ublishing FOR BEGINNER9* books aontinuouely sinae 1gT5

1975: Cuba . 1976: Marx , 1977: Lenin . 1978: Nuclear ?ower . 1979: Einstein . Freud . lgBO:
Vao . TroLeky . 1981: CapiLaliem . 19b2: Darwin . Economiste . French Revolulion , Marx'e
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2uC;aaal a y'r-*, y'J"n
lntroduction... 1

Postmodernese 6
Whotls Modernism?. 8
W h o tl s P o s t m o d e r n i s m ? ......17
fh o bH o s s o n . . . ........17
Lyotord
Jeon-Froncois ....19
figure
Discourse, ..........2o
ThePostmodernCondition..... .....22
Fredric
Jomeson .....3+
Postmodernism:or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.......31

J e o nB q u d r i l l a r d . . . . .......11

E o r l yW r i t i n g s .........15
"TheOrdersof Simulocro". ......18
ln the Shadowof the SilentMajorities ... ..........61
On Seduction. ......65
America .........67

TheEcstasyof Communication ..........69

Architecture
Modernist . .......72
qnd Art
Architecture
Postmodern ........77

C h q r l eJse n c k s ......78

Poststructurolism ........93
(ond Boudrilord
MichelFoucoult on Foucqult) ......94

JocquesDerridq .....96

deconstruction .-..-.99
ond FelixGuottori
GillesDeleuze ...1o8
D q v i dH o r v e y ......115

TheConditionof Postmodernity .......116

Artifocts....
Postmodern ......122

Blade Runner.
Cyborgs ........128

Cyberpunk..... .......131

Neuromancer .......132
Poporazzi
Audioonimqtronic
Teledidonics, ..
E Nono-Rovers .......131
Mqdonno ......139
lJntitled Film stills (cindy shermon) ...1+2

MTV. ......113

Borbie-Art..... .......1+1

B l u eV e l v e t . . . . . . ...145
Wingsof Desire ...115
Environmentolism
Postmodern ....117
(ln Retrospect)
Whotis Postmodernism? ....118
References..... .....158
lndex .........16o
 f{1
st. Dr
v

|-:
c-
I
t
"1"

-t''/'
---='-=:=t: 1-1
-A-*--

t
/\
 An afr,s brochurefor almoel
miqht aVVro-
any major univeroit'y
Vriatelyfealure a Vhot'omont'aqe shouldencounter an individual
re?reoentinqils seaeonof cult'ural a eociely lhatr wae different,f,hen
offerinqotrom aroundthe world.
The monNaqemighr feature a
femaledancerwit'han Eaetrlndian
head,a male Navaholeft' leq,
the riqht,leqof an Afro'
(/^
Americanmoderndancer,
a Lorso halt'coveredby
a suil and r,ie,and t'he
obher half feet'ooned
wibheaqlefealhers with
a
one arm dioplayinq
eacredTibetan hand
qeoture,anol'her
muscledarm
poundinqouf,a
a
rhyl,hmon a
JaVaneeedrum,
and Nwomorefemalearme in a
lyricaldance ?ooefrom lndia.
Contraet lhis culNuralmixing
with Nheliveeof moeT,of the ?eo-
Vlewho havelivedon Ihe Vlanetfor
mosl of iis hiotory. Cilizeneof the
MiddleAgee and membereof pre'
could live
modern0ribaleocieNiee
outrNheiryearo wilhout encount'er- the oriqinalinef'rumenf,
inq anyonewif,hanot'hergod, a
conlrary worldview,differenl folk-
Nalee,danceeor mytrho.lf Ihey
or
trhestraleqy wae No conquerit,
and eexual-
mililarily,economically
ly; Io converLit tro one'eown reli'
gion;or No kill it. Thevery exie'
t enceof the )t'her, Ihe very
?reeenceof the Olher,
Voeeda Ihreal lo lhe
ou??oeed univerealit'y
of one'eown beliefe,
ln the Tostmodern
aqe,however, il ie dif-
ficultrlo qet' throuqh a
d ay wit'houI confronlin q
rnanydifferenl realities.
gimVlyt'urn on hhe'N
and you miqhl hear
a world mueicqrou?
oinqinqa blendof lrieh loveeonq,
lndianraqa,heavy-metalanlhem,
Monqoli an 9 ud dhiel chant'- and
all lo Nhef,uneof peyot'edrume,
qamelane, os, panVipeo,
didqerido
nooe ffuf,eg,alpenhorns,gilaro
and hambourinee.And all Nhese
eounds may be producednotrby
but elec-
tronically,to a danceablereq7ae
or hiV-hoV
beat,,and broadcaet, to trheconcert,,
benealhlhe
worldwideviaeaLelliteto millione hood,throuqhthe earVhones of I
of viewere-NheprofiIegoingf,o
eavethe Drazilianrainforeet.ln
herminialurized
bewearing
radio.7he may
jeaneunderher
I
facf,, qo to a Nraditionalskift,,
I
fundament
al- and havea belly I
iet,lelamic full of Coca-Cola.I
weddingin T i c ku ?a n y
an EqyVtian NewA7emaq-
I
villaqe,
and azine,and you I
the bride,eur- will find the I
roundedby
elern eldere,
Vyoleriouo
and Unknown
I
hoodedand veiled eold in a thoueand I
go that, no intrud- f orme-Vey chic channelinge of I
ing male7aze willVollute her- dieembodied epirite, Dud dhist,
I
Aay oecretlybe lioleninq Taoietr and Hindumeditatrion
Iechniques,Nalive American
I
sweaf,baths, cryot alo and herbe, I
elecNronic medilatrio n ma chinee I
and exoticVotione.Your
NewA7er eeeeno conl,radiclion
tyVical
I
in aLt endinqa Quakermeetingin I
f,hemorning,eabinqa Zen macro- I
biotic breakfaet,sitting tor Chi-
neeeTaoietrmedihalion,eatinq
I
an IndianAyurvediclunch,doinq I
a Chero-keesweatrbeforeTai Chi, I
munchinqdowna eoyburgerfor
dinner,dancinqin a full-moon
I
wiNchinq ceremonywith her neo-
I
TaqanGoddee; 7rou?, I
I
 and Ihen cominqhome
I and makinqlovewilh her I
I NewAqe boytriendaccordinq I
I to Hindu Tanlric princiVleo.
All rhe world's culL,ureo,
I
I rit,ualg, race6,dalabankg, I
I mylhe and musicalmot'ifs I
I are int ermixinqlikea omor-
qaebordin an ea(chquake,
I
I AndNhishodge-Vodqeof I
I hybridimaqeoio qlobal, I
I froo dinq t he trradilional
mao6 media,and also Cyber-
blossoming wilh newunivereee
I o?ace-a e?ace ever- and whichio beinq
and realit'ieo,

I Vrobedby an ever-ex?andinq
Vopularion and
of cYberpunks
I cyberoharnanowho-l ike
I electronic rat's burcowing

I eidewayoNhrouqha
vaef.,interconnecled
I series of elecNronic
I gewer6,cellarg,?ao-

I eaqewayo,caverne,
quttero, and lun-
I nels-are capableof
I naviqaNinqfrom cyber'
I sil,e Io cyber'eite via
an almosl infinit'elyint'er-
I linkedcaf'aloqueof codee.
I ln obherwords,we live in-
I t'=iil creaoinqlyin a world of in-

I t erconnect'ed difference9-

I
 differenceoamVlifi
ed and multiplied
at,Ihe oVeedof eleclricity. No
-{,F lonqeris there one moraliNyor mph
l*)--' or riNual
or danceor dreamor philooophy
or conceVlof eelf or qod or culNureor eVyleof
ar| t hat, Vred ominaIee.
TheexVlosion of newcommunicahions technoloqieoand
lhe continuingfragmenlaf,ionof culruresinro lhoueandeof
liwle culluree has torced us tro viewour worldas simultane-
ouelyexVandinqand ehrinkinq.Andjuer as the unexVlored
Nawworld of earliercenluriee had ite exVlorerlwho set
ouNon voyaqeoof diecovery,bringingback newma?e,
whichwereconetanf,lybeinqre-drawnae ever new
reqionewereVrobedand chaft,ed,tha Newyostmod-
ern World-?o ef,mod ern Keality-h ao ite
mapmakersand explorero.
The maVmakereof Vaet cenf,urie;euVerim-
Voeeda fictif,iouoqrid u?onthe qlobe-Nhe
meridians-trhelineeof latitude and lonqi-
tude. Theychafr,ednarcowstraiNs,f ar-
flunq exoNicarchipela7oo,
dark cont.i-
nenle,?revailing winde,waveeand
c ur renle. ?imila rly, 7oehmod ern
intellecf,uale-Vhil oeophere and ih e-
orief,e-have att emVtedNo maV

te chnoloqiee, economiee,cyber-
e?acee,mediaeca?ee.
But not everyonelhinke
inf,ellectrua
Ily about,all
f,he chanqeef,haf,are
'r,akinqplace.
TheseTostmodern sim?lylake
arbieLlor architecf,s
oymbole,
nof,eof the newnix of meeeaqee, cullureo
andthencrealea video,
andmedia, 6onq,Vaintinq
thal refleclelhe Toetmodern
or buildinq condiNion,

WewillbeexVlorinq
lhe lhouqhtoof someof theee
" ma?makere"and"explorero," TogNmodern
Nhege
inLellecNuals in lhe ?aqeetrhal follow,
andarNieNe,
 Thie is
Male eublecL-Voeilione,"
derneoe,
becauee,in Tosf'mo
quye no lonqerexiet.TheY

But woit o minute! lf Post- have become" eubject'-

Voei-
modernthinkershqve some lion6,"Thesame qoeefor

reolly new ideosmopping women.ThereforeNhe

the contoursof our times, ohraee"ThirdWorld

why hoven't I heord of these women"needeto be
ideos before? queoifreduVt'o "pool'-
c o l o n i afle m a l ee u b -
A major reaoonie t.haI Toet' The
1ecN-poeif,ione."
ie eucha difficull lan-
modernese phraoe"T,heway"
quaqelo underofand-and moef, couldproVerly
bookeon Toelmoderniem
are be renderedae
wrif,f,enin lhie parlicularlyob- "lhe hegemonic
6cureLonque. (mie)reVreeen-
For inelance-lel'e eu??oeeyou LaIionand delval'
livein Lhe 197Oe,and you want to orizaLionof." As
eay "Theway while guys Nreal you can eee,7ogl,'
ThirdWorldwomenae 6ex objecteio moderneee
reliee
s h a l l o wa n d d i e q u e l i n q . " u ? o nu e i n ga e m a n y
Thefire| thinq you havelo do e l a e h e ea n d h y p h e n e
lo lranelaf,eil into Tostmodeneee and oarentheseg and
is f,o makef,he gent enceet op mak' whal,ever other kindeof
inq eenee.You do f,hieby eubsf,i- marksyour computer can
IuLinq myetrerious ?oetmod ern Thuelhe
makeae ?oe6ible.
buzzwordeor Vhraeeefor ordinary word"ohallow"ehouldcor-
wordsthat do makeeenee.For recLlybe renderedao "a
ingf,ance"whif,e0uy6"can prof- texLually(ra)inecribedpraxie
ilably be reVlacedby the Vhraoe of pre-dieeeminale d, (counI'er)
"VhallocraLicand VanoVIic(in Lhe eubver eive' d eothle6one6o,"'
Foucaultian eenee)Oead-Whire'
 Tobe pertecllycorcecf',your frnal infinile bewildermenf'.
Thenyou look
t ranelat'ionshouldsoundsome- Nhemin Nheeye,cornpaooionaf'elY,
Nhinqliket'his:"Thehegemonic and Nelltrhemlhat' Ihe Vlurivocal
entalion and
(mie)reVreo ambiquitieeof (non)meaninqin-
delvalorizalionof t'he alwaye- herent in their queeLionobviouely
alrea dy multi-(de)/ gend ered subvefrt'he Voooibilityof your
plurivocalitiee and (de)cen' deliverinqlo NhemNhekind of
Iered delconstrruct'ed cheaVand low-downVhallocrat'ic,
and dialoqically
Vrob- hoq-
and loqocenlricVatrriarchal
--

,l
'
z-.2
/ra--_---,
lematizedludiceimu- wallowof an anewerwhichthey are
/,/
l,/.
'/l
\
\
lacra of abeentlpre- caVableof underet'andinq,
)/ senl poelcolonial
wellt'mnot sosureI under-
femaleoubject'-Vooi' lgl
stond whot Postmodernism
Iions,by hyVer-
is. And is it POSTmodernlSM,
and
erof,icized
PoStmOdErN'
postMODERNism,
orienNalized
ism, post-modernismor
phallocralic
Postmodernism?
and VanoVIic
(in lhe Fou- Itrhae beenwriT'Ienin all
caulhianeenoe) Nhos e wayo. 7oet'modernism- as
)ead-Whit'e-Male Lhe "pool"' i6
Vreface imVlieS,
eubjecl-Vooitrion eomelhinqIhat, followemodern'
discourse,ig a Nex- ism, However,
peoVlewho Lhink
tually (re)inetibed about,euchthinqo ae Tost'-
Vraxieof Vre-dieeemi- moderniomdon'traqreewhet,her
naL,ed, (counter)eub- Toetmodernism is a breakfrom
versive d eplhleesneoe," moderniamor a continualion
of modernism-or bot'h.ln fact,
@ *not!!?? they don'f,evenaqreeas t'o
E Andif anyoneaokeyou whal moderniemis, muchlese
whaNall lhal meane,you juel Toetmodernism.
beholdT,hemwilh a qaze ot
Uh
Well,whot is modernism?
r
H lvloderniem ie a blanket,Lerm
, for an exploeionof neweLyleeand
trende in the arLe in the firet half
of the zolh cenlury.lf lhe modern
era had a cenlral imaqe-it wae
LhaT,of a kindof non-imaqe-a
Void-and if the era had a quo-
Iation that, eummedit,all up,il was
lriehVoet,Willia
m SuIlerYeaLs'slinee:

But whot things fell oport in the modern ero? What center
could not hold?

E Whatfellapart in Lhemodernerawerexhevaluesof the ltth

century,the Aqe of Enligh;f,enment,,
aleo knownae bhe Aqe of Keaeon.
Trobablythe mainvalueof lhe aqe, beeidesreaoon,wae lhe idea
of Vrogreoe.
 ln f,hel9th cenlurybhinkerebecameoVlimisticIhat by ueinqNhe
univerealvalueeof ocience,reaaonand loqic,they couldqet rid of all
Ihe myihs and holyideasf,hat keVf humanityfrom ?roqreoeinq, They
felt this wouldevenLually
free humanilyfrom mieery,religion,
euperoti-
f,ion,all ircationalbehavior,
and unfoundedbelief.Humanilywouldthue
?roqreeeLo a elaf,e of freedom,happineeeand proqreee.
Francishacon eaw ?roqreeet akinqI,heform of a wiee,
elhicaland ecience-minded
eliLewhowouldbe Nhe
guardianeof knowledge
and who,
t h o u q hl i v i n qo u f , e i d Le h ec o m m u n i -
l,y,wouldneverthelese
inffuenceil.
Marx aleo believedin
and envieioned
?roqreee, a
Ulopia,7ul Marx'eUloVian
vieionwae of a ?er-
ect,world brouqhtr
aboul by a maLe-
rialiet,ecience,

Otherbhinkere,
however,were nol, Eo
oVtimietic.Edmund
9urke wae diequetedwilh
Nheexceooeoof the French
Revolution.And lhe Marquie de
1ade, lhe qreaf,-qranddaddy
of 3/M,
exVloredthe pervereitieeof eexualfree-
dom-Vainting a dark Victrureof hurnanliber-
al,ion.TheeociologietMax WeberVroVheeied
lha| lhe future wouldbe an iron Vrieonof reaeon
and bureaucracy,
 E Well,moybeYeotsond oll the
skepticswere right. lt look os if things
did foll oport. Whot did Science,
get us, ofter oll?
Reasonond Progress
ThezOthcenturyhos beennothing if
nightmoreof
not o dork, Kofkoesque
rqtion-olly odministereddeqth comps,
deoth squods,Auschwitz,WorldWqrs
I ond ll, Hiroshimo,Nogosoki,ecologi-
,,)),
col disqster-ond vorious systemsof /,'),
\s
totolitorionism.And oll in the nome
of the Enlightenment
vqluesof Science,
Reoson,Liberotion,Freedomond
Progress
!

IIII I t..n'I I, n" t,,*. ;t, t.-E.:tl I

7uI I haven'|,evenlold vou He eawthe worldae the dance

abouf,the biggeet,ekepticof
a l l - I h e G e r ma n ? h i l o
eo V he r
FriedrichNietzsche.Nief,zeche Dionyeue-the danceof the
had no lolerancefor Enlighl-
values.Keason?Uni-
enmenf,
vereality? Mo raliry?7roqreee?
Alltheee Enlightenmenf,pre'
leneee meanf,nolhinqtro him.
of the deolructivelycrealive
and creativelydeef,ructivegod
Willto Tower-and Dionyouo
wae hie modelof howlo acL in
Ihe chaotic eLormof life.Any
man who acf,edin euch a way
w o u l db e a S u p e r m a n .

411
lv
 And Nietzeche hit the
nail right on t,.hehead.

notrdrill holeein lhe walleof our

housesand hallowlhese hollowe,
Afr,erall, many
worohiVpinqt hemearneolly
ZOt h-century IuV ermenhave
with lhe worde"O rmyHoly Hole,
?rovenlhaf, you haveto deotroy oave mel),l"
in order f,o create: Hitler, Vao,
No.We livein a cull,ure
1halin,etc. Nief,zeche
aleo ?ro'
lhat, esNeems?reeenceover
claimedIhe "Oeabhof God" as
absence,icon overnon-existence,
wellas trhedealh of Chrietian
voluVNuoue
virqinovervacant,
- moralilyand metaphyoico.With
vacuum,wholesover holesl And
one waveof his VhiloeoVhical wand,
ye|,,wherewe Vreviouelyhad a
the central oymbols,insNilutions
center-wheNher in Christrianreli-
and beliefeof Weslern cullure,
qionor in f,he
whichhad alreadyeuffereda IS NOTI{IN6
idealeof eci-
lremendousblowby lhe Aqe of
Keaeon,diea??eared-?OOF-
enceand $nmtD?
?roqreoo
likea maqician'srabbiT,into the -euddenly
dark folds of a cloak.
we had nothinq,
What remainedwereonly dark
waveoof Nothin7neee-a Void.
Nature, however,
abhorga vac-
uurr, and we Wegf,ernerg,unlike
Ouddhie|,e
and Taoietre,
do nol
toleraie voids very well.We do
 )ome modernjof'g,euch as Heminqway, creaf,edworkeof arr f,hatr
ex?reeeeda kind of Vaeeiverecoqnitrion
of this lack of a center. ln hie
ehofr,eIory "A Clean,
Well-lighted?lace,"
oneof hiecharac-
f,ere, a waitrer,
//t

reworksf,he t'/t't

Lord'e Trayer
andthe Hail
Mary-eubetritrut-
inq "nada"(or
"nolhing"in gVanieh)
atr oiqnificanf,
Vlacee:

rc,c,trA I v7'7A_9'7\
tv vvJ
\yvLf

lf modernthinkerecouldno lonqerbelieve
in a
Chrielian God, Chrislian moralif,y,or scienlifc ?ro7reoo-if Ihere wao
no lonqera cenlerlo\Neetern culture-it was neceooaryXo find a new
one for, aft,erall, we don'I likevoids. And il wae Nief,zsche-whohad
proclaimedt'he deabhof Enliqhlenmenlvaluee,God and Chrislian
moraliby-Ihat, ehowedthe way. Alf,houqhhe had deVrivedWeetern
culture of a centrer,he only did so by Vuttinq eomethingeleein ils
place-nof, onlythe idea of a guVermanwho ie beyondqood and evil
buNaleo ar| beyondqood and evil.Thue,amonq allNhefraqmentalion
and chaoe,amidel everythinqfallinqaVafi,,modernarAists beqantro
lookfor oomeet ernalvaluetrhat wae beyondall the chaos,
TheeearlieNeadoVtedIhe heroic,almosl )uVerhumanrole of
rediscovering
lhe eeeenceof humanily,of findinqan eNernalvalue
beyondall lhe chaoe,of fillinqin NheVoot-NielzecheanVoid
in various
wayo.ln a world withoul a cenf,er,aeslhelics-
atb-became centrral,Afr for arL'o sakel Modern
q wa s abo uNVaintinq- eelf-abeorbed, eelf-
Vaint,in
?oeee6eed, exVlorinqite own VrimaryVoeeibili-
|/ tiee: all pooeibleinheractionebef,ween
VerceVt.ion,memory,idenlify.
Oohemian, avanf,-qarde, exVerimenlinq
wilh Iraditional qenreeand otylee-
moderna(bisf,e,who brouqht mod-
ern arDto ite fullesl
bloeeoming
eome-
Iime be|,ween
1910

NrW and the 193Oe,

ralliedaround poet
Ezra Tound'eballle
cry "Make it new,"eeeinqNhemgelvee
a6
creators of the newralher than as
?reoervereof old cultruralforme,
)uch aft becamea way t o reVreoenl
Ihe eNernalin Ihe mideVof chaos.Cubiemdrew
ineVirationfrom lhe eimVleqeometriesof
Af rican oc ulVhur
e, d emaleri alized objecte, bre akinq lh em
down into trheirbaeicgeomelricforme,CubistrafrieT,s
Vainted, ag TicagooVut,il,, "nof,what,you oee,but what
you knowis fhere."
sensiliveyoulh seek- aro6ewar machines ated AuechwiLzand
inqtroeecapethe ao ?owefiulae Ihey Hiroehima.AndNhere
confineeof hie were effrcient ln ltaly, wereolher Vrob'
in
CatholicuVbrinqing Ihe war machineof leme-aftietic oneo.
Dublin,ie baeedon lhe )u?erman ltAus-
trheancient,Greek solini.ln Germany,
mfih of the hero )uVer-
Oaedelueaf,tremVtinq m a n
NoeecaVethe Laby- Hitler's
rinIh. Thue,it, has a Nazi
rnyDhat it s cenler. Nrainsran
OneoymbolIhaI on f,ime,
atlem?f,ed f,o fill in deliverinq
Ihe Voidlhal had theirhuman
been left by Ihe carqo lo deabh
"deal,hof God" wao campe like
the oymbolof the Auschwitzand
machine.Toel Ezra These
buchenwald.
Toundeaw wordeae cam?oNhemselves
machines.The Voet drew u?onmoderniet
WilliamCarlos plannina
qndarchi- Modern
Williamssaid Nhat NecturalVrincipleo. arL and lit er-
the wholeVoemie a And lhe Nazl war af,urebecame
machinemadeuV of machinehad iIs own increaeingly
difficulf
worde,Modernarchi- center-Nhe myth of No underetand.
tecle f,houqhl ot Ihe SuVerRace-f,he Moderniam-
housesae machinee euVeriorityof blue- becameHiqhmod-
for livinqin. ln facl, all eyed,blondmembers e r n i e mH
. i q hm o d -
of society wae be- of the Aryanrace. ernismpeakedin
cominqmoremachine- 9o one Vroblem 1922,wilh the
like:bureaucraNic, with moderniemis Vublicationof
raf,ional,
Nechnical, thal scienceand rea- JameeJoyce'o
Fromthie kindof eon didn't juel create Ulyeeeeand
machine4ike
efficiency ?roqre6e-Nhey cre-
T,9. ElioN'o"The Wastelandl'
ln bolh Ulyeeeeand Finne-
ganb Wake,Joyce exVerimenled
with a sNream-
of-conscioueneee
elyle, plunqin7the reader within
Ihe fluid,ehiftrinqfree-flowof hie
characNere'?oychee.
E]iol'g "Waeteland" exVeri-
menNedwith a fraqmenied poetry
full of literary,hieNorical
and
mytholoqicaltidbire from around
the world-depiclinq a soul and a
eocietyin fraqmenNalion
and
deeVair, eeekinqreinleqraf,ion,
a
new cenf,er.1of,h Joyce and Eliof,
rejected lhe etraiqhttorward, and
ralional ffowof the et ory or
lheme. Theyaleo rejecLedNradi-
ti onal characT,erdevelo Vmenl,
f avoringinetead a fraqmenled
otyle. Dul Ihis dislikeof conven-
tional characlerdeveloVment
and
the celebrationinsf,ead,of Vrv
vaf,e,eubjecNive
ex?erienceadded
trothe t endencyof moderniem'e
arf,iels,assembledin emall
qrou?ein ?aris,Oerlin,Kome,
Vienna,London,NewYork,
Chicaqo,CoVenha7en,Munichor
Moscow,t o viewlhemselveeas an
exiled,alienahedcultural eliLe.
ln "The Metamorphoeie" lhe
wrif,erFranz Kafka eymbolized
Nhiealienationof the arl,jet wilh
Nheimaqeof a huqehuman-eized
buqNraVVed
in an abeurdhuman
environmenl.Such afrieIs creaf,-
ed workseo challenqing
and weird
tha| Nheycouldonly be appreci-
ated by a narrowaudience.This
onlyfufi,heraddedtrolheir
elitiet imaqe.
Modernafr,, in fac|,, wao eo
far-ouI thal it, dividedculture
into "Hiqhbrow"and "Lowbrow." Il,
excluded
the middleclass,who
could not,underelandiI, and qave
riee No a kind of "Vrieolhood"of
echolarsand crif,ice.Theirjob wa6
and ie f,o explainmoderniem'e
myof,eries,To read James Joyce'o
Ulyeeea,T.9. ElioN'e"Waeteland"
or Ezra Tound'o"Cantoo" ie an
needa quide,
advenf,ure,You
ae Nhoughyou wereexplorinq
the Amazon.
E rhen how doesPostmodernism
differ
from Modernism?

E there ie lirrleaqreemenr
on Nhe eubjecl,
Varf,lybecaue
"TooT,modernism"-whaleveril is-is an aNIemVINo
of what ie qoingon now-and we can oeeIhe Vreeenl
only in retrosVect,,

)ne ToetmoderntheorieL,lhabHassan,offere a Nableof differenceo

the Nwomovemenf,g;
beT,ween

Modernism Tostmodernism
cloged) <" " " " " " ">
Form (,coniuncf,ivel Antiform (digjuncbivel
o?en)
{ . . . . a a . . . o o o o o }

{ . . o o . . . . . . o o o o }

Hierarchy { o o e . . . . . . o o o r o }
Anarchv
AfL Obieet/FinighedWork {oooo......o..o} TrocegglTertormance/
Ha
Tresence Abeence
Cenlerin { o o o o a a a . . a o . . o }
Diepereal
{ o o . . . . . . . o o o o o }
TexIllntefreKY
KootlDephh { o o o o . . . . . . o o o o }
Rhizome/7ufiace
(T?L 267-0)
 ,':
,g
7

Thue,where Yeaf,e,Eliot
and Joyce eouqhrf,o
reoLorea deep new cenT,er.a new
eenoeof Vur?oee,
a newl eeneeof deeign,form
'
and deVth,a neweenee of grimordialoriqinin
m$h,ToetmodernieLe
oflen eee no reaoonfor a
cenLer,lnelead Lheyf avor a decenLering-a ?lay
and eufiace.AccordinqLo
of chance,anT,iform,
.p'.1
lasean, whereaef,heimaginaLions
of mod'
ernieLeeuchae Joyce,Ticaoeoand Eliol were
aroundnewcentere,newcoherenl
conslellatring
gf,ruclureg,7ogT,mo
dernieIg often create, com-
?o6eo, r ? a i n I e n t r i r e lbyy c h a n c e - e p i l l i n qo r ;
throwinqpainl on canva;eee,randomlydeter'
miningthe qiLchand duraLionof mueical
noLeein a melody,eeekingIo de-definearf,-
l:tr
f'
lo create non-arf,or anf,i-arf,.For Haegan,
.t

7 John Cageie a Toelmoderncompoeerwho

advocaleecompoeition by chance-by
e i m V l yL u r n i n go n L h e m i c r o V h o n eaen d
recordinqrandom,everydayoounds,
E lt oll soundspretty chootic.lt's no wonderthqt we need
"mop'mokers," intellectuolsto chort the depthlessnew world
without q center. Who ore someof these"mop-mqkers"?

THE MA?- MAKERg

l^?ortant 7oetmodern Thi nkers

E Jean-FrancoisLyof,ardwaebornin
Francein 1924andtrauqhtin Alqeria,
Braziland California,beforebecoming
profeeeorof philoeophy aNIhe Uni-
veroityof Taris in 1968. ln 1985 he
becamedirector of the Colleqelnterna-
Iional de Thilooophie.
For some 15 yeare he wae associa|,ed
with a leflieNqrou? called goaialism or Bar-
bariem,which,amonqother trhinqe,criNicized
3 ovieI- elyl e communiem.AlNh
ouqh Lyotard
becamedjsillueioned
with socialiemand
Marxiem
ao earlyas 1964,Vhe
evente of the studenL revolt
in ?arie,in May of 1968,
confirmedhis
unregf,.
Discouroe,figure and drippingwilh deeire.Like
ln 1971we muchmodernpainNinq,
dreame
find him are fragmenf,ed.ln lheir attempV
b e g i n n i naq to makeunconocioue matrerial
Ionq,VoeI- vieual,dreamedierupt Lhe kindof
Maxist, linearawareneeeNhaNlanquaqe
periodin requiree.Thevisual, fiqure-makinq
@

G whichhe is qiven nabureof the unconecioug,Ihou7h

o
o
N ot h i n k i n q at workwithin lanquaqe,dioruVte
o
about, languaqe,
dieruptrstrherational

ft
\
:\
=^--
,!i/ttt, \\

orderof lanquaqe,Thie
ie becauee
the fiquralnaf,ureof Nheuncon-
and Nhearts. eciousie difficultrIo reVreeentin
VhiloooVhy,lanquaqe
His book Diecouree,figure,ar7uee lanquage,
with Ihe conceVt,Vut,forAh by ThefiquralreeieNereVreeentra-
JacqueoLacanIhaI lhe uncon- tion in T,hesame oenoef,haNlhe
eciousmind is likea language, Holocausl reeisto reVreeentrabion.
lnstead, Lyohardeu4qeotstha| At,AuschwiNzlhe Nazis would
Ihe unconscious
is not so much drownouf,the ocreamgof the vic'
likea lan7uaqeae it ie visualand time in the death cam?oby play-
fiqural,like6hefiqureoone draws inq muoicloudly.7imilarly,t o
or Vainte.Languaqe,
after all, ie atlemptr t o reVreeentAuechwif,z
ll reVreeeeo in lanquaqe-t o reducethe
flat, Lwodimensional.
desire.Dreamo,on Nheolher degradaf,ion, deaf,hand et ench
hand,are vieual,fi7ural,alivewilh lo a conceVN-drowneoutrthe
al dream fiqureo,
three-dimeneion ecreame,AccordinqLo Lyotard, itr
is thereforeneceeaarythal f,he
Holocausf,remaine immemorial-
Ihat, iN,remainebeinqlhal which
cannot be remembered-but aleo
Ihal whichcannot,be forgotten,
Thus,any art, af,lemVlingto reV'
reeenlthe Holocauetehouldcon-
t i n u et o h a u n l u e w i l h i t e i n a b r l i N ymenle, 3y alt.emVtinqlo preoenN
No reVreeenN
T,heunreVree
entable, trwoimVoooibly
lf, should
to oay f,he uneayable.
No haunt ue with the
conf,inue
feelinqtrhaI there ie eomelhinq
Of,hert han re?reoent
alion.
LyoNardoffers Ihe examVleof
Vaeaccio'eTrinity,painf,edon Ihe
walleof 1anf,a Varia Novella,in
whichdieplayeboth
Florence,
medieval ele-
and Kenaieeance
differenl eras,Lhe
paintrinq6eemeT,oeay Ihal f,here
io alwayl an Otrherwhichcannol
be truly reVreeented.
Another examVleLyotrard
offers is Cezanne'eMont
9 a int-Victo i rr- a eimulf,an-
eou6aI,IemVI Io preoenL
NwodifferenT,modeeof
vieion:vieionwif,ha distinct,
focal cenler and vieionwhich
i e V e r i p h e r adl i,f f u s e i, n d i e -
tincN.Aqain,f,woheteroqe-
neoueelemenf,g.
I
trtl
The Tostmodern The
7overnment,.
trl Heterogeneous?Condition repo(Deurveyothe
T
sf,atrusof scienceand
n Yes.Helero' ln 1974,the year
qeneouerneano Toetmodernnoveliel f,echnolo6,y,
and hae
"rnadeup of dissimi- ThomaeTynchon'e becomeoomethinq
lar elementra," Gravityb Rainbow,
ToeLicmelaVhor wonLhe Naf,ional
a c c o m ? l i e h et h
ae SookAward,"sfreak'
eame.WhenI eay "my inq"becamea fad in thal for lhe past
loveig a roge" I am Ihe UniLedSIalee, few decadeeeci- ff
N
invokinga hef,eroqe-
neou6difference.
Aft,erall, a rose and
my love may havevery
lrAamaCaeeof the encehae increas-
ingtyinveoNiqaLed
languaqe,
N K
((n

linquie-i l il,

liVllein common.
Oecaueeall f,hese
worksof arfi bring our
attention Eo f,he
Ohher,to a radieal
difference,they are
polirical. Lo deaf,h etoraqe,daf,a banks,
on a eandwich, of
and Vrobleme
and a )oviet tranelationfrom one
probef,oucheddown computer languaqeT,o
on Mare, Lyof,ard anof,her.He Vro-
qainedinternaf,ional claimedNhat,f,'hese
fame for The Poat- chan7eo
Nechnoloqical
modern Condition: a would havea major
report on knowledge, imVacXon knowledqe.
a n a c c o u n lc o m m i g - fhus, in 1974 he
sionedby lhe Council Vredicted that, no
of Univereities knowledge willeurvive
of lhe Quebec Ihat cannol be
 and etoraqeof infor- int,ereot,iNIurno ouf',
mationwillno longer is nof,so much in oci-
and
d e p e n do n i n d i v i d u a l e ,enlific knowledqe
bul on compuT,ere. Ihe scientificmet'hod,
lnformalion will be ?er oe, but,in howsci-
producedand eold. enNificknawledge and
Nalione will melhod leryibimize
fight for lhemeelves-how
informaf,ion they makethem-
lhe way and
selveebelievable
Ihey ueed to f,rusNworIhy,And al
fight,for Lerri-this Voint,Lyotard
fory. lnformaf,ion makesa disf,inctrion
willzip aroundf,he betweenecienlific
globeaL f,heepeedof talk and narcaT,ive
and Veo'
electriciNy, t alk.Of couree he
ple willtry No et eal doeen'Nuge f.,he
it. The role of the word"Nalk,"He
sf,af,ewill grow weak- u6eoocienlifrc
er.Takinglhe placeof "digcouroe"and
eLalee,huqemulf,ina- na r raf,ive "diI caurga."
NionalcorporaNione
willdominaNe.
7ul havinqeaid
tranelated into com- allthie about,
Vuter lanquaqe-inf,o Lhedirection
quanlitiee of informa- of ecienf,ific
Eion.Learningwillno knowledqe,
lon7erbe aseociaf,ed Lyolard adde
wihhhhe lraining of lhat, scienhific
minde-wiNhleach- knowledge
ie noN
ere f,raininqeluden|,s. lhe onlykindof
For f,hetranemieeion Hie
knowledqe.
 tltt

El Norrotive?
I
n Yee.I willqiveyou eome
examplee IhaI LyoLarddoeenol
uee,buLwhichhelVexVlain hie
f,heory.
Whenmembere of the
Winnebaqo
tribe ei|,arounda
fire and hear a chanl of how
Ihe world was created by
thought,or Nheboshon-
':.,
0o, a 1anf,uIribe,
chanl howNheqod
Dumbavomiled
fofDh lhe Moon : atr NheeameT,imebheyleqitrimize
and ?lare, lhe eocietyin whichIhey are lold.
or when Theteller of trhemfih doee not,
the early haveI,o argue or ?rove,likea sci-
JaVaneoe entiet, whenhe chanNeIhe otory
hearda of Oumbavomitinqf,he Voon and
chanN the 1f,ars, Verely in Vefiorminq
about f,he Lhe myth, in lhe vibrationsof 6he
formatrion the beat,,the rhyT,hm-lhe
chanT,,
of Heaven 6en6eof naf,uraltime is dieeolved
and EarAh and Ihe awareneoooVenet o
from a mythic lime: No narcalivetime.
Trimordial S\ Accordinqto Lyotard, nureery
Eqq-they rhymeoand eome repetitiveforme
are lisf,en- of contem?orarymusicaNIempI
inq to narcative,to poVularst o- t o enNerNhesame o?aceof mylh-
riee,mythe,legendoand t ales. ic f,ime.
And euch mylhe leqitimize Thechanter of the mfih leqil-
ih ems elvee-m ake Nhemeelvee imizesiNeimVlyby etatinq:
believable-juot,in the t ellinq.And

24
 *'He"eis fhe claimedIhaI the chanl hae been
chanled forever,thal gumba Him-
r^tylh o0 Bvtvv} )a, eelf wae Ihe firel one t o chanV
Vot tifirtg fhe l.{oon r , h ec h a n t .T h em f u h , l h ec h a n L e r ,
lhe audience,
all form a kindof
avr| Sfatrg, atS l'Ve socialbond-a socialqrouplhal
atlwatyshecrA if leqitimizee
ileelf f,hrouqhthe
chantring
of lhe
charrfe,A. lwill
mfih.The myf,h
char'rf if fo yoh irr requireeno
r,try fr4vrr. LiSf er\." authorizaf,ion
or
Ieqitimizatrion
He then chants the myth. other "v"
/-
When he is finiehed he eaya: lhan
iloelf.
*'He"eenAs fhe The
mwh
u'ryfh o* Butr,"rbat. definee
The u^athwho hats what hae ttluilWr\
I the righl \
cl"l*anfed if lo ro be eaid and '(
\
yoh iS Pontgo." donein Nhecullure. \
7 u f ,a c c o r d i n q t o t
The narrator has authority f,o Lyotard,ecientificdie-
chant f,hechanl becauoehe hao couroeie a differenl kind
heardit chanted himeelf,Anyone of lanquaqeqameI,hannar-
l i e l e n i n gq a i n et h e o a m ea u t h o r i - ral,ive diecouree-th an myth.
ly merelyby lietening,lt ie even 5 cientificdiecoureecannol
legitimizeiteelf.
 t*o
and )r
Lwo g^{
i(

T;;* J
,6;1J
I

Ihe work of the Vhilooopher Ludwiq

WiVLqenef,ein.ln hie early workWittrgenstidn
lookedfor f,hepertecf,,loqical
languaqe
that could of,ale everylhinqwilh clarif,y
and Vrecieion.Anyof,heru6e of lan-
quaqe-euch ae tellinga joke,reciting
poetry,or chanf,inqlhe
mfih of Sumba-he
wouldhave6eenae
meaninqleee.
7 u I l h e n h e c h a n g e dh i e m i n d .H e
be6anLo eee LhaLLhereare many
differenLlanguaqeqame6thaN we
?lay, For inetance-?r ayinq,
oinqinq, Iellinqjokee,qoeeiVinq,
makinqa promiee,
awearinq, taking
a vow,Wonouncinq a coupleman and wife,f,ellinq
a lie.Scienceie a differenf,kindof lanquaqeqamefrom thaV of mylh,
ll cannot,legilimizeileelf or validate if,eelfby ile own ?roceduree.
ln the lanquaqeqameof eciencef,hescientiel makeedenola'
Livegf,af,emenl,grather than myT,hical ones.
tl\t

El Denototivestotements?
I
n A denotativesLaf,ementig one ouch as "'Moon'
ie a f,ermtrhatrdenof,esa material body (oafellife)
' whichrolaleo and orbita aroundlhe planel
EarIh wilh a uniformand knowneVeedand at'
a defrniledislance,accordingf,o knownNew-
f,onian(or Eineteinian)law6."
 qeneralized
cribical
Do you meqn to
inNell
ect-in f act, f,he
soy thot NASA
veryideaof an
scientists,in
intellectual-was
order to legitimize
a Vroductof
the moon-shot, -
lhe Enliqht
chont the myth
enmenl,lnlel-
of how Bumbq
lectualswere
vomited the
called
Moon? "'VhiJoooVhers
I
No.Accordinqto because In Francelhey
n
Lyolard,eciencehas lhe qreat werecalled
thinkere ' philoeophee,
upontwo
deVended
ot.hernarcaNives.
The of the wherethey
firet ie polif,ical,
the e?4, enjoyed6reaf,
eecond, VhiloooVhical. men , celebrityand
Thefirst, narrative such ,onf Vreotiqe,and
eciencerelieeu?on a9 do to thio day.
in orderNo leqif,imize
itself ie

associat'edwilh the Volr,aire,

Rougseau, Reject rellgiouo
l9rh century,trhe buffon,Condillac
and authorlt'yl Downwith
and the
Enliqhtenment DideroV,
appliedrea- old lhinge like meta-
The
FrenchRevolution. son to everyarea of phyoice,ignorance,
l9th centurywas also life: reliqion,moralitry, ouperotit ion, int oler-
calledthe Aqe of Rea' politice,eociallife, anaeand paroahial-
6on,-in FranceLe Theideaof a place ism! Let,t'lheratlional
Sibcledee Lumibre* in oocietyfor a kind of faculties of t,lhemind,
weddedto ecience, mindfrom iqnorance to accountfor, exVlain
advance knowledgeto to f,olal being. and eubordinate
all
everexpandingviotasl both NheFrench lesser,little, localnar-
Let reason unloakthe Enliqhtenmenf,narra- ratives.)omeother
laws of nature and live and the German melanarralivesare
usher in an ofiimletic knowledqe
narcabive lhe philoooVhiee
of
agel Let the praaliaal are what,Lyotardcalls Marxigmor t,henarra-
disaoverleeof eoience metanarcativesor tive of Chrisliansalva-
allow men and women grand narrativeo,biq tion. Thusf,henarra-
to get, on with t,he gtories,glorieg of f,iveof a successful
?ro?er busineeeof mythic proVorLione- Mare exVedition
in
eeekinghapplneeel thal claimtro be able whicha 3" x 3" nano-
And happineeemeano roverlandeon the
p olitlical freedo ml Let,
lhe happinessof hu-
manity on earth mean
the libert'ythe liber-
ation of humanity!
All this meano ?rog- -11OCelsiussurfaceof
reesl Let scienceand lhe Vlanetto qenerate
reaoon bring ?rog- and tranemit backNo
rese and treedoml Earth diqital imaqee
Joinedto f,his of the Mare-oca?e,-
Frenchpolilicalnar- ie a litlle narcalive
rative of freedom is Nhat io Vaft of the biq
a Germannarrative: ot ory-Nhe metanar-
Heqel'oVhiloooVhy
of raiive-of f,hefree-
Ihe Unityof all dom,trheliberalionof
Knowledqe.
For Heqel, humanity(French),
knowledqe
playedan and the af,tainmentof
essenlialVarLin a ?ure,self-conscious
the gradualevolu- eViril-the Unityof all
tion of Nhehuman Knowledqe
(German).
 -J./

Soporodoxicolly, science
octuolly
dependsuponthesetwo grond norrotives
for legitimizotion.
4fY'

That'e right,.buI lhe Vroblem-accordinqto

Lyotard-ie thal einceWorldWar ll, peoVleno lonqer
believein Lhesetwo grand meNanarratrivee.
AfLerall,
aVplyingscienceand reaeonIo Lhe conelruclion of qae
chambereand efficienlrailroadschedules,
Lhe
Nazieexterminaledmillioneof humanbeinqe.Did
freedomand liberaLion?
theee VeoVleexVerience
ol increaeing
Anddid ociencefulfillAegel'enarcaNive
No. For Vhyeicehas led ue NoNherealizabion
knowledqe?
lhaf, elec|,ronocan f,ravelI,wodifferenf,palho Nhrouqh
6?aceeimullaneouely-or ?aeefrom one orbil No
anolher withoul croeoinqf,heeVacein beNween.A Varadoxl
if our
And howcan we unfoldthe Unity of all Knowledqe
Nhoughtproceeeeeare notrevenabletro comVrehend
howLheeeIhinqe haVVen?
Oecauseof disbeliefin NhemeNanarca-
lives trhat had leqilimizedecience,science
no lonqerplayeNherole of a herolhat,
wouldlead us elowlyloward full freedom
and abeolute knowledqe.
@ ,u* if scientificreseorchis no longerobout finding Truth-then
whqt is it obout?

E Whenecienceencount
qoe6oVVooihe
er6 ?aradoxes,
directioneeimu\,aneouoly,
,r,hat,
suchas the elechron
it,abandoneiNesearchfor
' decidable
truths and eeeksIo legitrimize
itselfthrough
performativity. Scienceotopo aokinq,"Whatkind of
research will unfold the lawe of nature? " and be7ino
aekinq,"What kind of reeearchwill work best?"
i- And t o "work be6t" meano"What kind of
research can qenerate more of the eame kind
of reaearch?Can it perform? Can it produce
more of the oame kind of research?"9o ecience
ie no lonqerconcernedwitrhtruth but,wiT,h?er-
f or mativiNy-V erto r minq-V rod ucinq mo re of th e
oame kind of research,becaueethe more research
you Vroduce,Ihemore Vrootyou Vroduceand the
moreyou are oeenao beinqriqht,the moremoney
and poweryou getr.
9o whenVeopleno lon7erbelievein lhe metranarca-
lives trhat,legitrimize
ecience,scienceie then forced
No leqilimizeiloelf-juef, as Ihe myth of Dumba
vomitinqthe Moonand 7trars leqilimizeoitoelf by
itself. bolh scienceand VeoVlechantinqthe bumba
chant,can then oay,

\e Ao whatf we Ao,
becarhse fhatf's fhe
warywe A,oit"
 Thenwhot'sthe difference legitimized
betweenthe two, qfter qll? by Ihe
I q r a n dH i n d u
n The difference,for LyoIard,ie
LhaNwheretradilional eocietiee
Nheliberalion
are underthe eVellof one domi- ',,;r
', .-/
of the human
nanNnarraf,ive,
ouch as the mfuh
eoulIhrouqh
of Dumba,TosNmodern
oociely ie
Enliqhlenment.
a oocief,yin whichno one narca-
ln conf,ragf,,
tive-biq or litlle-no one lan-
otory-tellerat,your
quaqeqamedominaf,ee, ln Tosl- localbookslore, or
modernsocietrieo
many Hlqtr
vieitingthe children
micronarralivesare jammed
atryour
toqether.And bhis carnivalof nar-
local
raNiveereVlaceethe monolilhic
echool,
?regenceof one metanarratrive. may tell
a t radi-
But doesn'tthis meon the dis- tional 'f

oppeoronceof our universql Eskimo

or
,/i
h
systemof meoning? Doesn't
this just creqteq void?

Yes,Dut,thie void ie filledin Naf,ive

by ewirlingqalaxieeof little eto- Ameri'
riee-lit t le micronarcaf,ives. The can
void ie filled in by a kind of et ory- Trick-
IellingIhaf, doee noL seekt o gT,er
|eqitimizeitself Nhrouqhreference t a l e ,o r
t o a eingleqrandnarcativeout- the eNory
side if,self.For instance,a f,ellerof of RaVunzellettinq down her lonq,
talee in ancientrlndia,eitrtrinq qoldenhair for a handeomeyounq
underhie banyantree, wouldhave
Vrince,or the otory of bumba
Iold Nhousandsof etrories-buI vomiNinq f,he Moonand 9t ars-
all Ihese e|,orieewouldhavebeen and f,ellNhemall in one oiltinq.
Noneof Nheeeeloriee eeekeleqilimizaf,ion
or Vrooflhrough oomeqrand narcalive.Each

E Butisn't
ffi" [yotord's storyobout
disbelief in metonorrotives
just qnother metonorrotive? lsn't he being outhori-
torion obout how there cqn be no quthorities?
I
n Yee.Lyotard has beenattrackedon Nhoee
!'t grounde.ln facL,hienotiontrhatrVeoVle
haveetoVVedbelievinqin qrand narcativesbe-
caueeeuch narrativeemarqinalize
minoriliee

7-
tilffi;

definitionof ?oef,moderniem ae
incre dulity tow ard metan a rrativ ee
conlinueef,o havegreat inffuence.
 Whoore some
othermop-
mokersof the
Postmodern
world?

A eecond infru-
ential Toslmodern cribe movemenf, Americaninduslrial
Ihinker is Fredric through naf,ure eociety,
Jameeon.As a and ouqqeolten- u?oetmodernlem,
Marxigf,,Jamegon sion and resent- or ihe Cultural
ie int eresf,edin trhe ment belweenhie Logic of Late
relationehiV
of rhe machocharactrere. Capitalism"
individualto the The ekillof a bull- Lyotardcelebratee
world of objecNe, fiqhter or t roul the multiVle, incom-
whetherNhoeeob- fishermanin Hem- heteroqen-
Vatrible,
jectre be cans ot inqwayreffectrsthe eoue,fraqmenled,
o o u ?o r m u l t i n a - Americanadmira- conf,radict ory ahd
lional corVoratione. trionof trechnical ambivalenf, nabure
Like mostr Marxietrs, skill-buf, rejecte of Tostmodern 6o-
his refreclionson Ihe way in which ciety whileJameson
Ihie relationehip induetrialoociety distrusls anddie-
alwayelead backto alienaleoVeoVle. likesit,.ln hiefal
hielorical reality. Thue skillis dis- moueeegay"?opl,-
For instance, moderniem:or
Vlayedin leieure
leminqway'e?roee acbivilies,far from LheCulturalLoy'ic
olyle-hie bare, indueNry,
uoually of LatreCaViIal'
Vared-downeen' by exVatriateewho ieml'Jameeon
f,enceg-can deg- havealienated doesnot,seeNhe
themselvesfrom
-:,{ff
S E C ON D :
m o n o V o lcya V i a
t l-
Late Capitaliem,
i e m ,d u r i n ql h e a g e
whichbrokedown
of imVerialiem.
rhe 19lh and ZONh
Toetmodernera ae National marketre
centuriesinto
Voetinduef,rial-ae definitrehietori- ex?andedinI,oworld
an ebb in the Lide markat"s.Thou1h
cal periodo.
of caVitraliom, f,haoe mar\els were
F I R 9 T :f r o m
Ka|,her,he sees iL baeedin Vafricular
17OOr,o 1&5O,the
ae an intensifica- imVerialnation-
periodof marketr
Nionand lat eel gNateg,they de-
caVitraliom.
Durinq
Vhaoeof a caVifal- Lhis era induetrial Vendedu?onout-
ietrworldeyetem, lyingareao for raw
caVihalaocumulatr-
Jameeonwae materialeand
ed moetly in
heavilyinfuenced cheaplabor,
n ahi,b
r,:1,
Al rnarket s.
by Erneel Vandel'e
 THIKD-i'.heToslmodern Vhaee
eruVledon Ihe worldecenewilh the unre-
strictedgrowVh of multinalional
corVora-
lione-euch ae Coca-Cola. Thieis Ihe Vureot,form
of caVilaliomyeI f,o emerqe-invading nature by
deetroyinqthe ?re-capilaliet,forme of agricullure-
and invadinqthe unconecioue mindby advefiieinq.
Mandell'ohiot,oryinepiredJamesonlo proclaim
Ihree culNuralVeriodo-in each of whicha unique
cu\ur al logic dominaf,es;

Fiv51-is fhe ^ge o0 Reatlisr,"r

hietoricalnovel.
Theera of Ihe bourqeoie,

SeconrA is fhe ^ge o+ Hoaevhisu

JamesonadmiresmoderniembecausemodernieN culf,ure
wilh I'he world.TakeEdvard
ex?reoaedite dieeaNistact'ion
Munch'eVainT,in7The gcream. For Jameeonit' ie a deeVerate
cry ex?reeeinqNheqreaf,modernieV Nhemeeof alienaf,ion,
of identrily,eolilude,and eocialfraq-
roolleeeneae,lack
menf,alion.
gimilarly,VanOoqh'o
Vaint'inqPeaoantthoee critr-
icizesan enfire world of peaeanl poverLyand mieery.
Modernielbuildinqe, euchae Le Corbueier'e "qreat

Vilolio"etrandouf,ae grand ut'oVianbeaconsin

lo the deqradedcity our'
briqhl conf,rastr
roundinqthem. Theyex?reeea Volirically
visionof Ut'oVia.
Vaeeionat'e

Thiv/' is fhe ^ge oP PosfuroAevnisu,t

and fraqmen-
?oelmoderncultural f orme reflecIlhe dielocatrion
t alion of lanquaqecommunities-eVlinlered inlo smallqrouVe-
each o?eakinq"a curiousVrivale neeewith no linkt o any realily:
languaqeof itreown,each profee- the collaVeeof Nhedistinction
eiondeveloVinq iIo Vrivate code or betweenhiqhcullureand lowcul-
dialect,and frnallyeach individual lure; maeeeeof oVechaf,,ore
aban-
cominqNo be a kindof linguistic donedf,o a qazeof imaqe
ieland,oeVaraXed
from everyone addictrion:'Nimaqee
el6e" (co 114). etripVedof reality,
Thue,accordinqtro Jameeon, leavinqonlya 6ur-
?oslmoderncity -dwellersare face,a gimu-
a l i e n a h e d , l i v i innqa n h a l l u c i n a - lacrum,schlock,
f,ion,an exhilaraNinq
blur,a reality kitsch, O movies,
evaporatinqinlo mereimageo, ?ul? fic|,ion,adver-
oVectacles,elranqe newwarVein Nioing,motrele,
time and oVace,fixal,edon com- KeadersDiqeef,cul-
moditieg,on Vroducf,o,on imaqee, f,ure:Nhemerelydeco-
likethe exVloeionof Andy Warhol'e ralive, euVerficial, qra-
poVa(0, on floweof imaqeeet olen t uitous eclecbicism
of
from conoumercultrureand re?ro- 7oslm od ern architeclure
ducedwilh induetrialreVebiIion, c a n n i b a l i z i nagl l N h ea r c h i -
CamVbell'e
)oup cane,Srillo leclural eNyleeof the
boxee,botllee of Coca-Cola,col- Vaet+f,he Donavenlure
laqeeof idenf,icalimaqesof Holly- lotel in Los Anqelee,a mon-
wood eNareeuch as Marilyn Mon- umenl of Toef,modern
archi-
roe,all eamenees,all surtace-all f,eclural eVace.
deVthleoaneee.
ComVared
to Van
Gogh'e Peaaant
thoes, whichex-
?re6eeea real
worldof rural
mieery,Warhol'e
Diamond Duet
thoee ex?ree6-
eo a depthleoo-
 lile a[ac[doon!lleentensapostmodenn
[ypers[ace!lfenides
eleuatonsandescalatons
etennally upandilownlile 0iantgondo-
lloating
'-')t-
I
:.-- 1 diny,dnonlnin0ina[euuildenin0
emptire$$.
lleuuants
* r- Ii amals0tlrathecanmapftiswaytotheextennal
uuonldl
=:l
:1- i ,;ameeonf eelet'hat, hie dizzineet whenf aced wirh ?oet-
) our incaVacilyto ma? our rela-
rcrld of vael comVuter nef,worke
>ns.Toetmoderntheory, too, offere
,m of the centerleespoelmodern
,
worldthan a cure.
I
,wellknownfor hie dieT,inclion
Onethinq trhal ToeLmodernily
hae
4o. In the aqe of modernitywe sLill
' I L ^ t i ^ . , ^ ) t , ^ , - - r ^^ - . . t ^ ! ^ ^ L Lt- -
believed in the eubject-the eqo.
Afr,ieteeuch ae Heminqway ?oo-
eeeeeda unifiede4o and idenli-
f,y-even if it wae an alienatedone,
1:-1151 t',tbtl And?oeoeaeinq
an identity,Nhey
: i l : l*\J
-n.' # ?oe-
f-'{tis1
-\.r-'.
eeeseda otyle f,hat could be the oubject
of Varody-you could make fun of iI by imi-
t atrinqil. Everyyear,for instance,f,hereis a
lilerary conteel in whichwritere imitrale
tt Heminqway's
otyle in a humorou; way,
,\lF-.1-
i:tH-.
 Everyyear we met at Harryb bar. Wedrank there. And everyyear
was a good year. And we sat and drank and imitated Hemingwayb
i.,
etyle. And we were good there.

:A 7f
f.t t- ,<,J

',,4>
('oK
(,)
N+

but Toetmodernityhao fraqmented lanquaqeand T,heoubject-bolh

havebecomeechizoid.Jameaonfeelethat, parodyand ealire are only
Voeoiblein an era af healthylinquieticnormaliNy.
r
It\t

lll You meon like in Gulliver'sTrqvels,Jonothqn Swift wds oble to sot-

irize the qbnormql longuoge of scientific reoson becouseeveryone
knew what normol speechwqs like?
I
lfl Yee,Dut,inthe ToeNmodern ie nolinquiot.ic
aqe,rhere normaliLy.
Thuewe can only Vroducepaotiche-lke an impereonaNorwho ran-
domlyet,arls ouNimVersonalingboqarr, and Nhenswirchee,in the
middleof hie line,f,oMarilynMonroe,and rhen No Doy Georqeor
Jamee Dean,and f'hento KonaldKeagan.lnVaeticheLhereio onlyIhie
omorqaebordof quotarione-like a dozendifferent,movieand M'W
videoeand televieionehoweeVlicedrandomlytoqether.
 As a Varxisl who believeetrhat,the world is run by hielorical
forces,Jameson'ebigqeet7ripeaboul the ?oslmodernera is lhal it
eignaloLhe end of a qenuineawareneoeof hiehory.bu| Jameson
feels that an awarenee;of history i6 Vrecieelywhat we
now needto VieceIoqether our ehaf,Nered ?oef,-
modernlanqua7eand eelvee,which,likeHumVly

DumVLy,havebecome
' fragmented,Itrie whal we needto unifylhe
paoI- Vreeenl-fulureof trheeenNence-t o
unifyour ?oycheeand our lives.
What we needis whal Jameeoncallean
"aesthetia of cognitive mapping"No repre-
eent our imaqinaryrelationehipLo realiLy,What
we need,accordinqto Jameeon,i6 Marxism-a eci-
7't encef,haf,can f,,ellwhaVie imaqinaryand what ie
JP real-Nhal can recoverlrue historicalconecioueneol
and normalcy.

pl rut wouldn't Lyotordsoythqt Morxismis

q metonorrotive?
I
l) Yeo. And 60 you can oee Ihat nol all
Tostmodernistsaqree.ln fact,,Jameson
eeemeovercomeby T,heffow of imaqee
in the Toetmodernmedia-but,
our nexL"ma?-maker,"
(t Jean
gaudrillard,oeemsIo euq-
qeet,a kind of paooive
eurrenderf,o this ffow.
 and the Deathof vhe Real
-I1ne gatssivevichu'r oS
You arve wiveA.
-fl.1,cou,rgullv, auA 42Y4vtiS-

irrg. Yoq awe hygrrofizeA by

the lhbe, by fhe obsce\e
€low oP iu,ratges. )orr ratise

You{v eYelias. A Varu,rgirs53

is krreelirrg ovev yoq-volug-
h^ously-fhe muscles oP he"
rrecl., fhe ivory cqwe o€ he" shoql/ets, illramirre/
as i€ by cool moonlight She lic\cs he' scar"let ligs liLe
ath arhiu arl, gla:ilng fhem with at shee\ o€ u,roisft^v€,hev eugovgeA

forrgrae glistertirrg 45 if laqs fhe whife feefh. She leatrrs close",

€eel her cool breo*h, fherr the shat"Phesso* ihcisors Peh-

etvarlirrg yotar treck. Yoq close yoqv eyes ih at latrrgtrotor,ts

ecsfatsy atrrA watiFwatif wifh beatfirtg heatrt

trot'heimaqeryof ToeNmodern
This,accordinq t'heoristJean
gaudrillard, Notrheworld
is eimilarto eociely'erelaNionehip
of maeemedia,adve(bisinq,Lelevieion,newo?a?ero,
Theera of maoe communicat'ione
maqazines.
invadesour darkenedroome,embracinque
with if,scool,lunarliqhl, ?enetrabinA
inNoour mooT,?rivale receggeo,We
auccumbto the fatal af,Nracl.,ion,
^urrenderinqourselveein an ecelaoy
of communication.
 Thetrhoughtof Jean Dau- ln Vay of 1968-while mini-
drillard ie parl of a New Wave skirt-cladAmerican
of French theory lhat womenwerecele-
brokeon American bralinq No 7ra Day
ehoresin the'7O9,'BOs by burninqNheir
'9Oe-replacinq
and
Nhetrenry over undies,whileAmerican
former waveo , hi?VieoweretriVVinq
dominaledW No" TurVleHazel"' V ellow
poet-WorldWar ll Yellow,"and "Mrg. Kobin-
fiqureesuch as oonn-Tarieian youlh,
)a(Dre. Just ae backedby Communisteand
Nietzecheonce other Marxiste,took f,o Ihe
the
Vroelaimed etreets in a defianI and jubilant,
Oeabhof God, mood, creat inq oomelhinq
baudrillard's betrween
a carnivaland a
Nhouqhtdeclares Tarieian univerei-
revoluNion.
I,he death of f,ies wereeventuallyohut
modernity, the down by the studenl
death of the eNrike,and factory
real, and the workerefollowed
death of eex. suit. Troduction
Oaudrillard and educabion
underminee
deep camelo a hall,
foundationsof Underthe threatr
thouqhi in dieci- of a radical over-
Vlineesuch as throw of the oyo-
Marxism,eemi- Nem,de Gaulle
otice, polit,ical left,fhe countrry.
ecience,economice,
reliqiouo Oy June, however,
if, wag oummer
eNudies,anthropoloqy, liheralure, vacabionlime, turning the would-
film and mediaetudies-to be studenl revolul,ionaries
inlo
namejuol a few. beachqoers.
Theworkers,encour-
a7ed by de Gaulle,
relurned Notrheir lEl Structurolism?
Semiotics?
T
jobe-and thinqe
fil Yee,ANthe eametimeae
wereeoon back the etrudenf,
uVrieinq,
revolu-
No normal. Iionary evenf,swerelaking
).
Nevet'Vhelees, placein Lhe eLudyof lan-
; )
the mags conla- I

NL^
gion of Nhemove- IITL'

g
ment left deep de )aueeure arquedthat mean-
o
imVreeeione
on inq in lanquaqeie nof,Vroduced
oomeof the partic-
o
by a colleclionof sounds
ipanT,o.
Oneof theee O
waeJeangau-
I
drillard,
who,
for
#
manyyeareto iI 1ausgure,there is
I
come,would ei'ill no natural corre-
)
continuetrobe eVondencebetrween
)
inffuencedby Nhe"oound"horge,lhe
Marxiet,thouqhl, concept"hor6e"and a
but,wouldfeel horee.Katrher,he Nheorized,
increaeinqly
that Ianguageie a eyelem of differ-
Marxisf,Vhiloeo- 't\N encee,eomebhinglikeIhe red,
phy ie ineuffrcienl ".t\ ).\\\
. \ ',\\ yellowand qreen
No exVlainlife in liqhtoin a
',\\
lat e caVitaliet \..
traffic eignal.
societiee.9o he
beqanlookinqalso
to gf,ructuraligm
and eemiolicet o
ouVVIemenL
Marxiem,
t1,o fu ct?z?p-
4for"ab-.* (u-
6tern f"t ooh,
re ^"a(f.*
ootae'Ff,'ho.'

The red,yellowand
qreenliqhle qaintheir
meaninqeonlyin relatrion-
ehiVNo each oNher.A eye-
lem of purple,blueand qold
liqhtowouldworkjueL ae well.
9 emioNicsexf,ended
3 aue-
intro
eure'e linguietic et rucNuraliem
obherrealme:mfuh,faehion,f'he
reliqion,elc, TheIerm
media,Volitrice,
"Devil"for inghance,hag no meaninq ri.
by ileelf. lI onlylakes on meaninq
ag an elemenlin a eyet'emol
Chrielian Nheoloqy/ myth,
where"devil"ig relaied lo
other conceptssuch as *Q.r',,et
',
"Godr" "Anqel," eIc, ,
 Earfy Writinge
)emiotice ie the slrucluraliet eNudyof variousoyetemeof
meaning,likemyT,he,
f,rafficoiqnalo,lanquaqe,
fashion,eNc.Dau-
drillard'sworkscombinea eemioNic,
eNrucburalisl,
etrudyof cullure
with a neo-Marxistanalyoio.For insNance,in his early works-The
)yetem of )bjects, The )ociety of Consumption and For a Cri-
tique of the ToliticalEconomyof the )ign-Saudrillard arque;
that, juot, a6 a younqboy who qroweu? amonqwolvee
t(
D . becomeowolflike,Veoplein ToetmoderneocieLy,qrowinq
. \ t\\\
{\
up in a world of objects-become more objecllike.
ThouqhTostrmodern
oocietryie basedon Nhecon-
.i
oumpbionof commodities-on buyinqand uoinq
thinqo-Ihis coneumVtioncan nevermakeuo happy.
'(\t
\-/-'
lEl But don't commoditiessotisfy our noturol needs?

This ie not,what,Marx believed.For Varx, an

objectr,beforeif, ie a commodity,hae a natural
usevalue.A car is ueefulbecause
iNio Vlea-
eurableto drive-becauee it lete you feel
Nhevoluptuouecurvalureof the earth-
\ and becaueeif,traneVoflo you to vari-
oue Vlacee.
However,ltrlarxaleo believedT,hat, examVle,he ie buyingint o a
in a caViLalieteocietyan objec| wholesyef'emof needelhaL ie
becomeea commodivyand I,akes aT,once rat'ional,homoqeneouo,
an an exchangevalue.Thecar eyef,emalicand hierarchical.
The
for money.Dul
can be exchan4ed purchaoeof f'he Mercedeedif-
Saudrillardeaw Ihie Marxiel terenliateo Lhe buyereocially
of an object ae too
aeoeoementr who driveVolkswa-
from VeoVle
l i m i t i n ya, n d e u V V l e m e n t ei rd - , n d L h i e? u r -
6 e n ea
wilh a semiotic analyeio- -- '-r)
--1--i-; chase helVe
^$- ,nffiY'4 . .
an analyeieof Lhe /gn ..' jtRf>*- inLegrale
m e a n i n qo f t h e F ! hinr,oyef,em-
objecl.For,likef,raf- j ,.',.,.i Vf\( lM y aricallyand
ficlishre,com- ffi-Wfigtffibffit' rafionallv,
''*i;..;.-y
moditieehave Z \H I,N, into a homo-
m e a n i n a el n, l h i e \ qeneouelevel

donr
moditiee i'2ilh,'
( *ffi bvetof eociery
1ueIea|iefynaf'ur.,4/','lt','..'lso.ffitW.'N.-inwhichevery
','N\
al needs-rathe. $ ,, ,ir*dffiffiffillii
I \ __ onedriveoa
eocietry our dtNi,:
crear,ee ffifllii;1i,, $i$'- Mercedee.
r.\,,
neede.lluman ffi *NN$ffi. for \au-
Thue,
'\\lrr \-*- 6-'
beinqo,afLer all, ffi drillard, lxrlarx
did
havea deeVdesireLo dietrin- the eymbolic,
not,recoqnize
from oLher
guiehthemeelvee aopect'of f,'heobjecl-
eemiof.,ic
humanbeinqethrouqhoyotemo Ihe factrthal whenyou buy a
For
of oocialdifrerent'iat'ion. Mercedeeif, eiqnifieeeomet,hinq,
membersof tribal cultures The Merc&des, beeideehavinqa
Nheeedifferenceomiqhtrbe oig- use value,gerveoae a eiqn of
naledby rhe uee of certain lhe consumer';Vreoliqe,rank,
f,at,toog or f eat'herg. and eocialelandin7.Thuecon-
Oul in our eocief,y,whena eumVtionie noLiuet conoum7-
conournerbuyoa Mercedes coneum?-
f,ionbut'conoVicuoue
tor
inetead of a Volkowagen, lion, We dieplaywhaLwe buy,
 in orderIo differ-
cona?icuouoly,
entiatreourselvee oocially.
Andyou can'trbuyjuol one
object in ordert o enNera eocial
level,you needNo buy into an
entire eyolem \:::---\-
of objecte. Thue --.-----:>.-
whenyou are Vickinqout,your
Mercedeo,you also needtro ohop
for a T,ennig
club,an egt,af,ein an
exclueive
neiqhborhood,
a qood
Vrivate echoolfor your children,a
faehionablevacaT,ion epof,,etc, A
go
need,lhen,ig not, mucha
needfor a Vafticular object,as it
is a need Io disl"linguiehoneeelf
eocially,a needfor social differ-
enceand meaning,
NeiLheris coneumption
Vrimarilyfor pleaoure-for il
requireoimmensereaourceeand
enerqy.A VereonmuoT,earn trhe
moneyand leieuretrimetro obtain
the Mercedeeand ehow it off,
The effoft requiredt o do lhie
of-f,endemandeNhedenialof
Vleaeure.ConeumVNion,
lhen, ie
not natural-somelhinq we aut,o-
maticallyinheritfrom nature-
butrcullural,TheconeumVtion,
dioVlayand uee of objectetakee
placeon Nhebaeieof cullural
codesthaN demandwe conform
by ceaoeleoelybuy-
ing inlo f,he lalest'
fads and trends.
Theeecodeeare
juot likethe
ruleeof
4rammar
that, underlie
a lanquaqe-
makinqcom-
municalion
The
Voeeible.
codeeorganize
commoditriee
introhier-
archicaleyelemo of meaning
baeedon Vriceand preotiqe,This
Iiring feedinqfrenzyof coneump-
lion, this searchfor beinq,mean-
inq and Vreetiqetrhroughcon-
eumVtion,cauoeofatique and
alienationin the heroeeof con-
eumVbion. Alwayslatentrin con-
e u m V t i o n , I h e n , l u r kase V i r i to f
rebellion.Coneumersreacha
Voint,of refusal-they qeI fed
uVand end up burninqtheir brae
or eruVtinqinlo more radical
forme of eocialchange.
 a IttNKt, fi€REFoRr L rMl

'The Ordere of inNoa new realif,y, howNherelaNionehiV

9imulacra" whichhe outlinee be|,weentrhe real and
Ourinqrhe 197Oe in "The Orders lhe simulacrumhae
and 19BOebau- of jimulacra." chanqedNhrouqhhio-
drillardet oVVedem' tory.Durin7Nhefeu-

Vhaoizinqhio Marxist Simulqcrq? dal era,whenGuin-

leaninqoand was Isimulocro, evere; blewkisses
heraldedas the plurol; from the ramVafie
moef,advancedthe- simulocrum, of castrleeto Lance'
orief,of mediaand singulorl lote in ehininqarmor,
eociety in f,he ?oetr- whenthe feudal lord
Yee.For Dau-
modernera, wae Nheoymbolof
drillardsimulacraare
soci-
Tostrmodern eafthly auNhorily,
coVieeof real ob-
elies, dominaled by and trheVirqinMary
jecto or eventg.ln
comVuters and f,ele' the etained
illumined
"TheOrdereof Simu-
vision,havemoved qlaeewindoweand
lacral' he deecribee
 the hearf,sof her
devof,eee,oociely
wae orqanizedby
to
a relaf,ionehiV
a eyetremof fixed
eiqne,which
werelimited in
n u m b e ar n d e u ? -
Voeedlydivine.
For insLance,we
can read in Lance-
lol's coal of arms
h i e e o c i a lr a n ka n d
elalus. The eocial
ffi'
elalue
of trhe
Vrinceeeblowinq
kiseeefrom trhe
ram?arLe,ie eiq-
nifiedby her
dreeeand by her
adherenceto f,he
convenNione
of
courT,lylove.And,of
c o u r 6 ea, l l t h e g e
codeeof behavior
and dreeeare divine-
Iy eancLionedby f,he
eerenely
aI the Iop
eymboleof lv1aryand
of the hierarchyof
o f J e e u ee h i n i n a
eymbole-throuqh
o l a i n e dg l a e o
windowe.
ln eucheocieLiee
o n ei e a e e i q n e d
to
a fixed social e?ace,
likea caeLe,and
\t
mobilitybelween
@ eocialclaeeeeor
caef,esis imoooeible.
A serf, Iaboring in
the fielda, could not
become a knight.

w@

":0
 Then,in Nhe ruled like a qod over hio pertect,
Veriodof early world made Voeoibleby con-
modernily,from cref,e-which for him wae like a
lhe Renaieeance mental substance,7lucco aleo
f,o trhebeqinninq
of emerqedin Ihis Verioda6 a medi-
Ihe lndueNrial
Rav- um of baroqueaft,, and qave riee
oluNion,Iheriqidorderof lo gaudrillard'eeu?remeexamVle
lhe feudalera brokedown of thie aqe-Nhe 7Iucco Anqel.lt
due t o Lhe rise of the wasorllyone more oteV
bourgeoieie. to Vlaolic.
Durinqthe medieval DUNsimulacramoldedof etuc'
periodNheworld wae creaf,ed co, concrele(and latrerVlaelic),
in f,he imaqeof God. but, in Ihouqh counf,erteif,,
Vroduceda
lhe era of early modernif,y, newworld of torms made of a
imaqeo,oigneand eymbols d ealhl es s, frexible, ind es|'ruclible
werenot divinebuI atificial mat erial.1audrillardeeeeIhis
and Vroliferaledin the fieldeof olaqe of the simulacrumas f,he
otraqeof
theaf,er,fashion,aft and Voli- beqinninq
triceae lhe newrieinqclaee lhe simulacrum-
ed No creahef'he
af,NemVt NheFireLOrder
world in iNeown image. of jimulacra,
For baudrillard,a
"o
eymbolof thie aqe
wae CamilleKenault,an old
who livedin
cook,NurnedeculVNor,
the Ardenneoand discoveredlhe
pertecf,subsNancef or reproducing
lhe world in hie own imaqe-Kein'
forced Concrete.From thie he
fashionedchaire,drawero,
oewinqmachineo,an ent'ire
violine,
orchest ra, includinq
oheeV,a hoq,Nrees.Accord-
Renault'
ing to Daudrillard,
6d,
 TheSecondOrderof Simu- nowbecomelhe dominanf,Vrin'
lacra a??earewiLhf,headvenl of Lhe worldof nat-
ciVle-reVlacinq
I h e l n d u e l r i aR
l a v o l u l i o nT,h ee i m - ural objecle.
ulacra now becomeinfinitely re?ro- 7uL,accordinqto Saudrillard,
d u c i b l el h r o u q hi n d u e l r i a m
l aez we are now in lhe Third)rder of
produclion.WhereaoCamilleKen- )imulacra-the era of ToeImod-
aull moldedhie arlificialworldby ernity-lhe era of models.No
hand,in the induef,rial
era mecn- l o n q e ri s t r h es i m u l a c r u m
a coun-
anizedmeaneof maeeaoeembly LertdL likeCamilleKanaulL'o
and producf,ion
enablea Kenault concreLehog,or an i$finiteeeriee,
aulomobilefacf,oryto Nurnouf, Iikeaulomobilee
rollirlq
off the
maeoeeof exacf,replicaeof care. aeoemblyline-bul
i
WhengholograVhy
and cinema
arriveon trheocene,evenarl ouc- |JLfl[HlJl
IHt5|I,l
cumbet o the force of mechanical
reprod ucLion, Keproducti on ie
H[[ill't
t5
governedby markel forcee,which
!gr'g'rF_g
',
tT"'$rLF
fiifft4{T i
'l
 TheVreoidinq ?owerintrhis m e n f .a c o m m o d i -
era is Nhemodelor the code. t y , a V o l l , a t , e l e v i -
"Diqilalityie iVemef,aVhyei- s i o n
?roqram, a
c a l V r i n c i p l e . . . a n d n e w oi s s u e o r a ? o -
DNA ie its l i t i c a l c a n d i d a l e ,
?rophet," our re6?on6e ie
('tu 63-04). monitored,
Juet' as lan- H
quaqe ie qov- El You meon like:
" A r e y o u w o t c hi n g
erned by Ihe
doytime TV or not?
"code" of qrammar
Areyou buyingPepsior
and our bioloqical
Coke?Are you for con'
?roce?oeo are con-
didqteX or Y? Are you
trolled by the DNA code,
weqring ColvinKlein
our cu\ural life ie baeed
or Jordoche?'
on a variety of codee;
T
we have oex videos, n Exactly. And such
yoqa videos, how't o LesIs nof, only regtrricL
manualg, cookbookg, our reg?oneeoto "yeo"
exercigevideog,?ar- or"no" buNalgodetermine
entrinq manuale, o u r o p l i o n e ,l i m i l i n qt h e
q, t elevieion very eco?e of the issuee
advefi,isin
a n d n e w e ? a ? e r st r o and lhin7e we may choose
provideNhesecodes. from, Thus our liveeare
Theeecodes not, cont rolled by a oyotem of
o n l y V r o v i d em od ' binary requla|ion-where
els buf,also conf,in- trhe queof,ionlaneweroVfion
uallylest' ue. Every o f t h e I e s t ' h a s b e e n r e -
time we reepond duced No an eilherlor binary
"yeo" or "no" t'o code:
a fashion,an
adverlise-
 This oyoT'emof binarychoicesacf'g ao a "deher-
rence modell'whicheu??reosesradical chanqe'

pl w.tl, I con see how thqt would hoppen. After

qll, if we feel we hove o choicebetween Pepsiond
Coke,betweenthe Soopsqnd the DiscoveryChon'
nel, between o Republicon ond q Democrot,
betweenSociolismond Copitolism-oll ruled by
o binory, either/ot4l1-logic-then whqt more
do we need?
;
H For baudrillard t'he Nwinf,owereof Ihe
NewYork WorldTradeCent,ereymbolizet'his
binaryeyeNem. Whilethe olher ekyecra?ere,
buill decadesearlier,are oinqularand com-
pele aqqreaoivelyfor af,tent'ion,Nhe t'wo
t owerestrandlor lhe "clo6ureof Ihe oyg-
Lem in a verhiqoof duVlicalion"lotutb6-T).
Thue, everylhing becomes reduced
to cybernetice-t o a binarycode thaL
geeme f,o reVreeenNdifferencee but,
which, in realiNy,only perpetuateo
Ihie oelf-requlalinq,binary eyolem,
which only minimizes differenceoae
iN Noqqlesback and fofth belween
"yeo"or "nol' TeVeior Coke,KeVub-
licanor Democral.

-
_::+
E Tomeit seems
Jurassic
likethefifm
park.
oeemoNo leaVNowardhim.He
slams on the brakes.He ekide.
CrashlTheNwovehicleego up in a
E How'oNhat? burst of flame.

E Becouse Jurassic
Park is obout peo-
A eecond
laNerthe craeh
evaporalee.
ple eitherpossively
Joe Tlayer'e
occeptingor refusing
to buy into beingpos-
siveobservers of o
spectocufor, monstrous
worldof simulocro,of copies,
generotedod infinitumby
meonsof codes. n t
Thal'e brilliantlbutr you muet, tir
\r,
aleo realizeNhaI your veryexam-
ple,lhe film Juraeeic Fark,ie
it self a monetrouosimulacra
qeneraNedad infinif,umvia a
code.buI accordinqto 7au-
drillard,VeoVle
inculburat
ed
int o Toslmoderneociety are 60
surroundedby simulacraNheyno
lonqerhavea choice,Considerthe
caoe of Joe Tlayer,an 17-year-old
behindthe wheelof a car, He is on
a narrowmounLainroad. He is
Vaeeinganothercar on a curve.
He is doinq22O, too f ast to
evadeNheoncominqtruck thal
car rea??eareunecathed,He
Foore it,,racinglo Vaeo
anothercar juetrahead
of him,Joe Tlayeris ?lay-
inq a videoqame.Whenhe
runeouI of qua(bersheqoeo ]
out,into Ihe Varkinqlof',into hio gx
realcar, buI, ae he pulleout'inf,o\
Lraffic, iI doesn'L,eeemreal. Nor
do Nhecare on lhe road, He feels
IhaI if he ran into them he would
juel ea| them likeMe. Tacman
eaNsdobs.Joe ?layer is eurfinq
the simulacrum.
Oriqinallyeirnulac?urn,accord-
inq tro ?laNo,ie Nhefalse copU 7ut in Saudrillard'aview,Toel-
that overshadowsour expertence modernity hae ovefr,,hrown
Nhe
of bhe essential and ldeal Forme. very concepl of true co?y. And
A cockeropaniel,a Germanohep- Ihis hao hapVenedin ef,aqee.
herd,or a collie,for ineNance, lmaginef,heexVerience
of a
wouldbe,in ?latro'eVhiloeoVhy, Chrietiannun in medievalEuroVe.
imVurecoVieoof a univerealand the worehipoan icon of the
ldealEeeenceof Doqgineea, Madonna.The icon reffecle a
The icon is
divinefemininerealiNy.
a qood,Lrue copy becauseit is so
closetrothe originallhat, in her
meditationeNhenun awakenel,o
NheeViritual?reoencebehindthe
form, the couldbe calledan idol-
ater-a worohiVerof an idol.
 1uT'trheiconoclasN seeethinqo differenNly.
)he doeo not,feel NhaN
imaqeerevealdivinily,but mask and perve(DNhedivine.Therefore,euch
imageoare evil,bad coVies,and ehouldbe deslroyed.
A f'hird ?ero?ect.ive
is that of the ekeVIic.He feels Nhat the whole
t'hinqie a farce.The icon of Ihe Madonnaonly hidestrhefactrlhat
t.hereie no divinebeing-hidee bhe abeenceof a divinebeinq.
Finally,t'hereie a foufth pereVective,
ln NheToeNmodernera, icone,
imaqee,copiee-simulabione-bear no reaemblance
f,o any realiry,ln
factr, the eimulation, the simulacrum, the oopy, beoomee the real!

You meon like thereore o million copiesnot of the Modonno-but of

Modonno-which becomemore reol thon Mqdonno the person?
Holy Writ which they, like, wrote down, were only the
outer expressions of a, like, deep fntcrcou?le they
were having with the mystical Word that illumined their,
like, players. But of course, all these, like, prayers wete,
fike domfnatcd, by a single image-that of the Holy,
like, Virgin, the, like, Madonna.
Today, of course, it is not like, the Madonna who
dominates, but, like, Madonna.like.flc! Today it is like,
my image that undulates forevetmore, leploducing, like,
infinitely, like, there are millions of me and like, and mil.
lions of my like belly buttons, like, bouncing back and
forth before everyone's vision as if trying to like,
decide between am I like a like Virgin or like a like
Whore, in a like, erotic stream of images that MTV
viewers, like, edit with like, Beavis and Butthead binary
brains: they like think that my image, the image ol my
like, belly button, is either like, "cool" or like "sucks."
It is the image of my belly button, not my belly button,
which has become the reaa.,

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ffi={ THIS :
q 5uc,KS
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 ,,lilllll1
T
n Daudrillard his
emVhaeizee
0
I
0 1nl nol wilh hio bellybuIIon bul wit'hI h e
frorqeotale in whicht'he cart'o7raphero
of an emViredraw u? a ma? eo
det ailedbhat it, ende uV coverinq
f,heNerritory.ln coverinqu? f'he ber-
ri|,ory,il is t akenfor f,he real. For bau-
drillard one of lhe characteriet'iceof Tost'moderneocie|y ie
Nhat we are all similarlyentrancedby ourfingthe eimulacra.
and
ln lhe universeof Hollywood,Top ArL,'N, cyberbliNz,
the dazzlinqeVecLacle of t'he mediaecaVe-siqneand
lo t'he
imaqeono lonqerbear any corceeVondence
"real" world-bul creale Iheir own
<-- !
lhat is
hVperrealiNy-an orderof represenrafion
and is
noI lhe unreal,buNhaoroplaced'realiLy'
more than real, more real than real,
For Daudrillard, ente(bainment'
Varkosuchas
EnchanledVillage
M a g i cM o un ta i n ,M a r i
andeoVecially
World, Disn
land,wilh iNeTirat',ee,ite Fron
f,ier,its Fulure World,its Tom
gawyer'eleland,are the pertect exa

Vleeof rhe hyVerceal.TheeehyVerrea

ae imaqinary only
worldeare ?reeented
lead ue to believeIhat, the lAOf, of Loe Anq
and Americaare (a21. gut lhey are nol. Theytoo
hyVerred-p ure eimula crum.
 Los Angeles is enoircled
by theoe "imaginary sta-
tions" which feed reality,
reality energy,to a town
whoee myot,eryio precisely /
that it, is nothingmorethan a
t/
networkof endleso,unrealcircula- I

I
tion,-a town of fabulous?ro?ortiono,
but,withoute?aceor dimensione, As much
as eleatricaland nuclear?owergtationg,ao
muaha film etudlos,this town, whichis nothing
morethan an immenaeocript,and a ?er?etual
molion machine, needsthie old imaginarymakeup
of childhoodoignalsand faked phantasmsfor its
sympalhet'icnervouooyetem (?lM 26).

What Saudrillardcallelhe home.Here,accordinqIo the

Oeath of the Real arouaes noe-
lalgic aNtempteNo reaurrect the
real, SaudrillardeeesWahergale
ao one such attemVt, For parad-
inqNheecandalouoilleqalities
of
NheNixon adminiehraf,ian imVlieo, eimulT,aneouely
f aloely,f,hat NhesaaffronNef,o
demacracyre?reeenVa deviation
from lhe norm-and lhal t:he
eyeLemof governmenlin general
qovernffient'oethnologigto, f,he
tribe could liveuncorcup\edby civ-
3 audrillard ar6uee, how-
ilizaf,ion,
ever,that in removingthe Taeaday
f rom mod ern civilizaNi
on, et hnoloqy
ignoreothe real
Taeaday-who wanf,No remain
livingamonq'Ws and care-and
creaf,ea mere model,a simu-
lacrumof whal an "ori4inal" F
Ft

pre-civilizedt ribe " ehould"

H
reeVecls law and morality.
The Death of the Real also looklike- $
ineVireea VroliferaT,ion
of mytho before
of origin.Thus,in 1971,the qov- ethnologyl
ernmenf,of the ThiliVVines
re-silu-
at ed a emall tribe of Taeaday
lndiansl.,otheir ori7inaljunqle
 In other words, this repre-
sentotion of whqt q tribe
should look like wos ceqted
only by ethnology?

@ rru. AndrhisaT,NemVN
No
regurrect,the real,the oriqinal,
nificenlformg,bison,marn-
has also t akenVlaceat lhe
mof,hg,rhinoceroeeo.
caveoof Lascauxin soulhern
Yet f,oday 5OO mef,erefrom
France,lt, wae here,durinqthe
f,he oriqinalcave6-an exacl
clooinqmillennia
of the laetr
reVlicaof the caveehae been
GlacialAqe,lhatrteeminqherde
created in order to Vreoervelhe
of maqnificenlqrazinqanimals
oriqinal.lt, hae becomemore real
Vaeeedin wavesacroee trhe than the real cave. And in the
vastrVoet-qlaciallandeca?e,
oameway,modernscience
fallin7?reyto Nhe
occaeionally
recently hao gearedup Lo eave
huntinqtrribeeIhaI deVended
trhemumrryof Rameeell.
u?onIhe herdefor Nheireub-
Thus,with the Death of f,he
eielence.And iI wae here,in
Keal,the hypercealtrakeeover*
caveo,thaT,
Ihe subtrercanean
Dieneyland,The Taoaday,Wafer'
primitiveart,iste Vainf,edma7-
qaf,e,the Lascauxgimulacrum-
more real f,hanthe real ibeelf.
And wilh hy?erreality all Nhe
VoNentri 6ive,
ally Volitical, exVlo
VolaranlaqonismeIhat had
inhabiledand animaledLhe
RealcollaVeeint o one anot'h-
er-implod* eoVecially in f,he
Voliticalrealml
 E con yougiveme
on exomple?
E o bombgoesoff
suppose
' somewhere-Vilnius,
Poris,AdisAbobo.
BOng!! smokeblossoming oboveon ort
museum,o grovernment building, or perhopson
'
oir terminol. Ripplingwoves of the explosionsuffocoting
deoth screqms.Splotsof humon flesh,flying in concertwith
frogmentsof recliningnudesond peocefulttolion londscopes,
or governmentdocuments,or perhopsoirline tickets-coh-
vulsingsposmodicollyomid floweringsof brick or morble
dust ond spent plostique,bits of eyeballs,somewhot
bloodshot,chosingshredsof newspoperor otom-
izeddropletsof espresso, frogmentsof on
ElvisCD,oll whirligigingin qbsurd,
blind circles,perverseorbits,
surging kqleidoscopi-
E whodidit?
I#
H Thatlejuetthe queetionSaudrillard
aeke.LeftieI ex1remisld
Cenlriste seekinqlo diecredit,Nheexf,remee?
KiqhI-winqekinheade? 3
Corrupt VoliceaVVealinqLo the publicneedfor eecurily?The answer(e),
eaye Daudrillard,have nothing t'o do wiih the facts. All Ihe media
ree?onoesand inlerVreNalione and all
are alreadypreVroqrammed
in absurd,?erverge,naueeouecircleo,orbit'ing
orbit,,whirliqiqing,
aroundtrhemereeVf acV-accordin7 No eelabliehedcodeeor modele.

"9imulation ie charact'erizedW a
?receooionof the model,of all mod'
ele around the meregt fact'-t'he
models comefirst, and t'heir
orbital (like the bomb) circulation
aonetit'utes the genuine magnetia field of evente.
Facte no longer have anytrajectory of t'heir own,they
ariee at the intereectionof the models;a einglefact' may
evenbe engenderedby all the modelsat onae.Thie antici-
pation, this ?receesion,thie short-circuit (no more diver-
genceof meaning,no more dlalectical polarity,no more
negative electricity or implosion of polee) ie what each
time allowsfor all lhe poooibleinterpretatione, even
the most contradictory-all are true, in the oenee
that their truth is exchangeable,in the image of
modele from whiah t"hey proaeed, ln a
generalizedcycle"(alu 32),
 Thus, f ormer antaqonisyrlo, Volarif,ies,
curveback u?ontheir oVVoeif,ee, intrermin-
q l i n q l i k et r h ec u r v i n qe V i r a l oo f a M o b i u s
et rip cut,in half and trhencuf,in half aqain
a n da q a i na n da q a i n - e p i n n i nogu f ,o V i r a l i n g
g a l a x i e eo f r e ? r e e e n t , a l i o n ;o f e v e n f , e ,
Voeitive and neqalive, realand eimulacrum,
imVloding inwardet o a Voint,of abeolute
abeorVtion-where trhe difference belween
r e a l a n d e i m u l a t i o nd i s a ? ?e a r s - i m V l o d e e
inf,onothinq.
ln the hyVerceal trhereis no realiry behind
Ihis qeneralized, neulralizedand neutered
frowof codeo,aimulationeand eimulacra,ln
hyVercealltythe model, the code come6
fireV. AuI it is invisible-one eeeo only its
e i m u l a l i o n s - i d e n f ,ai cl e h o V V i n m
q a l l ef i l l e d
with idenT,ical televisionimaqeo,medicinee,
liVotrick,brae, condoffie,foods, furniture,
imaqeeof Madonna'ebellybutlon,

tL,&;
 Likethe Deaviaand 'tT
AuIIhead epieodein which
the two, watchinq TV,watch :'i'*1
'.,'r
Lhe cope breakin trhedoor and
bust them-live!-but lr,hey
are Loo'"",
qluedNolhe tube No realizeIhat, iI
io Ihey,lhemselvee,
that are being
bueted-that
the wholetrhinqie
takinq Vlacelive-IhaV the cope and
Nhecamera havebueNedinhoIheir livinq
room. Life has become TV and W, life.
W watchea us, and we watch TV watch-
ing over us, It watrcheeover us like
whirliqiqsof DNA,orbitingaroundu6,yov-
erningthe mutaNioneof Nhereal into trhe
hyperreal.
ry and life,realand hyperceal,
conT,r
a cL, c olla Vs e, T,el
eeco ?e, imVlod e into
eimulabion.
In hyVerreality
antraqonisme
and ^
Volar .
dichot'omieedieeolve.A 7eneralized
deterrenceis qeneraled.A1omic
war willneverhaVVen.The hyVercealmediaeVectracleof the nuclear
arm6 raceand the e?acerace implodedlhe ant agoniemeof the
euper?owerotoward a ?eacefulco-exislence.
And in orbit',loaling freelyabove allanlagoniomo,Iheul1imaLe
end vroduct of Nheevace race ie trhecool,lunar,hyver-eimulation:
t h e L u n a rm o d u l e ,
ln The Shadowof The Oilent Majorities
tltr

s| Butwhot othereffectshqsthis hqd on society?

r
ghadowof the gilent Majoritiee(ogv
H ln anorherbook,In the
1970)'Daudrillard
conhends thaL whaNhad beenoocietyhae imVloded
inlo a hyVerconformieT'
bodyobeeeeed eo muchwilh epectacleNhatil
wouldrather walch'N Lhan
NakeVolilicalaclion. lt becomee
electrifiedonly by compuler nel-
workeand electronic media-by
whichif, ie eo polled,teeted, and
hyVedby modelelhal itr hae become
ine(Yand bored,Dut,atr trheeamelime
it, io hyVer,?aogive,resigtanf,,demanding
evenmoremoonghotg, rock eVecf,aculare, mago entrerXain-
menf,e-yet euoVicioue
and eceVlical,aValhetic becaueeif,
realizeeIhaN any atrIemVItro chanqeNheeyetremwilleimVlybe
co-oVtedby lhe oyetem for if,eown ende,
All thie hae oiqnaledtrhedealh of the social,
On 5eduction
ln his nexl book,On 5eduction, DaudrillardNalkeaboul love.
Couralylove,in the medievalcourte of eouthernFrancein Nhe
11Nh
cenNury,
wa6 an involvedand elaborate riNual
requiringthe exchanqeof love?oemo,blushee
behindfforalfane, eyeeeuddenlydowncael
aft,ercaolinq a oly eidelonqqlance,kisses
blownfrom lhe ramVar2eof caef,lee,
implic
alione,half unveilingo,
double
enf,endree, Nitillabione, whiopere,
jealoueies,adroiNevaeione,
feiqnedrefusale,feint e,
f ainlinq, half- eurrend erin0o...
 juch moveoin Nhe dielincl et ruc-
qame of court,lylove Lurewhichie
werearielocraNic, diecriminaf,.inq,
afbificialand oymbol- cenT,ered
on the
ic-deliqhf,ingin Nhe caef,ralion,
Vhallue,
?lay of r,heqame lhe nameof Ihe
it eelf, Thegame relied faf,her,repreooion.
u?oninfinitedefer- Thereion'I any
ral-in Nheputlinq other. lf, gervegno
off of acf,ualsex-in ?ur?o6eto dream
VrolonqingIhe art, of somenon-
and arAificeof eeduc- Vhalliceexuality
tion. Andfor 1au- that, is neither
drillard,eeducbion barcednor ,tt/i
r::;{
ie feminine. markedeED16).
)ex, on Nheolher )ince seduclion
hand,baudrillardre- ie composedof the
gardeae a maeculine a(Dificeof eiqneand
mode-alwaye cen- geeburee,il ie a form
a ehoulder
Neredon the Vhalluo, of mast ery overT,he
or breaeN
na0ural, non-a rlifi cial. oymbolicuniverse.
beneathblack
Freudwao riqhb: )exualiNy,on the
lace,And it ie
f,hereio onlyone ein- of,herhand,io not
onlylhrouqh
qle eexuality,one ein- culturalbul natural-
euchseduclion
qle libido- a form of maetrery
that the maeculine
maeculine. overIhe real uni-
can be eubvefredl
Sexuali|yio veree.Feminine
Thieie hoI seduc-
Ihis eeductionrelies
lion. butrthere ie
on aflifice-
aleo,for Daudrillard,
a
makeup,
f aehion,
cool eeduclion-the
the dieplayof
eeduclionof eimu-
lacra-of filme, radio, a ccounf'.b a udrillard's
lhe idols of Nhesilver traveloguealso con-
or Technicolor forms trothe more
ecreen-a self- recenl Frenchfixa-
seducf,ionin which tions on such Ameri'
we geduceoureelveg cana as NhedeeerA',
by immeroingour' the AmericanWlld
eelvesin a Vlayof Wesf,,Le Jazz-mye-
eiqno,simulalions, Nifyinqvariousae-
imaqeothat eoca?e Vecte of Americaas
male eexualit'y. e
eeeenf,ially VrimiNiv
ln hie nexl,book and oavaqe.
b a udrillard cont'inuee road
Oaudrillard's
on
his medilaT,ione IriV, oVeedingVaoI
Toetmodernculture, endleesvietas of
by taking a road road eiqne,neon
f,riVIo f,he mosf' liqhto, empty deserx
Toshmodernof Tost'- mof,ele,
landgcaVeo,
modernculNures- revealean Americaof
America. van'
surtace qlit'Ner,

America iohinqinlo emVf,'ineee.

Americarich in ln factr,Lhe Iille of an
ln the early 19rh
democracy,but,?oor imVorLanIchapter is
cenlury NheFrench
"Vaniehing
?oint,,"
count Alexiede in civilization.
l n t r h e1 9 7 O ea n d referringtothe
Iook a IriV
Tocqueville
19bOs Oaudrillard Death of Meaning,
lo the NewWorld,
the Death of Reality,
whichVrovidedmaf,er- followedin de Tocque-
t,lheDeath of the
ial for one of hie besl- ville'e f oolst e?6,?ro'
1ocial, the Death of
knownworks:Democ' vidinq,in America,a
Tostrmodern simula- the ?olitical, and the
racy in Amenca, He
wrole Ihat he found tion of de Tocqueville'e Oealh of Sexuality in
 trheTostmodern uni- world,oecaueeof thie Americaie
verge- thege"realitieg"re- "the cenT,er
of the world."And
cede into a vanishin7point in Americais a deeerf,-esVeciallyin
Daudrillard'srearviewmircoron ite citiee-a Vlacewhere"real life"
hie drivelhrouqh Death Valley,ln hae vanishedinto a kindof qlir-
facf', Daudrillard'elraveloque Lerinq,empNynon-culhure,And
beqinowilh the warninqonefinds rhie emVty,dry, ot erile,lunar
on oomerearviewmircors;Cau- deserDof astral America,trhe
f,ion:Objecrein thie mirror may deeerbof meaninqfutoocief,y,
be cloeerLhanthey aVVear!1ae1 emVtya6 a'N f,unedto a dead
The realitieeof NheVre-oimu- channel-wheNherin if,eland-
lacrumera vanishinglikemiraqee oca?e6or cirysca?eo,whetherin
in a rearviewmircoris an a?oca- lhe insanemovemenf,
of joqqere,
lyVricvieion-a vieionof the end rraffic and Vedeetriansin Loe
of the world,For baudrillardrhie Angelee,bodiescirculatinqon
visionof Americais rhe model freewayoor Vluqgedinto com?ur-
for t'he resl of Nheworld- er circuirs,whetherin the uloVia
lhe code for an emerqinq of California,of Sanha Barbara or
r? *t hyperrealand eimu- of )antra Cruz,Nheparadieeof
r^+ ^ ) r- ^lrE^.^,^t ^ ,..2L1- .L - '!.-L ^r - -r.. | -

LB- .b in the qreat neonwhoreof Lae

-wall proolilu-
Veqao,t he "wall-No
*. \e
* ' "*
,-* Nion"of NewYork,with ite
VtrJll r-/l l\L/VV lU/l N, VVlVll lV-J
* B

iffiffi.,=_* of smokelike
Vlumee
"girlswrinqinqoul
Lheirhair
 afLer balhinq,"with ils
"beaufy of the blackand 7uefro
Kicowomen"wilh ibs allurinq"Tig-
menlation of lhe dark racee"wibhiIe
Nribesand gangeand Mafia,with itrevio-
Ience-3 audrillard'6 America ie t urbulent,,VrimiNiv
e,
eleclrifyinq, animalieNic, viNal, pof,enl,,hyper real.

It seemsos if Boudrillord hqs surrenderedto Post-

modern Americq in q kind of possiveecstosy.
T
H Actually,Ihisie one of the main criticismsof
Saudrillard:Theonly ree?onoehe offere f,o the
ffowof mediaimaqeoie paeeiveeurrender-an
eceT,aoy
of communicaf,ion-which,in facI, is
the title of hie nexLbook.
The Eastaoyof Communicaiion
Accordinqto baudrillardin TheEcstaey of
Communication,in the new Toetmodernuniveree
of int erconnecT,iviLy-of
Lelevisionand compul-
er nef,works-we are all likeechizophrenics.
For
f,heechizophrenic,
huddledin hie cell,is no|,re-
movedfrom realily-butr realily preeeesin
u?onhim,lI is too cloee.ltr ie abeolulelyclose,
He doee not mirror realily buf,becomeoa ?ure
6creen.1imilarly,we haveall becomelike

'(
tfi. \'J
,\-\ 9 1\
\\J ilr
-r
E
N.rr

-(,t
t elevieion
andcom-
Vuler
9Creen6-
E h o e el u n r i -
noue eyee illu-
m i n a t i n qa n d
fft
Venetraf,inqeven
our moof,privaf,e
e?aceewith an
obecene?reooure.
And thie Vromiocuou;
invaeionof our former
?ornoqraVhic
Vrivacyie bolh ecota-
clooe-up, Vroducinqa
tic and obecene.The
et aie of giddiness
lo forgeLthaf, in trhe
obeceniLynot of the
whichweeurcender in Frenchcullural6cene
hiddenbut of the all-
an Ecef,aeyof Com- theoriee are juet, like
f,oo-vieual.
The
municalion. commodiliee-trhey
that no
obeceniT,y
7ul1audrillard are in comVetriLion
lonqerharboreany
informeue in hie with other theorieein
gecret,.An obgcene
introduclionlhal f,he Frenchcullural
eceNaey-a cool-
Ecataoy ie only a marketplace,And
lunar seducT,iv
e, elec-
eimulationmodelof 1audrillardunder-
trricVornoqraVhy
of
oomeof hie earlier et ands thal trhebeel
excessiveimaqeeand
booke-a simulation way t o makehie lheo-
informalionfeeding
in whichSaudrillard riee competriliveis t o
u?onue, ?enelratinq
him'
out-tsaudrillards Iransform them
all our private
eelf-becominq more inNohyVerceal
eimula-
o?ace6,the obscenif,y
OaudrillardLhan Oau- tione of theory, To
of faecinaf,ion,likea
drillard,We musf,not, eVinoul Juraeeic
 sincethe imPoct
Tark monsl'ersof of technologies
made famous,by hY-
Nheory.baudrillard's on culturesis
' Verrealst'af,emenle
undersf,andinqof the so intense.
guchae "TheGulf
mediahas madehim
War neverhappened!' lrue. ln
Thatr's
an eftective comVet'i-
ln facL, oomecritice facl, eome Toetmod-
Ior-a kind of cele-
c l a i mt h a l O a u d r i l - ern f,hinkersoaYlhaN
briNy-because hie
lard, in hie later work, cerlain s cience ficf,ion
atf,acks on hie fellow
is actuallydoinqoci' writ ers do a bet'ter
Frenchintellect'uals
ence ficlion inst'ead the
job al deocribinq
are hyVerrealeVectra-
of Toet'modern theory. impactrof cybefi'ech-
cleemean| for Vublic
noloqiee than doee
con6urn\,ion,lendinq
l$l Butit seems Daudrillard, b ut,frhat,
moreand more thot Postmodern :l

t oward a kind of van' is a Eop,tcwe can

iehingVoinLFor ine-
f,ance,he hag been
criticized,but aleo
theory would
ref,urnNo laf'er.
hove to be similur
to sciencefiction,

l$l Well, it's oll rother dizzying-
oll thesehyperreolitiesqnd
whirligigingsimulocro.tt
remindsme of Jomesonbe-
coming so disorientedin the
BonoventureHotel.Whqt is it
obout Postmodernqrchitec-
ture thot is so dizzying?
T
n becauee develoVedwha| came to be known
lfs a qoodqueotion,
archilecf,ureie aclually the realm
in whichToetrmodernism began.
BUNin order f,o undere|,andwhatr
Tostmodernarchilecture ie, we
haveNo knowoomeT,hinq
about
modern archileclure,Modernism
in architrecturebeganwilh lhe
Oauhaueechool,foundedin
Weimar,Germany,in 1919by Wal-
ter GroViue.HerearXiete euch ae
TaulKIeeand VasoilyKandinoky
combined Ih eir archilecf,ural
sludies with coureeoin painf,ing,
cra{-le,drama and tyVoqraphy,
Theechoolbelieved
trhaNbuildinge
ehouldbe funcbional.
Theyaleo
ao the lnf,ernaf,ional
7lyle, an
atbemVt,T,ounile archiNecf,ure,
t h e f i n ea f r s a n d m a s e - V r o d u c -
tion technology.
The manifesto of archiieclural
moderniem,Towardsa NewArchi-
tecture, wao ?ublishedin Tariein

A Hou5e
rsa HouSe
rs A llousE.

Bur rs tT
e HoHe?
--=:
{*-:
192b,and f'ranslaNed inlo Enqlieh
in 1927.The auNhor,a kind of
meesiahof Modernislarchitec'
f^)re,wao Le Corbuoier,acluallY
f,hepen nameof one Charlee-
Edouard J eanneret,(1B B7 -19 65) .
natriveof
He was a well-f'raveled
gwitzerland,whowas Io est'ablieh
himselfao a ciNYplanner,archi-
lecf,, deoiqner,Vaint'er,sculVtor
and VroVhet'of a newarchif,ec-
tural creed.
Le Corbueier gainedhio Ven
name by virAueof the facl NhaN
hie face resembledNhat of a raven
(corbeau). And,juel like ?oe's
raven,who,in ?oe'gwordg,gaid
"Nevermore,"
Le Corbugieralgo
gaid,"Neverrnorel"
No more retro, ancient, clut-
coloro, mirrored wardrobeg,No
tered, nineteenth-century etYleo,
more decoration, ornament, 6Ym-
No more custom. No more inher-
bolism.No more heterogeneitY,
ited deoigno.No more gloomY
ambiquity,capricioueneaa,riot,
interiora jammed with bunches
etitchinq toqether of unrelated
of uoelessbric-a-brac,no more
elemento,No more qarlando,
heavyfurniture, chandelierg,man'
exquioiteovale,triangular doves
tel-piecee, thick carpef,e,No more
elaborate bookcaeez,consoles, preeninqthemaelvee,boudoirs
embellishedwif,hpoofa of qold and
china cabinete, dreeeera, side-
velvet,no more otiffing ele-
boards,draped curDaine,cushions, black
qanciee!quolh Le Corbusier-
canopieo,damaaked wallpaPero,
carved furniture, faded and arty Ne vermore!
 Juel ae Ihe propheNof liter- lf buildinqocan be read like
ary moderniem,Ezra ?ound,had booke,Le Corbueiercalledfor a
Vroclaimed"Make iI new,"Le Cor- Tlatonicvocabularyof pure,
bueierbeliev
ed t hat, archiNeclure abeoluleforme:cubee,conee,
ehoulduee newmalerialeeuchae oVheree, cylindere,?yramide,
sleel and reinforcedconcref,e,and 6quaree,Allthis baeedon a ?la-
newconelrucf,iont echniquee.
This t onic allitude IhaL knowledqe
newarchiteclure wao t o be ra|,io- VroVerlyreeidesin pure,elernal,
nal,ft ehouldexhibi|a qrandeurof abgoltffe "|dealFormg,"whichwe
a malhemalicalorder,for by lurn- can knowwith our inlellecNe,
inqto mabhematical calculalione, lhouqh not,throuqhour eeneee,
it wouldrevealunivereallaw-trhe
Nhatrqovern
VrinciVlee For inetance, it will alwaye be
our universe.
Thenew true and knowablethat 2 + 2 = 4,
architectural deoiqne And this will alwaye be true even
ehouldbe inlelliqenl, if there are no longer 2 + 2 applee
cold and calm-Vure cre- or orangeeto add up io four,
af,ionsof the mind-
manifegf,ationg Delieving lh aI archilectural
of men creating beautyehouldbe baeedon Ihe
T,heirown 6ameimmutable,et ernal?lailonic
univerge. Vrimaryforme,he likedslrucLuree
euchae the ?yramide,LheTemVle
of Luxor,IheNowereof Dabylon,
the Colieeum,
Hadrian's
 1anIa )ophia, f'he Vosqueoof
villa,ConeLantinople'e
St amboul,the Towerof ?iea,lhe copulaeof
but aboveall elee-
Michelanqelo.
The Tafthenonie
the Tarfihenon.
Vertect,,Le Corbueierfound in iN
gweef,neas,
brut alily, inf,enoiNy,
delicacyand ef'rengf'h.lI
ie bhe climaxof
"Vu?eformg in
precioerela'
f,ionohip"-
beelowin7u?on
ug truth and
emolioneof a
"ouVeriorand
maf,hematicalorder."
cture t'hus
Mod ern archihe
atrNemVNed Io ?are downline,eVace
and form Io Iheir ?ureeseenfials.
lf Le Corbueierhae a hero it' ie f'he enqi-
neer-f,he creator of bridqee,of At'lant'ic
Cubist'
linere,of railwaye.Engineero,like
paint'ere,are noI dislracled wif'hornamen-
t af,ionbuI eaNiofyour opiribeby reducinq
lheir creationeLo ?ureqeometrric,
maf'h'
ematical,Tlatonictorms. Engineeroare
virile,ueeful.Theirminde,abeorbedin
mathematicalcalculationeand the
VerceVlionof primarygeometricforms,
are in harmonywif,hnatural law.
 ll architects could[e morelilre
engineers, wilh dilfused electriclighting, and
t[en luildingswoufdfise
uplikeIuteGrcations builtol slandardized matefials lilre
ofs0ilit-ling-
ing in unisonwithuniuersal Gats,Gannons, airplanes!Letgreal
order.
Ilownwithlriuolous newutolianuerticaf cllies,citiesof
otnamentation!
ll youmuslhaue towers, whoselmmense geonelli-
diuelsity-thenlelil
emelgclromlheinterplay cal glasslacades lefleclthe sky,
ofprlmary
torms!let architecturc tise in skysga0ers amidgteen
bet[e cor.
lect andmagnilicenl playof such Rlanlalions of llGGs'let thesesry'
massesbroughllogetherin lighl! sclapels conlaintheDrains ol the
paris's
lel lightshineontheglcatprimary nalion. Clearaway narow
lormsol [risms,Gubes, streetslo admil wide, noble
cones,
spheres, pyramids. sFacGs, [0pulated withtrees.Lel
cylinders, lel
homes Demachines lhe suburls[e gardcncities
lorliuingwilh
people
teracesInsteado| roofs,wilh whele can[lay ball,and
garden.let all the citiesol
windows all around,withoul clul-
ter-butwithbullt-inlurnishings,Europebe lorn downand
without gaudy reconstlucted in the
chandeliers,
bul
imageof Anefican
cities.
P[5tmudEI'rl
fiI't
3y 1950, ffianyof f,heelemenf,e of malhemalice ileelf brokedown
Slyle had,
of lhie lnf,ernaNional qeomef,riee
into non-Euclidean
ind eed, beco me inNern
af,ional- and incomoleleneee Nheo reme?
concentratedlinee
the eimplifred, Andwhat wao modernarchitec-
on func'
and forme,lhe emVhaoie ture to do if its huqe,utogianVro'
tion ae beauty,LheeesenlialmaLh- jecbo-su ch as Drazilia-fl opVed?
emalical harmonyof ?ureforms, Whal if the worldwae qrowinq
of raf,ional,pro-
lhe celebraf,ion f,iredof f ailed ut ooiae?Thenlhe
greoeive
lendenciee,
NheadoVbion uloVianlheorieeand the archi'
and newma-
of newtechnoloqiee f,eclur al Vrojecf,s f,haL refrecte d
leriale,t'heyearninqfor a epiriLu- Ihem wouldhaveNochange-and
a l h o l i e mo f s p a c ea n d f o r m , l h e t h a l c h a n a ew o u l dn e e da n e w
dielaete for bazaar-like,
arbitrary voice.And f,haL new
reproductionof hieloric etylee. voicewag
YeL-whaL it all boileddownlo Charlee
wao cityeca?eefull of concreLeand Jencke.
glaeoboxes.And whal wae modern
architecl,ureLo do-baeed ae il
wao on elernalmaLhemaf,ical
har-
mony-if lhe eu??oeedperfeclion
 ture (1977),wae 1975,by the histo-
NhefireI workt o rian ArnoldToynbee
CharleeJencke att empt lo Lhema- Lo deeiqnaLeVlural-
ie an archihecLural NizeIhe Toetmod- iom and Ihe rioe
critic who hae been ern and No uee of non-Weetern
"TooNmodern" in culLuree.
enqaqedin Lhe
the Litle. In the 196Oe
oft,,enheaf,ed
debaLebetween l n h i ee u b e e - the early roote of
modernietand quen| books What Toelmodernism
qol
Toelmodernistr is Foetmoderniem? starf,ed by a 7rou?
archilect e about, and Foetmodern- of Enqliehintellec-
igm, he trracesT,he L.uale,
the lnde?en-
whelher Toelmod-
hief,oryof the con- denl OrouV,who
ern architecNure
ceVt,.Originally werefascinated
ehouldevenexist,.
He is aleo a major ueed by the 1Van- with Americancul-
ish wriler Federico -N,
voicein the ongoing fure: moviee,
De Onis in 1934 f,o ade, machineryand
attemptrto defrne
Toelmoderniem, describea poelic commercialculture.
ln
reacf,ionNo mod- TheyteaLed VoV
facf,, hie book,The
ernisl poelry,f,he collaqeoof such
Lan4uaqeof Fost-
Eermwas subse- objectro-trhe fireT,
modern Architec-
quentrly
ueed,in VoVart. ln America,
in f,hemidet of Hip-
pieoandYupViee,
Andy Warhol
crankedouf,a
bunchof imaqeoof
maoe cull,ure:Mari-
lyn Monroe,Jackie
Kennedy,
a CamV-
bell'sSouVcan.
Then,in Nhe197Os
trheToetmodern
movemenlbecame
moreacademicand
reopectable:in 1971
l h a bH a e e a n? u b -
lishedan eo6ay,
"F0)Tmodernl)M
A ?aracritical Dibli-
oqraphy,"and lhe
Tostmodernisl
movemenlwae offi-
ciallyinauqurat
ed
in Iheory-cele'
brabinqwritere
e u c ha e W i l l i a m
burrouqhs,Jean
GeneN,Jamee
Joyceand Samuel
Deckett,Lhe mueic
of John Cageand
lhe futurietreMar-
s h a l lM c L u h a na n d
Fuller.
Suckmineher
But, accordinq NhecomVooibion
t o Jenckg,t,hese consisbsof the
aftisis and archi- eoundof lhe audi-
f,ecNswere raally encewaiLin7for
Laf,emodernioTo, lhe concert Lo
begin,Andthinkere
notr?astmoderniefs.
such ae Oucky
Fullerweredeoiqn-
pl lote Modernists?
inq accordinqto
T
lhe ulopian
l) Yee.Decauee
a u t h o r sg u c ha s aaeum?Nione of
moderniem.
JameeJoycewere
wrilinqthingo,such
ao Finneqan'o Wake,
thal veryfew Veo-
Vlecouldunder'
eLand. And LhaL's
what a lo| of Lat e
moderniels-or
Highmoderniele
did. Com?oeero
likeJohn Caqewere
wrilinq"mu6ic"
lhal nobodyunder-
etood based on
what,moef,peoVle
wouldcall noise,
or ?ureeilence.In
one Viecehe re-
maineVoioed
overthe
Vianofor
eeveralminules,
ae if Lo st rike
lhe oVeningchord
of a concerl-and
 liore Lo Jencks's
likinqie noveliel
Umbefr,oEco's HEY,tr's THE
recoqnilionof a DuKe l.Jtlo
LoVESYou
doubleelemenV
in |4AE LY,
Toetmoderniem,
ForJenckeand
Eco Toef,moderniem
ie modernism

alongwith a Toet-
modernrelation-
ohiVto lhe Vaei: "Thepootmod-
ern replyto lhe modernconeietre
of recognizingthat,Ihe Vaet,
einceiNcannoNreallybe
deetroyed,becaueeits deefruc-
f , i o nl e a d sI o e i l e n c af ,f i u s f b, e
revieited: butrwilh irony,nol inno-
cenbly.I lhink of Lhe Voetmodern
albitude as tha| of a man who
lovesa verycultivated womanand
knowshe cannoNeay lo her,I love
you madly,becaueehe knowethal
ehe knowe(and thal ehe knows
that, he knowo)that Nheeeworde
havealready beenwril,T,en
by Oar-
bara Caraland.7ltll, T,hereis a
solulion.He can 6ay,"Ae Barbara
CartlandwouldVut itr,I loveyou
madly."At thie VoinI,,havinq
avoidedfalee innocence, having
eaid clearlythal iI ie no longer
Voooible f,o epeakinnocenNly,
he
will neverlhelesehaveeaid whal
he wantredIo eay lo the womani
lhaL he loveeher,buf,he lovesher
in an aqe of loet innocence.
lf the
womanqoeoalonqwilh trhie,she

BO
will have receiveda dec-
larationol loveall the
of f'he
eame,NeiNher
f,wo oVeakerowillfeel
innocent,bof'hwill have
accepted Ihe challenqe
of the paetr,of Ihe
alreadyeaid,whichcan'
boLh
nol be eliminaLed;
and with
willconeciouely
of,yleeof lwo differenl
Veriode,it, creabeo?aro-
dy, ambiquif,y,conLradic-
Lion,Varadox.For,in
Jencke'eview,a buildinq
is noNjuet' a buildinqbuI
eomef,hinq likea lan-
, buildinq
q u a q eA can be
W,&;,
read likea book.lI hae
connolalionsand allu'

Vleaoure?layf,heqame sions,lt' eignifiee.ll has

of irony.. , .7ut bobhwill meaninqe-and off'en
havesucceeded,once oaye t'wo or moreIhinqe
a q a i n ,i n e V e a k i noqf a Nt h e e a m el i m e , \\

rNR67-B)
love."(ELo, Thus Tost'modern
And Ihie fir,e in wilh archilectrsmuel
Jencke'sdefinilionof be both poVular
?oslmoderniemae " dou' and Vrofeesion-
ble codinq:the combina- allybaeed.For
tion of Moderntech- ingtance,I'he
niqueewith eomeLhin4 cobrtul hand-
elee (ueuallytraditional railein lhe
buildtnfl in order for )f,ul,f,qarI'
architecture to commu- aVpeal
rnueeuffi
nicate wifh the public trothe poVular
and a concernedminori- Iastee of kide
f,y,ueuallyother archi- dreeeedin Oay-
f,ecta" (wl?14). Glo colore,while
A tyVical Toef'mod' iLeclaeeicism-
ern buildingcreales a iNoquoNationeof
doublecodingthrouqh ?ureGreek
eclecticism:by putlinq forme-aVVeale
toqether Nwodifferent' elitiel,
lo f,hehighbrow
 TostmodernarchitecturemueLuee bolh new
Lechniqueo
and old Valterne.?oetmodernjel
architecbeare,Lhen,noT,eimplyrevjvalieNs
who eimplybringbackIhe
Vaet and elop
uoingmoderniem, Theyuee modernism
and yef, go beyondiN,They
quoLefrom the pasL,but,
with irony.TheyVarodythe
on Dlr
pasI. Theyuee ?aof,iche. ooo o 30

Thusdoublecoding,like ooo o BO

Eco's"l loveyou madly," BDDO o OD

eT,aqeethe dieeonanceand DOO o ot

DDO o DN
?lay beAweenVaeNand Vre- ntro o fi o
eent.Thiedieeonance
can
troD u oo
be ironic,humorous,Varod-
otrtr D DD
ic, Vlayful,allueive-buI iI DtrO o no
makeglhe "reader"of f,he ooo o OD

buildinqreffect.The
" reader"becomeg
eomethingof an
architecf,ural critric.
Secaueeof Lhie,doinq?oetmodern
archileclure ia one way to do ?oef,modernLheory-_ii,;edoublecodinq
makesil'intereebingnol onlyLo Ihe averaqeJoe blow on Lhe sT,reeT
but aleo to fellowarchif,ecLe
and Foetmoderncritice,
Evenan obiecLae eimVlea6 a teapoL can be doublecoded.Deeiqn-
er MichaelGraveedeaiqneda LeaVoT, thal hae eimVle,functionalmod-
erniet'lines but flaunts an ornamentalbird for lhe whieNle-a kindof
a u r a l? u n .
In 19Bo Michaeloravee-trhe oame quywho desiqnedthe reapor
wibhf'he whistlinqbird-won a com?etiilionfor hiedeeiqnfor the ?or1-
land TublicServiceoSuilding.lt ie radicallyeclecticand doublecoded-
iLe qlaeehintrethat itris a Vublic6?ace:iLe sizeand ornamenlalqar-
lande euggeetrEqyVtianand baroquemotife; ite uee of a eculpture,
"?orLlandia",overthe fronl door-creat'eg a
wae af,lacked
Vlaytulmood.1ul Ihe buildinq
by modernieNe who criNicizediI for what'f'hey
calleditrslack of diociVline-iNeiukebox-over'
eized -Chrief'ma o- pa ckaqe Iook. I uVVort'er6, on
f,he olher hand,commenl'edLhat it' relaLedto f,he
nearbyCily Hallae wellae oLherpre-moderniel
and modernisN in t'he neighborhood.
buildinge

But why should we even hove Postmodern

orchitecture?

SecauoehuqeuloVianmodernief'houeinq
t'hey
inhabif'anNe
Vrojeclealienaledf'he very
weredeoiqnedNo houee.TheseVlanneduloViae
LurnedinT,owaeLelandsof qraffif'i,vandalismand
neqlecLThuein hhe lat'e196Oeand early197Os
lhey weredynamiled.ln facNJencks,in a Vublic
that' on July 15,
lecture,Vroclaimed
1972,at 323127M, modern architeature;
died, ao a huqehouoinqVroiect'in 91.
Louis.waeblownNo smifhereens.

Ientksiustmaileupthgilate- a fail thatilu tepuilPl

raught. Muilernism
ThurthelluathufArthiteflural
I

I
{
wasptuiluteil
simplybyannnuncing it. {
I
i
I

rt\\ i\\
 ModernisNs were ment Lo moderniemall alonq.
alarmed,of couree, Thedeath of archilectrural
and immediately moderniemmay haveeaveda lot
"t
\ beqandenouncin7 of innercitiee,whereNhemod-

I f Nhenew Toef,mod- erniet Lendencywouldhavebeen

ernismwith reli- to bullddzeNhemand construct
giouofervor,DuI, moreulopian houeinguniis, WhaI
accordin7Io Tostmoderniemofferedwae eclec-
J e n c k e , I h em o d - T,ic,incremental reqeneration-
ernigl atf,acks on thal ie Io oay, reqeneratin7, elowly
Tostrmodern
archi- ueinqthe mixof whal io already
leclure actrually there alonqwilh what,ie new.
inviqoraT,ed
its For Jencksmoderniemhad
qrowth.For ineNance, beeneomethinqof a reliqioue
Vhe-
whenil wae announced nomenon.Aftrerall, iNdeclared
in a columnin Le Monde ornamenlation heretical, and
in Octoberof 1901that viewedit self ae Nheunivereal
"a eVectreis hauntrinq lnternatrionalgtyle
EuroVe, the eVectreof ueinqnewconetrruc-
TogLmodernigm," mooN Iion techniquee and
Frenchmen juot ehruqqed, newmateriale,lt had
bit.inlo lh eir croieean|,s a mieeionto trans-
and ffippedthe page.DuI form eociety.
modernieiledidn't oimply Accordin7Io
ehruqoff the announce- Jencke,mod-
menT,; their panic effec- ernist,buildingo,
trivelyinfraledthe epectre such ae lhe
into a full-fredqedmove- ChicaqoCivic
menf,.Therefore,rea- CenIeror Chica-
eon6Jencke,lhere qo'e Lakethore
musl haveexieNed houoinquniNs,
a hiddenresenN-
 1972-ie a bookcalledLearn-
ing from Lae Vegas.Thio book

moderniem'5 ailemPf, Io build

qlaeeand ef'eelboxes,t o define
ae encloeedepace.lt
archif,ecNure
e?aceie eacredto moderniem,
and liter-
then paintinq,eculVt'ure
alure, meredecoraf'ion,are
opVoeedt'o Vureo?a6e.lvlodernisN
atlempl No be nothinqmorethan archit'ecfereiected,anenNireNra-
eimplegeomef,ricf orrne-gl aoe dilion of archiheoturein which
and eleel and concrd,e boxee- painringe,eculpt,ureand qraPhice
whichin t'heirequareneasaay were integraf,edwif'harchilecture,
"f,hioie what I am-a equare Modernlelbulldin7o
box*and nolhinq el6e."Theform had at'lemphed
does nol refarlo or alludelo or Io oymbolize
meananytrhingout'oideitself. sqq$
nof,hinqbuL
archi- ,,.<
ToeNmoderniel idealqeomet'-
(''{\'al
N
t-arrrt rre nn f.hc. nf.he.r '
ric forms. ln
lhe
idealizinq
well-enqi-
buildinqerefrecl neeredqeo-
and refer f,o metric f orms
lheir environmenl. lf Le Corbusier
of TransaNlantic ele amohi7e,
wao lhe Veosiahof modernist Americanqrain elevalors,and
archileclure, Rob eft Venluri, had ended
CubistVainNinqo,I'heY
Oeniseecolt Arownand ?f'even u? oymbolizinq a bravenewworld
lzenourare lhe 7roVhatsof Tosf'- of scienceand Iechnoloqy-a
modernarchif'ecIure.AndLheir naut ical - ind usNrial - CubieN worl d .
firet publiehed
manifest'o, in
 Down L e t , r h e a r c h i t e c r unaulhorif,arian qualiliee
w i?h trh e become ajeetert,Let archv neededfor livinqhumor-
u niv e r g all trecture,
rikethe vovart of ouolyin a eocietymade
proclaim Venf,uri, Warholand Leichlenslein, u? of diflerenl raceo,
ScoNt Brown and uee familiar moNife- eexualorientaf,ione,
lzenour. deeiqninqnon-authorita- clasgeoand culr,ureo.
Accepttheclut- rian buildinqetrhat in- For we do live in a
ter of mixed,maee- siead of eayinq,,1am a Vluraliot eocieLy,re-
culf,ure,ornamenf,ed, oquare"eay manythinge flectedin mixed,glitler-
ticky-Lacky, eubur- at once.Let ?ostmodern inq,ffaohinqbazaareof
ban,Ginqerbread,New buildinqeex?reeoirony, neonliqhNeand oiqne
Orleans, French 7ro- alongwith comedy,eor- on the Las Vegao
vtndal
and Kanchotylee. row, paradox, and the 9triV,thehodgeVodge
Downwith the archi- of conlradictory,com-
Leclure of 6?ace, .a,-
Velingand confricNing
form and functrion. etylee,the roadeigne
1rinq in lhe icone -t#ffi and billboarde
that
of 7o? Arl,, of whiz by in a blur of
advefi,isin4,
of every- ,,' comVlexmeaninqo,
day commercial
ob- a roadscaVe/car-
jecL,o-<f Camp- ecaVein whichthe
b e l l ' e6 o u ?c a n o mix of oymbolo is
in a qallery, more imporf,anl
or of imaqeefrom trhan ?ure torm-
comic eIriV aft,, Tn l h e d a z z l i n q? i c -
euqqeotgaf,ire,
sor- t orial themes of
rowand irony, lhe caeinos(the

b6
flamboyantFlamin- No expert,.but the opec-
qo, Ihe Deeert lnn, NaIor elrolle Vaet a heN-
lhe exotic TroVicana, eroqeneoue ?layground
the arabeoqueAlad- o f m u l t i V l e v, i t a l , i n c o n -
din, Caeear'oTalace, qruoue,chaotic, inf,ertex-
trhe )tarduot, like i u a l , a l l u s i v eu r b a n o i g n o ,
the facades of meaninge,orders-all ex-
Gothic cathedrale, ploringthe archif,eclureof
almoet,all eiqn the paot,.
and eymbol)the Let architecture be funl
caeinoehoVVinq Turn et,aid architectural
malls like orien- nolione toVoy-Iurqy! lndul-
f,al bazaare.Las qently embracecomVlexity
Veqao erriV mixingimaqeeand eymbolo
architrecture from the hietoricalpaot in a
io a qrabbaq, nootalgiccollagelLet image
ecl ecf,i c , def,ermineforml LetrdeveloV-
allu6ive, menl be baeedon incremen

?aradoxi- f,al, diverse qrowtrh,ralher

cal4he Alad-
din is Tudorwith a Moorishfacade.
Caeear'eTalaceie Early Christrian,
Roman,Neo-Classical,
MoLelMod-
erne,Ef,ruecanand Miesian,Motifs,
eigno,columne,
winqo,formationsand
froorsVarodyand queobioneachother.
TheLas VeqaegtriV ie an inclusive
order.Thereie no one dominant,Iheme.
than uf,opianplanelLet,build-
inge retlect the diveroiiy of
uoereand clienf,s'f,asf,eglLet
archif,ectodeoiqnfor oVecific
?eraono-ralher than from
gomeulopian,abgtract,conce?-
tion of Man, Let, Toetmodern
buildinqefit in wilh Ihe build-
i n g oe u r r o u n d i nt qr h e m l
 Accordinqto the aubhorsof of,yleoand lanquaqee,
TheN&T
Learningfrom Loe Veqao: buildinqIraneformef,,hetradi-
"Theemergingorder of tionalqlaeoand steeleky-
the 1trlp io a aomplex ocra?erint,oa qrandfather
order,lt is not the clockf,opVedoff wilh a ChiV-
eaey, rigid order of the pendale brokenVediment,.
urban renewalproject @ ffrie eclectriciem
leade
or the fashionable lo a digsonant,beauty,a
'total design'
of the disharmonioue harmony, an
megastructure.,,1tio oxymoron, a ?aradox.After
not an orderdominat- all,there ie diseonance
ed by the expert and belweena buildinqand a
made eaey for the eye, clock.Dut,his diesonance
ie
The movingeye ln the humorous becauee many
movingbody muel buildinqe
dioplayclocks.
workto pickoul and @ ff',eAT&Tbuildinq
interpret,a varlety dioVlayean urbaneurban-
of changing,jux- ism.
taposedorders" i lf, doesn't stand oul
(LLV135-6), alone.lt lookepretby
ln Jenck6'oview,Toetmodern muchlikeother modernisL
archilecturedioplayo10 charac- okyecrapers, buNiL blends
t erief,ice.
Let uo ueeThilip into, mirroro,mocke,Var-
Johneon'eN&T odiesand exf,endsother
in NewYork
building buildinqo
in lhe envi-
City a6 an ronmenl.
example. @ ?ootmodern
E tr io Vlu- buildinqe
are antrhro-
ralielic-radi- pomorVhic-trheir
orna-
callyeclectric- - ments and moldingo
celebraling oft,enouggeetNhe
differenceand humanform.The
othernegg. AT&Tbuildinqdoes
Itrquoteo not,do this, buf,oug-
different ,!\\],$ qeoto indirecf,ly,
Bb
throuqhmimickinq
a humanalci- buildinqalso oaye"qrandfather
fact-a clock. clock."
6 tt dieVlaye
a rela- fl tV."reie double
lionohipbetweet codinqthroughihe jux-
Vaet,and tapooibionof of,ylee-
preeent- grandfaiherclockand
qrandta- moderniet,
oky-
//,
f,herclockand 6cra?er-eo thaI irony,
ambiquity,
and conlradic-
tion emerqe, ?oetmodern
Vutf,inqt o- buildinqooay no| "eilherlor"
qetherof bul"bobh/and."
TheN&T building
oayo"bothland"by combininq

w h i c ha l l o w s
lhe archi'

V a r o d yt h e m , l o
invokenootalqia
a n d i n d u l q ei n trhecontem?orary
paoliche, (okyecraper)
wilh the
@ There ie a antique (qrandfather clock),
yearnin7for con- f,hefunctional(officebuild-
tenf,, for meaninq, inq)and lhe decoralive
lnef,eadof juoV (ChiVV
endale brokenpedr
oayinq"qlaee and menl) in an ironicdouble
gf,eel box" Nhe coding,lt can meantrwo
thingeat, once.
 \\Y/1.

@ ?oetmodern
buildinqe
are multiva-
lent-they can mean
manythinqo eimultane-
ouely.UnlikeNheuni-
valenceof modernisl
buildinqo,
whichonly
6ay onethinq-"| am a
equar6,"-7ogtmodern KD Many
archilecLureie multiva- Tostmodern
lentr,non-excluoiv
e, allu- buildinqeyearn f,o
oive,reoonant,,oymbolic. ref,urnto Ihe ab-
genl cenf,er-f,o a
@ ?oetmodern
architrecT,ure reint er VreT,s cenlral communal
f,radiNion.ll doee not, o?ace.Duf,Nhen
merelycolV lhe Vaot but realizelhat Lhere
reinterVrets it,.The AT&T ie nof,hinqwe havein
buildinqdoes noT,eimply commonto fill it, wiIh.
reviveNheVaeI; iN mocke 9o why not fill it with
it playtully. a clock?

Jencks defines Postmodern claeeiciem as

a revivaldrawing u?on motife from Oreece
and Rome, He identifres frve eireams of
?oet modern alaeeicismz

Metaphysical classicism
Narative classicism
Allegorica1 classicism
Realist classicisn
Classical sensibility

90
 Meta phyeiaal Claesioie m
Velanaholicclassicismis a
claooi'
modeof metaVhyeical
cism thal focuseeon a relurn
to the urban,ao oymbolizedbY
Lhe lhalianciVyequare-the
Viazza-but wilh a difference.
Toetmodernarchitecf'esueh ae
LeonKrierand Toef,modern
arliate euch as Kito Wolff ren-
der euch Viazzaemelancholy-
becaueeLhe Viazzaeare deeer\ed.Yel,Nhereis a
yearninqfor a cenherhere-and Nhereis a cen-
Ierbut the cent'erio emplY,
NarrativeClassiciam
TraditionalnarraliveVaintinqdeVictetrhe
heroicact'ioneof great Ynen-euch ae Socratee
drinkinqf,,hehemlock.they arl meanf'lo inepire.
The ?oef,'modernnarralive?aintinqofLenVainbe
unheroicmenenqaqedin immoralactions,

ln TaulGeorqe'eMy Kent
nude
7tate, a vulnerable,
muoe-eymb oI of freedom-
aVtemVNot o Feet'he 6cene
of sf,udenf,sbein6elayed.

This6enrecan f.akeon erof'icand eubver'

sive ovefr'enea,ae in Eric Fiechl'oOad Doy,
a lad watchinqa nudewomanwhilehe
eleals from her puree.
 I

Allegoriaal Clas siais m

G ranL Dr umheller's Lt4 hf,nin6 Thrower reVeal.,o
the pooeof a f amouesLatue of Toeeidon aqainaf,a
dreadfulbackgroundof what Jenckecalls "radioac-
tive gloom."Ootrhefraehinqoin Nhebackgroundoig-
nify a nuclearwar brought on by ?oseidon,Thorand
Jupiter nuclearmiesiles?
A eub-genre-naiverealiem-returne trothe
innocenceof Granl Woodand Grandma Moees.An
examVleie DavidLiqare'eWomanin a GreekChair,

RealistClasaiaism
Kealielclassicismie alwayeeomethingof a
?ara-
dox,an oxymoronor conlradiction.ln t,heclaeeicielIradilion the indi-
vidual Vafbiculareof a body-Lhe hands,toroo, head,etc.-rendered in
olone, wereeubordinatedNo ldeal baauty.
ln realist claseicismthe ecaleie NiVVed
Ioward the uqly,realiolic aepecte of Ihe
eubjecl,whichXheVureclaeeicietoverlooke.
Example?Workssuch ae ?hiliV?earletein,s
TwoFemaleModele on frrentwood Loveeeat
and Kuq.Accordinqto Jencke,"A parody of
eexualit'yie eugqeoted by rhe way vael sf"reNches
of Lhe body are
focueedon, ae in a Flayboycenlefiold, only lo be
lurned inlo sacko of eagginqmeal," (?M1zr),
, TheClasslcalSensibility
Jenckefrnde thal eomeartiete are faithful Io
a 7eneralopirit of claeoicism-they exhibita clas-
eical seneibilityin their worke-even Nhouyhtheir eubjecT,e
are con-
Nemporary.MileluAndrejevic'eApolloand Daphne,for examVle,relells
Lhe Greek nrybhof ApollochaeingDaVhneto xhe river,only to eee her
f ather, the RiverGod, transform her inLoa laurelLree.lL ie double
coded in thaf' t'here ie an ironic Vutlinq to7elher of Vaeear-Nype
coede,
a poet-hiVpieguilarieT, and a claesicallheme,
92
 theorists?
E *no trresomeotherPostmodern
oneeare
l, oomeof r'hemoeLimVortanf,
E Wel
7osNslruclu ralisNNhinkere,

E Poststructurolist?
E ?os?slrucf,uralismie a rnovemenf'associated wit'h
a waveof Frenchf'hinkers:JacqueoDercida,Julia
Krieteva,KolandDafi,hes,OillesDeleuze,FelixOuaf,-
t'endt'o
f,ari and MichelFoucau\^TosNsLruct'uralisNs
reAard all knowled0e-hiotory, ant hro2oloqy, lif,era-
Nure,?sycholoqy, Thismeangt'haL
ef,C.-as t exf,Ual,
knowledye is comVooed nof,iuof of aoncept'obuLaleo
of wordo,?oolslrucNuralisNs focuoon readinqNhe
wriltlencondibionof the
le>(^Readin Ihis man'
ner,Iext g Vroducea
varielyol mutrually
"tPt
conNradichory
effects,

a7
 -l

ToslmodernieNe
aleo lend lo ForhimLhereio onlyLhe
of Vower.
think thaV langua7eand meaninq
are fragmenlary. We knowthat,
?oetmodernismqueelionet he
wholenolion of dominance,For
instance,it queeT,ions the idea d t*-how powerie exercieed
that, one qrand etory can domi- in variouelocalsituatione.The
nale smalleronee.ll queelione Vrioon,lhehospilal,the aoylurr,
the idea that Lhereie a hierarchy the univereiNy,lhe
bedroomare all
of storiee,wilh the grand narca- Vlaceewhere?owerrelationehiVo
Niveeon t oV and Ihe emalleronee are at, work, Even9/M, for
,._r,,
lowerdown on NhetrohemVole.
,/
Tosteirucf,uralismbacks uV ?oet-
moderniemwith ito analysisof -4
-=
lanqua7eand knowledge.Oneof
the moet VrominentTostef,ruc-
turaliete hae beena Frenchinlel-
s -N
\r

lectualnamedMichelFoucaulN.
\

N
FrenchVeycholoqiot born in
ToiIiersin 1926, He was con-
cernedwiih Ihe relaNionehip
between?ower and knowledge.
but, he ridiculedlhe ideathat
?owerio a huqe,monolilhicet af,e
slructrureand was distruetful of
biq mef,atrheories
thatr attemVt,
lo Vrovidemonolilhicexplanatrione

94
 ee?oueedeuch localot ruqgleo,
DUNDaudrillard
commande
thal we torget Foucault,be-
cau6ehis ideaeaboul ?ower
are obeolele.

l9l whyobsolete?
E Decauee, f,o
accordinq
=a
ID Vowerie dead,die'
Oaudrillard,
solved,canceledand made
4 hyperreal t hrouqh simula-

"# lione, modele,aodes.

ln the newTosf,modern
universeof mediablilz,we no
lon7erhave?owerVeree-but,
somehhinq Foucault f orqot
aboul-simulations of Vower,For
inetance,RonaldReaqanruled like
a kinq merelyW posing-bV offer-
inq eigne of powerin phohoope
Foucault,,ie a kind of qama a way and sound bites-ratrher Nhanby
lhe dimeneions
of explorinq of exercisin7power,
?owerlocally.No 6rand general -J
theory can exVlainhow ?ower
worksin all Nheseeit ee.
Fur\hermore,
eve\
Fur\hermore,
even
lhere ie Vowertrherei:
lance. Andthe onlyw

oaye,iemtntsT,s,iormer
com- iW d7
 flutif rougris
t5
dead-su
sErrualit
Accordin7to Foucaullsexuali-
f,,yrefereLo lalk and wrilinq abouN
erotricVracticee,whichcontain rulee
and Vrohibitioneand distinquieh
normaleexfrom pervereione, 7ul
accordinqIo gaudrillard,
in the new
Toetmodernera sex ie dead becauee
ie eex.Sexualeimulationeare
everyLhinq
everywhere, in advefi,isinq,
in fashion,on
'N,
in filrn.)exualitryie no longerinlimafe,
?ereonaland Vrivatebehavior. lf, io oVen,
encouraqed, unlimited,unreetricled, man-
daf,ory-a commandt o releasesexualLen-
eione(builf uVthrouqh Lhe sex-everywhere
dieplayof eexualily)throuqh eexualcodes.
Thus "Everyfihingie oexualitry"(FFt+1,Duf,if every-
thing ie eexuality-Lhen nothing ie oexuality!

@ *.,,, if sexis deod in the Postmodern,

Poststructurql
universe,then is there onything left? lt seemsthot everything
hos been destroyed.

AndNhat,brinqeue Lo deconetrucLion-lhe brainchildof French'

t rainedphiloeoVher
J acqueeDercida,

96
 Weren't Foucoultond Bou-
drillord Frenchos well? Why is
so much Postmodernond Post-
structutrolist thought domi-
notedby Frenchthinkers?

the
[ *r,, France,durinq
(the l9rh cen-
Enliqhtenmenl
;
tury), ae we havealreadY
t alked abouf',reallYinvenf'ed
lhe idea of lhe inlellectual-
the idea of a cerebralelitrewho
wouldsil back and iuol sofD of
Ihink abouf,thinqo. And from
the f,imeof the Enliqhten-
menl,,Francehag beena
kind of Varadieefor
a Vlace
intellecNualo,
wherephiloeoVhers and
thinkers have beenreqardedao
nationalf'reaeuree.Their books
are ena??edu? ao readilYae the
lat eol 'r'hriller,
Iheir dioPut'eoand
mosl import'anf'-No be avanN
divagalioneare writf'en uP in
qarde.TheYreetreecurein t'he
qloeey,maoe-media ma qazinee,
knowledqeNhatrwhal tr'heYthink
rhey a??earon'N ralk ehowe,
they qeVqood-lookinglovereand today, t'he resT,of France will be
qood seaf's at' reslauranls. ln t;hinkinglomorrow. At times, Nheir

exchangefor f'hese favore, theY wiedomevenovereVilleFrenchbor-

are ex?ect'edf,o getra moral I'one, dere,floodinqT'heqreaLerint'ellec-

Io buckeet'abliehedvalueo,and lual worldwilh Frenchideae,

 For decades,on acro99 p?e. Ae we
the eidewalkeoubeide havealrea lked
the cafes of ?arie, abouf,,Frenc
light,has danced denLg,eu??o
downthrouqhthe the Marxietrs,loo
bouqhoalonqNhe lhe etreete, fiqhling
boulevardo,playing Ihe army and policein
over the eufiacee ot order to overlhrow
objeclo,dappling the governmenLThey
tableclotheand vari- nearlyeucceeded,but
ouelyattired loreoe wereevenT,ually
with ewarme of quelled,Failinqto
eVhemeralhuee. demoliehehaIe ?ower,
Frenchcafe-qoers, Lheybecamedieillu-
manyof them peoVle eioned, inwardlo oking.
of inlelligence
and guddenlyexhibitinA
Affi,l
culture,haveVlaced who,beeideswonder- Toelmodern
orders,fumbledfor inq if trheNableis or ie ciemabouLq
ciqarettes, and found notr,was to be found mythe euch
iI very aNlractive Io engaqedin poliLical iem and ffimmuniam,
be ableto eiNat a and Vublicaffaire.ln Nheybeqanto commif,
t ableand t alkabout recenT,limes, up unNil Ihemeelves Lo lan-
Lhe t ableand, raioinq the late 196Oe,Jean- quaqeitself.
Dieen-
an intelleclualeye- Taul1afr,re defined gaqingthemselvee
browin Lhe daVpled the imaqe.7ut I,hen from Volitice,Ihey
liqht,,Lo aek if the the icon of the intel- becamelinquieticrev-
t ableie. lecLualchanqed, oluLionariee,findinq
Treeidingover Af the earnelime revolulionin turne of
all thie Lablet alk, youn7Americanowere eVeech,and they
from the time of the t r i V V i n gt o J i m i H e n - beqanlo viewlihera-
French Kevolution, f,he drix, "H6y Jude,"Hair, f,ure,reading
and
imaqeof the Vhilooo- and 2OO1:A gpace writingas eubvereive
pher wa6 one of the Odyaey,a eludent polilicalact e in
intellectualenqaqe, movementreweVtr [hemeelves.
9B
 die-
oay. lncreasinqly causedmany previouo
IrusLfulof lanquaqe Io be
VhiloeoVhere
French intrelloc,tu'
t.:'.. ..
claimingf'o conveY reagoeosed,and it'
ale beqanattehdw'4
lo how wordo oaY onlya oinqle,a$thori' set Lhe Nonefor
f,o f,arian me#6aqaT'heY muchrhoughf,lo
\\,a rneref'han
how
baganry,lVlorinq come,lNwas eome'
what words
lanquaqecan oay thinqof a disharmo-
Ynanydifferent t'hinqe niouschord,for his
eimulf,aneouely. DUN forbe wae a subver'
by Nhelime all this ," sivemodeof reading
i I
*"

had taken Vlaca authonlaiimiSXf;,-

JacqueoDerridahad or any f'exIs. This
emerqed,in t'he laNe otyle of readinqcame
196Oe,as t'he moeN lo be knownas
avanf'garde of f,he deconstructiofi.ln
avanf'qarde'Hie lec- France,decongt'ruc-
lure qivenat' Nha T,ion, ki ckinq exieben-
Johne AoVkineUniver' lialiem aeide,wao
oily in 1966,"91,ruc- euddenlymuchin
\ lure, Sign and ?laY in voque.Oerridabe-
the Dieaoureeof t'he cameIhe VhiloooVher
Human Sciences," of the day,t,henew
enfant terrible of
Frenchint ellecI'ual-
ism. Andthen, afI'er
Ihe Americandebut,
at JohnoHoPkine,
and
deconst'ructrion
Jacqueo Dercidat'ook
America bY of'orm,
Lurningmuchof Nhe
Westernworldview
toVey-IurqY.

YV
 Well,tell me then,whot
is deconstruction?

Defininqdeconslruclionis
an aclivity Nhat'qoee aqainotr
the wholeNhruet'of Oerrida's
lhouqhl, AcLually,Derridahas
eaid lhal any eNat'emenleuch as
"decono|,ruclion
io'Y" auNomabi'
cally miseeslhe Voint.OUN
deconebruclionofaeninvolveea
way of readingthat concernb
itself wilh decenterinq-with
unmaskinq nature
the Vroblemabic
of all cen|,ers.

Decentering?Centers?Whot is
c center?Whqt is problemotic
obout one?Why should one
need to be decentered?
r
fl Well, Dercida,whenhe ie not
deconsNruclinqa t exl of some
difficult VhiloeoVher
euchae Niet-
zsche or Heideqqer,
writ,eeabouN
cen|,ersin euchabeNract,lanquaqe, whichie usuallycaVitalized,and
Nhat I will offer gome concrete whichquaranleeeall meanin6.
examples.Accordinqto Oerrida, for 2OO yeare,
For insT,ance,
all Westerntrhouqhlio basedon much of Weslern culf,urehas been
trheidea of a cenler*an oriqin, cenf,eredon T,heidea of ChrisNian-
a TruNh,an ldealform, a Fixed ity and Christ,.Other cu\,ures,
?oint,an lmmovableMover,an as well,all havetheir own central
Egsence,a Ood, a Treoence, eymbole.
 Well,whot's
the motter
with thqt?
Theproblem
cenlerg,for
Derrida,ie IhaI Ihey
at0emVt,Lo exclude,In
doingoo Ihey ignore,
re?re66or marqinalize
others (whichbecome
the Other).ln male-domin- 3o Nhelonqingfor a
at ed socieliee,man ie cenl,ere?awnobinary
cenf,ral(and womanis oppooitee,wilh oneLerm
the marqinalizedObher, of fhe oppooitioncenlral,
re?re66ed,iqnored,Vuehed and NheoNher,marqinal.
Io f,hemarqine). cenlers wanl
Fu(Yhermore,
lf you havea culture fo fix, or freeze,the Vlay of
whichhae Christ in lhe binaryoVposiNee.
cen|,erof it g icong,lhen
Chriotians will be cenlral No
that culf,ure,and 7uddhiete,
Muelime,Jews-anybody
different-will be in the
marqino, marqinalized,
Vuohedf,o the oulside.
(Wemuet remember
that Dercida wao born
into an aseimilated
'.
Jewieh family in Algiero,
qrowinq up a6 a member i
of a marginalized,
d iopoooess ed c ultu re),
 realiNy.All olher
Fixthe ploy of binorY viewgare
opposites?whot does repreooed.
thqt meon? Drawing
*r', , r,he ovpooir,ion suchan icon
[
manlwomanie juot' one binary is an af'NemVINofix t'he
fo
oVpooiNe.Ot'hersare eViritrlmat'- ?lay of oVVooiteebet'ween,
examVle,Chriet'ianlJew or Ch
f,er;nature/ culture;Caucasian/
3l a ck; Eurocent riemI Afrocen- ianlVaqan.lheJew and Ihe

Vaqan,
and Chrietrianl
T,riem; ?a7anare nof,evenre?reoen
Accordin7tro Derridawe have in euchart'.Dut iconeareiue
no acceesto realitryexceVf' oneof lhe eocialVract'ices-
Nhroughconcept's,codegand Lhereare manymore- ihat'
and Ihe humanmind t o fix Ihe Vlayof oVVooif,ee-
caNegories,
functioneby forminqconceVt'ual advefrieing,eocialcodes,t a
pairosuch as Iheee,Yousee convenf,iong,caNeqories, rilu a
howone memberof Ihe Vair, e t c . 7 u l r e a l i t ya n d l a n q u a 7 e
The
(herethe lefL),ie privileged, are noI ae oimVleand einqula
riqhl-handlerm then becomee as iconswith a cenf'ral,exclu
lconewilh Chriet,
marqinalized, siveimaqein their middle-t
or Suddhaor whaleverin f,he are morelikeambiguouofiqu
cenler trry I,o Iell ue trhaNwhat' The int ereotingthing abo
ie in the center is t'he only such figuree ie lhat at' firet
 One
oee only one ?ooeibilit'y.
Voeeibililyio
"cenbral"for a
momenl.For a momentt',he
fiqureeignifieofacee,bul t'hen,
becaueeNheVlayof lhe eye-
tremis nol arceeted,T'heolher
viewdawne,and t'he oamefiqure
a candle.
eiqnifieo
buI eu??oeea qrouVoeizee
?ower,a qrou? calledNheFace'
iete (l havedeliberaf'elymade
this sound like"Faeciol'e").
Theymighl draw eyeoon f,he
f aces.Thiewouldbe an
aT,temVt,tro fix or arreot t'he
free Vlayof differencee.
ln eucha eilualion,Candle-
iels wouldbe marginalized,
re?reaoedand evenoVVreoeed
or ?eroecuted. The imaqeof
Ehefaces becomesNheVrivi-
leqedmemberof lhe oriqinal
Vair,lnoNherworde,a violent'
hierarchyie formed in which
memberof
the cenf,ralized
lhe Vair,Nhef ace, becomee
ineNilutredae NheKeal and
lhe Good.
Derridaoayo t'hat all ot
Western thoughl behaveein
ihis 6ameway,forminqpaire
of binaryopVoeileein which
one memberof the Vairie Vriv-
Nhe?layof the
ileqed,lreezinq
Nhe
eyelem,and marqinalizing
olher memberof the pair.but'
Nhefrqure,in realif'y,eiqnifieo
both facee and a candle.
 @ ,"r, but how doesthis cpply to longucae,to
literoture,to reoding?
r
H Deconstructrion ie a t actricof decenterinq,a way
of readinq,whichfirst remindeus of the centrality
of the cent'raltrerm.Thenir att emptrof,o subverrlhe
centrralNermso rhat the marqinalized
term can
becomecenf,ral.The marginalized
Ierm lhen t em-
Vorarily overLhrowelhe hierarchy.
)uvpoee you havea ?oemeuch ae rhe followinghaiku:

And eu??oeethaf, for thoueandeof yeare Ihe

onlycorrecrwayof readingrhe poemie to read
"pine6"ao a verb-like piningfor one,slost
love.

O.K.But whqt qbout the other

meoning?Cqn't "pines," in the
context of the secondline, switch
over ond becomeo noun: .,pines
upon the mountqinside?"

E Yee,that'o riqht, That wouldbe

lhe eecondmovein deconetructinqa pieceof literature-to
eubverl
trheVrivileqed
T'ermby revealinqhowrhe repreesed,marginalizedmean-
inq canjuet as wellbe central.
 But whot good doesthot do?
Doesn'tthis just instituteo
new center?lnsteod of
"pines" the verb we hove
"pines" the noun. Or insteqd
of Foce-istswe now hove
Condle-istsin power?
Exachly.DercidaclaimelhaL
deconslrucT,ion ie a Volitical
Vractice,and f,hat one musl noI
paeeoverand neulralizethe
phaeeof eubveroion f,oo quickly.
For f,hieohaeeof reverealie
neededin orderf,o subverLthe
oriqinalhierarchyof f,hefirel
lerm over the second. 7uf,
one musNrealize
evenf,ually,
lhal thie newhierarchvie
e q u a l l y u n e t a b l e ,a n d
gurrenderto the com-
Vlele free-?lay of
f,hebinaryo??o6iteein a non'
way,Thenyou can eee
hierarchical
lhal both readinqe,
and many
olhere,are equallyVoeeible,
Yes!Like"pines upon the
mountoin sighed" (insteod
of "mountoinside")!
E 9o youcan eeef,he Voeeibili-
tiee. lf the lexT,werebhe Com-
muniel Manifeeloor f,heTorah
or trheKoranor lhe Sibleor f,he
you coulddecon-
Conetifuf,ion,
elruct any frxed,auf,horifarian,
dogmatric,
or orthodoxreading.
Of course,such lexlg are much
morecomolexthan our haiku.
Theyare more multifacel,ed,
likethe drawinabelow.
105
 lf you havea eyof,emof trianqleo
such as Nhie,Nhenyou will nof,iceIhaN
if you sf,are aN il,, a eeries of configu-
ratione of trianqleo preeente itreeltNo
your vision-one aft,erthe oT,her.
Sul
each ao-calledpreeent confrquratrion,
eachqrou?of Nrianqlee
whicheeemsNo
be momentarilypresent,hao emerqed
and is alreadydieeolvinqinlo a fuNurecon'
ouVof a prior confi7uraf,ion
figuration.AndNhie?lay qoeeon endleeely,
Thereie no cenT,ral
confiqu-
ration that, attemVte NotreezeIhe play of the oyef,,em,
no marqinal
one,no re?reesedone.Accordingto Oercidaall lan'
one,no Vrivileged
7uaqeand all t exf,,eare, whendeconslructed, likethis. And eo ie human
whichie alwaysmade uV of lanquaqe.He eayo we ehouldcon-
Nhouqht,,
tinuouelyaltrempl lo eeetrhisfree play in all our languaqeand
Nexte-which otherwisewilllend toward fixity, inelif.,uNionalizaT,ion,
cenlralizalion,totalitarianism,exclusion,For in our anxietywe alwaye
feel a needNo construcf, newcenf,ers,Lo asgociaNeourgelveswilh
Nhem,and lo mar7inalize
f,hosewho are differenlNhan
their cenT,ral
valuee.

see,then. Deconstructionfirst focuseson

the binory oppositionswithin o text-like

D
inttlllt,,tt''
mon/womon. Next it showshow these
oppositesqre reloted, how one is
regorded os centrol, noturol ond privi-
leged-the other ignored, repressedond
morginolized. Next it tempororily undoes,
subvertsor decentersthe hierorchyto moke
the text meon the oppositeof whot it origi-
nolly qppeqredto meqn. Then,in the lost

\f
 step,both termsof the oppositionore
deconstructed-seen doncingin o free
non-stoble
ploy of nonhierorchicol,
meonings.Butif longuogeisjust
thefreeploy of meonings-withno
fixed mecnings-ifqll textsdegener-
ote into the ploy of meqnings,then
thereis no bosisfor politicoloction. \1
T
Marxislsand
lfl ffnar'oriqhl,ln fact',many
d deconebrucf,ion
f eminietrehave af,tracke
becauseiNcannotr7rovidea firm foundaf,ion
for poliricalacNionor even?olilical crif.'icism'

is frogmented,then
@ o"O if longuoge
people,who uselonguoge'mustbe
somewhotfrogmentedtoo.
I
whaNmany?osAmodernislsf'heo-
ljl Vru, t'hisie
rize.Whereaslhe menlal diseaeeoof modernism
and Varanoia,ochizoVhrenia
werealienat'ion is \
the ?oslmodernmenf'aldieease.lf lhe een-
lence breaks down,so does lhe peyche'5o
does our ex?erienceof paev, Vreoenland fuLure'
itr eurts Nhese
Thue?oelmodernismwallowsin the ?lay of meaninqo,
meaninqsand is concernedwit'hVertormance,?lay and Vroceoe
raNherNhanwilh trhe finiehedvroduct,,?oetrmoderniom delighlo
t'han wit'h
in lhe ever-changing?lay of appearancez,raf'her
eourceeand rootreand oriqino.Whichqet,sust'o our nert
whoeeidea ol fhe
?oslslrucluraliets, Deleuzeand GuaT't'ari,
rhizomeio oV7oeedIo f'he root.
 |rrhEHirtrr
GillesDeleuzeand FehxGuaI-
ue hrue
lari are f,wo FrenchYoslsf,ruc-
turaliste who havehad a major
fut Fhqria
n
imVact,on Americanthought,.

For,accordinqto them, mo6f,

of Weetern lhouqht ie dominatred
by a elruct ure of knowledqe
they
call aboreecence.The way of
knowinqie treelike, ve(Dical,For
instrance,
in bioloqywa haveLin-
naeantaxonomies.
 uEhaue
ln [inguirtirt
EhrHIlt{iln

\
VP
/\
is wise

guchNreesshowuVnot onlyin the freldsof bioloqy,

and analomy,butr
botany,linguistics alsoin Vhiloso-
?hy-wherewe havemetraVhyoical treee,theoloqical
qnoolicf,rees,TheWorldTree,qenealoqical
Nreeo, lrees.
n m a
C m o e TheeeNreesare
nhodospirillum

hierarchical, imVooinq
rubtum

limited and requlatred

connecf,iong between
Iheir comVonentre,
Alleuchlreee oVread
outrlikemanybranches and
sf,emsfrom a sinqlelrunk-
eachef,eminq from an ori1inal
oneneea or unity.
 treelike becauseall
lhe varioueVeychic
?roceoeeecan be
f,racedback No an
oriqinaltraumaf,ic
evenLin whichIhe
child ie eeVarated
from Nhemother.Thie
lack of the molher ie
the basieof deeire,
and is com?enaated
for onlyby the child's
enIry into the oym-
Of couree,all thie Doqqineee ie Ihe sin- bolicorder-Ihe order
can be LracedbackIo gle Tlatonic Oriqin- of Lawand the Name-
?laf,o,whoee ve(Dical, the Trunk-of the of-the-Fatrher.
f,reelikeVhiloooVhy lree of doqo.Toodles, 9u1 Deleuzeand
proclaimeda material colliee,etc, form the OuatLari reject Ihe
worldof manifeela- branchee. idea of the OediVue
tions st emminqfrom A major Nree- Nrianqle-of the
T,he"f,runk"of a realm like etrucf,ure that f af,her- Vrincipl
e, and
of ldealFormeor Deleuzeand GuaIf,ari of deeire baeedon
Eeeences. criLicizeis the )edi- lack. Deeire,for
For instance, ?uo comVlex.lf, ie Deleuzeand GuaNtrari,
OobermanVinechere, ' instead of beinq
GermaneheVherde, ..
r\\ ll\l ;,,,
tt."'. baeedon lackand
colliesand Voodles
are all material "f ,s\$
-li
manifeetationsof
an immaterial
Eeeence-an ldeal
Form of what, Tlato
might,call Doqqineee.

110
rooled in an oriqinal and GuaLlari ?ro' Whereaelhe lree
)ediValLrauma,ie claima rhizomaf,lc, eeekef,o eef'ablieh
crealed horizontallY, radicallyhorizonfal, ileelf and eay "lo bel'
by oocialinlerconnec- crabgraes-likeway of lhe rhizomeie alwayo
lione. Andthe inT'er- knowing. Crabqraeo, rearranqinq inf'ercon'
connecf,iongbef,ween for ingtance,ie a necliong,eayinq"and,
the infant'and hie planI. 7uI instead of a n d ,a n d ,a n d , . l '
eocieNY
ourrounding one cenlral rool, if' Thug the tree ie
are alwayein move- has zillioneof roob6, concerned with ori-
rnent,frowinq,t'akinq noneof whichie cen- gine,foundat'iono,
a
lineeof friqht',like lral-and each off- ontologiee, begin-
elrinqer of crabqraee shoot,inLerconnecls nlngeand endingo-
. . . t i k ea r h i z o m e . in random,unrequlat'' roots.The rhizomeis
3o, oppoeedLo ed networksin which concernedwith sur-
lhe vert'ical,f'ree' any nodecan inler- faoe conneolions,
like sf,rucl'ureof conneclwith any lines of flight', wit'lh
Deleuze
knowledge, olher node. Lhe "andl'
not mean
anythinq or
repreaent,any-
thing. Theyare not Lhereto be
intrerVreted.
It, ie good enouqhmerelyto
deecribedreamsand, in doinqeo
Nowalch howlheir eymboleo?en
u? new,horizonlalinterconnec-
lione bef,weenolher eymbole.
For ingtance,in Kafka'o"LeN-
ler f,o Hie FaIher"he inffateshie
faNherto lauqhablyabsurd,
dreamlikedimeneionl,unlil his
father's oingularFalherneeeqeto
eo huqeNhaI iI Vope-explodinq
int o a vasl rhizomalic networkof
f at herlike eocial conneclions
character,Greqor gamea,
awakeeone morninqonlyIo find
that he hae beenIraneformed
into a huqebuq.SomecriNice
reqardtrherelalionehiVbetween
Greqorand hie molher and fa-
ther ao NypicallyOedipa|Dut,
aqain, Kafka exVlodeeLhe Falher'e
einqleimaqeinlo many,including
a chief clerk and a bose. Kafka
thue triee Io de-OediValize Gre-
qor'o fabher.Dut in Lhe end Gre-
qor'6lineof ffiqht faile,and likea
qood 6on, he diee for hie family,
 lN is only in Kafka'enovels
trhat the rhizomaf,iclineof friqhf,
truly succeedo-eo?eciallyin
The Trial.One miqhl exVecN
a alwayeone roo
novelnamedThe Triallo have
Nodo wibht'he law,
eometrhing
3u1 Deleuzeand Guaf't'ari find
lhaN Just'ice in lhe novelis noT'
leqalbuLerotric.JusNiceie reallY
desire.Thue,t'hereare obecene
drawinqoin Nhecourl'houee;an
af,Norneyequaileobeinqaccused
wilh beinqaf't'ractrive;a series of
euqgeoNive
encounf'erg
\
with eexy,
y from him
ral Nunnelof
in the rhizomaNic,
the coufi,houeewiNhiNecrazy
connecN-
corridoreand ?ervereely
ed paeoaqewayo NhrouqhwhichK.
ie led by erolicizedwomen.Thus
Jusiice,likelhe coufi'houeeand
degire,ig rhizoma|'ic,neverreach'
inq conclueion.Kafka'swrif,ing,
troo,ie rhizomaNic, maVVinq and
L- toying with lhe ebrucbures
u.
.VA
of ingf,it'u'
t.iongand

antrifamilial S;-t eocial

women;and relal,iong.
a Vaintrinq
of Just'ice
ae winqed,
and evasive.
K.,tha ?ro'
Iaqonietrof
Nhenovel,
neverreach-
es Justice.
")he" ie
never?re-
senl, buf'
 The biehoVindicat'edie
lsn't the Internetrhizomqtic,
JacqueeGuillof',who was exiledbY
horizontol?
No Algeriafor his
the VaNican
hor- "hel,erodox"
Yee.lt, is non-hierarchical, opiniono,)f'uck in the
izonlal.lls nodesintersecl in middleof Ihe desefi,-in an
random,unrequlatednetworksin ancienl dioceeeIhat for all Vrac-
whichany nodecan inf,erconnecl lical VurVoeeeno longerexiete-
with any oT,,her
node.ln thie the
he went,online,becominq
reoVectrDeleuzeand GuaT.,Iari world'sfiref, virtrualbiehoV.
werecorrecl,whenthey declareda It was a visionaryauthor,Leo
newform of rhizomalic,horizonLal )cheer,who hookedup Ihe biohoV,
knowledqe. ln f acN,f,here He ie quoted ae oayinqthal
is a sf,oryin t,he " lnstead of a metaphyeical idea
M a r c h1 8 , 1 9 9 6 of a biehop,attached to a real
NewYorkerenli- place, we would have a metaphyoi-
Iled "Vifr,ual cal idea of a place, attached to a
Oiehop;' real biehop."
ThevirLualdioceee,whichcan
be acceoeedfrom anywherein the
world,imitalee trhemind of God-
a horizonf,al,
rhizomalicGod. ln
facN,lhe biehoV,who counle
amonqhis triende VeoVlelikeJean
baudrillard,
comVlaine that, until
lhe oVeningof lhe virtual dioceee,
"The Church hae been orqanized
veraically,when we ought to be
organizedhorizontallyi' Of couree,
the Churcheoonwent,online

-N
\i:
ae well.
 H
El lt seemslike E committed
verticolis out s u i c i d e !B u t
ond horizontol h o w ?
is in.
t
T n Hejumped
\1,\ n Yeo,but t,he off a tall vertl'

.N
\ lronicthing io aal etructur*
HOW,in 1995, a buildinq.
Deleuzeaom-
mitted euiaide,
(
w

The Condition of Poetmodernity

It seemsqs if hisselfmusthqvebeenpretty
ented.Butwheredoesthe frogmentotion -of
self, ond of "things"-common to both modernism
ond PostmodernismcomeFrom?
T
n Well,accordinqto DavidHarvey'oTheConditionof Postmodernity,

changeein our ?erce?trion

of lime and epaceoccur,this
brinqeabout equallylarqechanqeoin Nhewayowe re?resentthe
world-boLh in the art,e and in
Vhitoeophy.
The hielory of caViNaliomhae brouqht,on whal Harveycalle e?ace-
Limecom?reoeion: Therehae beenan increaeein Ihe
Vaceof life. And
lhe
Varalleling increaein7 com?ression in Nime,e?acehas ehrunk.rhe
worldoeemoto collapeeinwardeon u6.
oul it' wao not alwayelikeNhis.DurinqEurope'ofeudal era, each
tf Jt ) ' feudalfiefdomwae a definireleqal,Volitical,economic
and social
f'F-t
ffi._ts world.ANt'hecenf'erwaethe caetrle,lheLordand Ladyof the
caet'leand rhe nobiliLy.
Workingrhe fieldsand the foreeto,a
laee of eerts wereloyalto trheirfeudal lorde,of course,

ff,hiofeudal world wae trhoughVto be onlya reffectrion

of a
';.,
coemosruledon hiqhby God and a qanq of heavenly
hoeT,e,and VoVulatedby darker characfero,Nhecrea-
turee of myfh and folklore-wiT.,ches,
qianNe,dragono.
 MedievalmaVmakereoften With t'he Kenaiesance,lhe
re?reoenhed lhie world in eensu- princiVleof Verepeclivemade iIe
ous det ail, almosl likea Vaintinq.
ln such ma?e,a riveris a sensu-
ous frowof blue Vain| Ihat' cuts
trhrougha dark foresl (reVreoent'-
ed by painbinqin a numberof and religion.
etiNioneof m;yl'lh
Nreee)-and beyondwe find lhe At the 6ametime, t'he
castle. A crose ohininqfrom t'he Ttolemaicoyotremof ma?-
oteeVleof the churchand it s 6ur- makinqmade ilo way t'o
roundinqbuildinqoare aleo all reV' EuroVe-a oyotrem lhat reV- \i
resented ae they might,be in a resenled o?ace obieclively.
Thesedet'aileare oeen
Vaintrinq. Fromtrhenon, a malhemalical
ae
from a bird's-eye?ereVecNive, qrid-a qeometricframework
if God werelookingdown upont'he allowinqviewerslo acf'uallymea-
ecene,Ar the edgeof such ma?e lowns
oure dislanceg bet'ween
wae Nheend of t'he world-and a and oceane-wouldaV-
cosmicdraqonwait'inqNo ewallow ?earon all ma?o.Nou
anyonewho woulddare venbure einceallof o?ace,all of
troocloset o trheedqe lhe world,couldbereVre-
andf all into hie eenled by a qeomef'ricqrid, t'he
mouth. wholeqlobewae euddenlyknow-
ExVlorero,
ableand conquerable.
oettinq oul on voyaqeeol dis'
covery,drew such ma?e,which
wereNhenvaluableto
merchants and
Nradere,
 At the eameNime in everyephereof Thenbhe lBrh-
Nhat o?acebecame Kenaiesance culbure. cenlury Enlighl,en-
choVVed
uV mathe- ln archileclure,Golh- mentrgaw e?aceao
matically,the clock, ic cathedralehad eomethinqtro be con-
or chronomeNer,
made been?o?ulahedwith quered.Vlapewere
if,eaVVearance. groleequeqargoyleo purqedof all elemenNe
Thesenewconce?- and angels.DuNLhese of fanNasyand reliqion
Nionsof sVaceand qaveway,in lhe ba- and becameabsNracf,
time werereflecf,ed roqueera,f,o a more qeomeNric,
cold,
exVansive
archihec- mathematical,and
lure, to lhe eoarinq etrictly funcIional.
enerqieeof Dach'e Bothtime and
fugueeand the ex- o?acebecameuni-
Vaneiveimaqeeof form, mechanical,
o?aceand time in NewDonian
o?aceand
John Donne'sVoetry. Iime. but if the whole
7uI thie new,infi- worldcould be envi-
nile, meagured eionedae uniform,it
imaqeof time and landcouldbe laid ouI
o?aceeNillreflectred on a grid and divided
God'eqlory. u? equally-ae wae
d o n ei n t h e U n i I e d
St atee-trhen thie
couldcreate f,he
 braNedGod's
infinitreqlory but
dioplayedIhe dimen-
sions of a universe
Ihal couldbe domi-
naf,edby MAN, And
ueedby Man for hie
own freedom.No
lonqerwouldone fear
fallingoff the edqeof
Nheeafth int o Ihe
mouf,hof a coemic
mongf,er.
EuroVeane
thouqhl lhat, now
Ihere wae a Vlacein
this conquerable
e?acefor everyone.
Africa could Vrovide
slaves,and oiher
basiefor equalityin wholeuniformqrid of conlinenbsand climee
oociety,lf, could cre- Ihe qlobe,Spacewao could Vrovideraw
ate Nhebasislor knowable,
and mat erialsfor lhe
democracy. throughEuclidean imVerialEuroVean
ln other worde, qeomeIry,conquer- and American?ower6.
trheviewof a ratrional, able.1pace, natstre, Thechronometer
uniformqrid of 6?ace and trheworldcould allowedtime,like
and trimeallowed be measured,known g?ace,Io be geenae
Enliqhlenmenl and dominated. mathemal,icaland
thinkerst o envision For Enliqhtrenmenl uniform.Timenow
colonialand uNoVian thinkersthis vaet t,ickedaway in a
planothal couldbe qrid of epaceand et raighl linefrom the
rolledout, overT,he time no lonqercele- Vaet,lo trhefuture,
 9imilarly,workere

rul
.\?
\.6..2 :l
Voderniem
in variouscountries
beqanto oympathize
wilh eachotrher,
eaw Lhe break- environment,
and in such an
lhe Communis|
inq up of Lheee Manifeelo,couldgain an audience.
= uniform,linear,con- AfLer1B5O,Ihe major Euro-
ceptriono
of opaceand ?ean naNioneexpandedqlobally,
Lime.DurinqLhe Enliqhbenment etriVVinqmuchof the e?ace
eocialtime and Vhyeicaltrimehad in Nheworld of iNeVrevioue
merqed,had becomeuniformand nameeand ueee.ll becamerou-
mabhemabical.
Timehad become tine for nations,cilies and indiv-
Vroqreeeive. idualeto be deeVlyinluenced
Butrin the mid-ninetreenlh by evenlslhousands of milee
cenLury,thie ?roqreaoiveeenee away,The radio,Ihe mol,orcar,
of lime wae ehaken.Vany Euro- and Nhetrain acceleraledtheee
?eanewho had pafricipatedin developmenVe,
uVrieinqsand revolulionehad Howcould any wrif,er,T,hen,
had a Iaele of exVloeive
T,ime, still write a realisNicnovelwilh
ThoeecaughT, up in class otrug- a Vlot unfolding?aqe after
?aqe
qlee had a eeneeof alternalinq, in eimVle,et ep-by-eLeV, chrono-
cyclicIime. loqicalorder?
Also,by the mid-nineLeenLh
cenf,ury,iN becameevjdent,thal
economicand socialtime had
chanqed.With improvemenlein
t ranepo(Cat
ion and communica-
f,ione,all of Europewae becominq
economic ally interdeVendent. If
Taris should euffer a financial
crisie,Nhecrieis also affectred
Londonand berlin.
 Writers Now,in the
e u c ha s Toebmodern
Flaubefi,, world,rhe
Trouet,and ohrinkinqof
James eVacehae
Joyce chanqedNhe
beqant'o waye lhat,
capt ure this moneyand
eeneeof commodiliee
g i m u lat n e o u a oVeraIe,CaVilal
trimeby alf,erinq is noweleclronically
Nhesf,rucf,uresof their Vlobo. movedaroundIhe qlobalmar-
Einstein'erevoluNionary Nheo- ketVlacewibhsuch raViditythat'
riee of relativity it, hae los| much of if,eeNabilily
chanqedthe Ver' and meaninq.ln our localeu?er-
ceVtrionof oVace we can buy French
markeT,g,
and time even cheeeeeand wines,beersfrom
more.lmVreeoion- Canada,Mexico,Asia and Euro?e,
iot Vaintere euch ae qreenbeanefrom SouIh America
ManeNand Cezannebeqanlo or Africa,Tahilianmanqoee,Cali-
decompoeetrhee?aceof object'e fornia celery,CanadianaVVleo,
qo-object'e dieeolv-
wilhin Vaint,in eNc.)Vace is aleo
inq into dabe of liqhL Cubismfur' compreeoed
ther decompoeed Ihe obiecL.ln in the ?o?u-
oo ciology Durkheim's EIementa ry lationsof the
Forme of ReligioueLife, Vubliohed larqeet,ciliee,
in 1912,foundedthe seneeof time made
increasinqly
in socialrhythmo.lt became uV of minorities
a??arenLtha| there are ae many suchae Vietnameae,
of e?aceand lime
experiences Koreans,EasNern
Europeane,
as f,hereare ?eroVectrivee. Americane,
Cenbral Africane,ef,c,
 Pust
Ae eVaceehrinkl moreand more,Nheindividual
quali-
tiee of differenl epacee,differenl localihiee,
qrowe in
imVoftance.CefDainVrovinceein Francebecomevery
impoftan| if Nheycan ?rovidea cefr,ainkind of wine

oVVooedro f'he fixedaccumulationof the early zorh centrury,

when
corporaT'ione
likeFord Mohor Companyand Lheir capiNalbaeicallyoat,
in one placeand Vumpedoul cars for a relatrively
ehablemarker.
Harveybelieveethat Ihe ephemeralily,
collaqeand fraqmentalion
of Toetrmodernaftifacte such ae booke,frlme,archiNectureand art,
are oimVlymircoreof thie Vhenomenonof frexibleaccumulahion.

An examVleof thie ie trhemovieSladerunner,

which
contraineeiqnific
ant ToeNmodern elemente.
"Olade Kunner"ig a Viclorian word for "Vrivatreeye."
The film becamea cull film-and t,hena kind of natrional
eVecimen
of Tosf,modernism.
ltreven
 inepiredWilliam Gibson'e AlbhoughNheyhave
novelNeuromanaerand beenqivenhumanemo-
lhe movemenf,lhaf,hae tiong,lhey are con-
comeIo be knownas sideredsomewhatdan-
ovberounk.
<--
qeroue,and as Vafi, ol
Olade Runner ie lheir qenetic?roqram,
about,a qanq of qeneti- havea life e?an of only
callyVroducedhumane four yeare,
called" replicantl" who
havebeencreated to l$l tt looksos if they
\ oerveae hyVer- would be good short-
ef,ronq,inlelliqenl controct workers in
and ekilledelavee. q Postmodernworld.
Theare uged"off- But qre they humqn
worldl'in trhehaz' beings or not?
ardouework of
I
exVlorinq
and Do you remember
H
colonizinq
Ihe J ean Daudrillard'
e con-
out er planete. ceVt,of trheeimulacrum?

Sure,the simulocrum
is the copy thot is so
closeto the originol
thqt the originol is
no longer importont.
 t
And Nhat'ewhat Ihe huge TyrellCor- lfl Yee.Andthe Loe
reVlicanlehavebe- VoraIion,and ie in Anqeleelhey rehurn
come-simulacra commandof trhere- lo, ouppooedlyLoe
lhat are naarlyindie- Vroductiveproce66eo Anqeleeof the year
tinquiehable
from neceoearyfor cre- 2019, ie no utopia,ln
humanbeinqo,ln fact, alion of reVlicants. facL iN ie a dyetroVia,
Blade Kunner ?or- The reVlicanleare a decayed,Tost-
Iraye a baudrillardian anqryabout Iheir industrialwaeleland.
world in which"The eho(Clife eVan.How-
real ie produced from ever,TyrellexVlainolo
miniaturized units, Koy,Nheleaderof trhe
from matricea, memo- enraqedreVlicantro,
ry bankoand com- lhat f,heyshould
mand modules-and enjoylheir shofv life
with these it can be becaueeit, is more
reproduced an indefi- inf,ense-like a ffame
nite numberof timee" thal burnsT,wice
as
(erM
5). briqhflybut,hae only
AndIhe reVli- a ehoftduraiion,
canls haveret urned I
l$l Butdoesn'tthot
Io Los Anqeleo,where
mqkethemlike
they weremade,in
the Postmodern
order to meeNtrheir
personolities-
maker,a qenetric
coughtup in the
deeignernamedlyrell,
rushof time?
who is Ihe headof
 likeareVlica,asimu-
0nthelowest 0nthehiUhestlacrumof a ?yramid,
f 0u0l, emvty hish
ware- l0U0l,eoarins loel amonqa bazaar
houeeeand induet'rial abovelhe etreeN of Oreek,Koman,
-buried ecum,f,owerg a hiqh-
Vlanto lie half and
Vayan,Chinese,
in heaVeof ro|t'inq t ech worldof corVo- Victorian motifs.
rubbish,whichare raNe?ower,architec' The Vrofusionof
ecavenqedby roaminq Lureand advefVieinq: corVoralearchi-
bandsof punksand Zan Am,CocaCola, leclure and adver-
otrherhumanvulNuree Sudweieer. Dut,hov- Iioinq oiqnein Ihe
livinqon lhe decayinq erinqaboveall Ihe ciNy,whichcom-
remainsof the VaoI. corporaNeoffices is of
bineeelemenNe
NheTyrellCorVora' NewYork,Tokyo,
0nt|temiildle tion ileelf. HonqKonqand
of
l0U0l,rhe busrte Not onlythe reVli- Loe Angelee,ie
elreet, life, itr looke canls are simulacra, noNhinq eo much
likeHonq
eometrhinq buVthe archil,ecf,ure a6 a chaosof
Kong(on a bad day) of lhe cily io too, lT,ie circulalinqeiqno
crowdedwilh Vunko, an eclectic ?osf,mod- referrinq
variousriff-raff,Hare of
ern hodqepodqe Eo other
KrishnadevoT,eee, The
eimulacra. otqne.
and oNhermarqinal TyrellcorVorale
etreeNfolk. headquafi,erelooke
 TheToebmodern a(Eistic whot is doublecoding,ogoin?
E
VrinciVleatrworkheraia pae' T
tiche,a eerieeof neutralquo- !f You will rememberthaL in
tabionemimickin q varioue architectruredoublecodingcon-
archif,ecNural styleeand frlm eieT,eof ueinglvlodernietmelh-
eVylee E,v e f f i h i niqe d o u b l e ode,bul lranecendingthem by
coded. simullaneouelyquot inq archilec-
f,ural mof,ifefrom the pael or
from a localcullure-buf, con-
eciouely,in a Vlayful,Vaeliche-
eort,of way thaL can be humoroue
or ironic,
I
lll Likethe ArEr building thot is
of onceo pieceof modernorchi-
tectureond o quote of o grondfo-
ther clock?
r
lil Yee.And doublecodinqcan
occur noI only in archilecLurebut,
injuet,abouf,any art form. 3o in
Elade Runner,everythinqie dou-
blecoded.Thereare nol' only
humanreVlican|e;everythingie a
reVlicanl,Theacf,orereVlicalean
ecleclicblendof movieqenreoand
periodeVylee-for Elade Runner
ts bolh a lulurieNicfiln, eeV40 a humanbein7
differencebeLween
yearb in Lhe fulure (from t'he and a Nexue-6android?WhaI is
19BOo)and eeI simulf'aneouely an oriqinal
Lhedifferencebetrween
40 yeare in f,he VaoL-it quoLee a n da e i m u l a c r u m ?
ertensivelyfrom lhe genreof noir Thiequeelionie broughllo a
filme of the 194Oe.Someof rhe belween
headin Lhe relatrionehiV
eeNeare aclually eeLefrom old Kick Deckard-a Vrivateeyewho
SoqarI and JameeCagneymoviee. hao beenhiredby the TyrellCorpo-
q ie
Archif,acNurally, everyft,hin raLionf,o acl ao a eearch-and-
quoted also: Frank LloydWriqhl, deof,royaqent,in pureuil of
Greekand Komancolumne,alonq Nexue- 6 replicante- and Kachel,
with Orienlalmotife and 4Os a beautifulbrunel'Lereplicantwith
qanqeterseNNhemeaThuethe w h o mh e f a l l e i n l o v e ), h e d o e e
mof,iveie noVVarodybuf,VlaY- nol,knowwheLherehe ie a repli'
paeliehe,ltr is t'he eurtace plaY canf,or nol'.This caueeeOeckard
and dioVlayof Lhe simulacra.JueL Io doubt hie own humanhief'ory.
ae the replicanhe are morehuman AfLer he killoone of her fellow
t h a n h u m a n a , f , heei m u l a c r ah a v e androide,Rachaelie vioiblYdie-
becamemare realt'hanIhe real, turbed, Deckardeaye "KePli-
ln facf,, a main queaNionof canf,gweren'lou?-
the flm ie,Whal ie Lhe dif' pooedIo havefeelinqe,
ference bef,weena b u LI h e n a q a i n ,n o r
m a c h i n ea n d a h u m a n wereSladeKtJnnere."
beinq?ReVlicant'o
a n d h u m a nb e i n q e
are 60 muchalike
Ihal it io very dif-
ficult to Nellthe
copyfrom the
"real ilhinqi' )
What ie the
lqff
,il| OL
 69"
qi

qrowinqconcernwith f,herela-
IionehiVbetweenhumanbeinqe
and compulere.

AN another VointrDeckerand Couldthis, then, be onother

Kachel,humanand android,are differencebetween modernism
abouLlo oleept ogelher.Kachel ond Postmodernism?
eaye,"You'renot goinq to bed
with a woman..,.Kememben E How'e
Nhar?
though,don't think about it, juot
do it, Don't pau6e and be philoe-
ophical,becauaefrom a philooo-
Well,one of the centrol imoges
phrcal otandpoint it'e dreary for
modernistsusedto fill in the
ue both,"
post-Nietzschion
void wos thot
Out,the moviedoes makeus
of the mochine.PerhopsPost-
think about it Vhilooophically.
ln
modernismhosjust reploced
facf,, much of ToeLmodernafr ie
juet,a way of thinkinqabout,lhe the imoge of the simple
mochinewith thot of the Mon-
Toetmodernaqe, lt, ie a way of
mochine-the hybrid of mon
doing Toef,modern
fheory. And
ond mochine.
after all, the movieopawnedtrhe
wholemovement,
of ayberpunk,a Acf,ually,lhaf,;e exaclly what
movemen|Lhal dramatizeelhe DonnaHarawaydeclareein anoth-
120
er impofr,anf,Toel- human,half com?ut- mylhe about beinq
moderneggay,"A er. Harawayarquea humanalwayoqo
CyborqManifeeto: thal in f,he lat e backf,o eomeidyllic
)cience,Technoloqy, twentielh cenf,ury, lime of wholeneoe
and )ocialiet Forma- and probablyfor and unity and inno-
tion in the LaNe gomeNimeT,ocome, cence,likein the
Twenlielh Cenluryi' we are all cyborgo. Garden of Eden.Dut,
Thiee6oayie actual- Ihe myih of the
ly a chaVter in her Butore we oll cyborgis neveraboul
book )imiano, Cy- cyborgs?| don't wholes;iNdoes not,
borqe and Women: hcve ony looknoetalqically
The Keinvention mochineports. backto eomeunified
of Nature, I oriqin.A cyborqio
n Harawayuoee
"cyborg"to con- alwayea oplif,,a
Well,whot's hybrid idenbiLy,
a
elrucl a new mfih
o cyborg? cybernetric
orqanism:
abouf,beinq
a human-comVuter.
A cyborq io h u m a nO
. ld
a cybernetic
orqaniem.Half
 tllrtlttllllltrtrttttrtltltrlllllrllrlrll

I I I T T I I I I I I I I T T I

MltrlD BODY
cutfuRe NIr\]URE
Mi\!.8 teMi\Ie
clvl!.lzeD ?RlMlnvE
tY
Rer\!.| +\??ti\iti\Nlqe
YVilott ?i\ttf
Mr\i(Eit M+\DE

For in our culture, we alwaye boee,everycheck-out'clerkal t'he

try to favor t'he words on the
left and re?reoe t'lheonee on the
rlght^ Dut if we oee oureelveoao
cyborge,Ihenwe can knowNhaN
we are alwayebot'h:mindand
body,cu\ure and naf'ure,male
and female,etrc.-fracf'ured iden-
f,ilies, human-comVuf,ers,And,in
a way,we are. EveryAsian woman
l$l well, why don't theseworkers
who,wilh her nimblefingero,worko
in f,heelecLronicsinduslry,ao'
eemblingcomVuNero, everyoecre-
Iary whoeefyVinqeVeedie moni-
qroceryetrorewhoeeeVeedis cal-
culated by a computer,every
vofer,everyconoumerie bein4
monilored by a comVut'er-ie
?art of a comVutrer-ie a cyber-
netic orqaniem.lI ie hard t'o tell
whereT,hecomVuter et'oVeand
Ihe organismbeqino,
just rebel?
That'e one of the eenNimenls
tha| 7ave rise No lhe whole cYber-

Iored on Ihe comVut'erby her Vunk movement',

13,0
 E cyberpunk?
I
lfl Yee.CyberVunkwasonceconsidered
of all Toef'modern
Ihe most Toetmodern
lhinqe,Cyberpunkbeqanao a hybridof BOs
cybefrechnologyand anarchy.
counterculr,ure,
The"cyber"parLof cyberpunk indicatee
to do
Ihaf,,likecyborq,iI has somef'hing
wilh comVuNere.
Theword"Vunk"qiveeuo a cluelo
T,heatfiilude thal cyberpunkshave
Ioward comVul,erI'echnoloqy:hip,oexy,
violent, mind-allered,anNi-auf,horilari-
for trhe
wilh a distrasNe
an, rebellious,
t-
dominanNlifeolylesof NheReaganl
gush era.
Nendlo oVer-
Reallife cyberVunke
oubeidethe law,ae lhey
aIe eomewhaV
are o??oeedlo the cenlralizeduee of
comVuherf,echnoloqieo
by huqemeqa-
corVoraf,ionsand et at'es.Theyare
oft,enhackerswho uee cybert,echnol-
oqy t o traVinto lhe international
elecf,ronicgrid to futfittlheir own
individualdeeiree.A cyberVunk
quy who wanf,st o seduceoome
corVorale eecrelary miqht,soften
her up by eofr,eninqup her soft-
wear (".q,, by alt erinqlhe eofLwarein Ihe corVoraf,emainframeoo
that, iI apVearslo her boes-who monitrorsher key elroke raf,e-lhat,
she ie IyVinq f,,wice
as faeN as ehe aclually ie).
5=tnE*Hn

CyberVunks,
unlikehiVViee,
are nol,
aqaineLt.echnoloqy.
Theywant lo uee
Iechnoloqyae a meanef,o reeiet the
infringementr
on our individualfree-
=
doms by centralizedtechno-qiante,

t? :
--
JueNao Mary thelley'o Franken-
etein warnedagainet Ihe exceeeee
:
=1 and danqereof Nheinduetrial and
€:
>i ecienbificrevolulionin hhe 19fh cenNu-
ry, ecienceficlion writinqI,hal 7oee
by Ihe nameof cyberVunk warns of a
techno-futurein whichhumansmusl
fiqhf a7ainoNtrhetechnoloqicalVow-
ere of giantrinternalionalmeqa-
Dutrt hat, lechnoloqical
corporaNions,
fut ure is now!
Neuronr
ancer
Thefirsl cyberVunknovel,which
wao inepired,in paft, by Dlade Kunnen
ie WilliamGibeon'sNeuromancer.The
olory ie about,Caee,a pelty comVuler
and dala thief who has elolen informa-
Iion from his bosses.As Vuniehmenl,,
hie nervecellehavebeenburnedoul.
Case'snervoueoyelem ie reVaired,
however,
whenhe ie hired by a myeteri-
oue emVloyerto Verforma Big HeioN.
 m ffi t m

by oomehiredmue-
He ie accomVanied
cle in Lheform of Molly,a qal brimminq
e, includinqrazore
wilh bio-imVlant
Nheyeleal
beneatrhher naile.Toqetrher
conglrucl.
a coYn?uf,er
The major adventurein the novelie
--
a planel
trheirmieeionNo Freeland, I,
---
wherethey are f,o eleal an Anificial
enlily namedNecromancer
lntelliqence
wilh whomWinlermale (Ihe myef,eri- 4
-_
ou6 emVloyer)wiehestro mergeeo
lhal he may becomeGod and Iake
overf,he univerae,
The ditrerencebeNween
Dlade
Kunnerand Neuromanceris that,
in NeuromancerIhe ditrerence
betweencomVuterand human,naNure
and Lechnoloqy,
oriqinaland coVV,oriq-
i n a la n d e i m u l a c r u mh,a e c o l l a V e e d -
imVloded,ln facN,Neuromancer
sla(be ouf,wiNha deecriplion
-,4 S
'\

of nat ure lhat is in Ierme of

t echnology:"Ihe ekyabove
ihe porb wae the
color of Neleviaion,
tuned to a dead
channel"(Nb).
 And ir ie Caee'oown reVaired CybereVaceis a cyborq-a
nervouooyelem, for ingNance,
nof, merqinqof humanand comVuter
oomecomVuIer,whichenableehim caVaciNies,
Andthis conceVlof
Io enter cybereVace, cybereVacewae euqqeetedto
AndIhouqh everyonetoday Gibeonone day in Vancouver,
a6
knowswhaf,cyberepaceie, Gibson he wae wat.chin7gometeenaqero
wae the one who invenledthe Vlayinqvideo0ame6in an arcade:
Ierm. He did oo by eayinqthal "l could see in trheVhyoical
cyberopaceie: " A conseneualhal- intrenoityof their pooNureshow
lucination experienced daily by raVt,f,heeekidewere.,,.You had
| | / , billlonsoflegitl- NhiefeedbacklooV,with Vhotone
,,' mate o?era-
.-/./ | cominqoff the ocreeninto the
',/
tors in every kids'eyeg,Nheneuronemovinq
o-o%\ : nation.,,a Ihrouqh lheir bodies,elecNrons
,frfr
wlr
' gnphia re?re- movinqthrouqh Lhe comVuter,
K(_
NtI c\-nr -^-L^Lt^- ^s
,, 1r\*ffi14 sentation of Andthoee kide clearlybelievedin
-
data abstracted Ihe oVacelhese 0arne6Vrojected!'
from the banke of
everycomputer in

CyberVunkscienceficIion is
not,eo muchaboul the fulure ae
it, is a way of drawinqa map of
whatrie qoinqon t oday-a ?re-
senl in whichdat a are conf'rolled
caVit'aliot'iccorVo-
by vaot, Nechno
raf,ions.buI t'heeehuqedat'a

tions of data, banksexiel in a epacewhere'N,

telex,t aVe recorder,VCR,laser
Like city lighte
reaedlng"(N51).
 f @o if you werea ou?er-
7 modelstrultinq in thigh-hiqho
inf,oa glitzy trhemereetraurant,
euch ae the FaehionCafe, or)

-
whileenqaqedin noieyLeledildonice
.-1
.a

wilh eomeoneof Nat ional-Enquirer-

fr onl- cover st aIuo-o omeone
diek, camcorder, tel edild o,
such ao a dieLant,Maft]an. A
a ud ioa n i ma I r on ic Va Va ra z z i ,
nano-roverie an imVoeeibly
small
nano-roverand t eleVhone are
robolic lhaN eende back pixel
wiredtroqelherlikea eprawling
imaqeetrom lhe eufraceof Mare.
eleclroniceVeciesof coemiccrab-
And eo you can 6eethe Voeeibili-
qraoe. Andthey can be Vluqqed
tiee: Nhedata trom teledildo,
int o by thoee with Ihe hacker,
Mafi,ian,nano-roverand audio-
cybVerVunk ethic of "informaNion
animaf,ronic ?a?arazzi- all inter-
for Lhe VeoVle."
actinq in one huqecoemicelec-
LronicevenT,.
E reteditdo?
Audioonimqtronic
pqpqrozzi? Nqno-rover?Whqt
qre those?

Teledildoniasinvolveea
kindof comVuter eex in
whicha joy- et ick-dildo
can be animated by a
uoer on a digT,anf,
com-
Vuter. Audioanimatronia
?a?arazziare eound-acbi-
vatredrobotic paparazzi
whichena?your photo
 (tltft-
a - ' -

:.-
'9,:-$ 1

2L
;ri
'./4

fiction
@ aro.rpunkscience
seemsto provide o more occu-
rote mop of the contoursof
zineehave
CyberVunk
thesePostmoderntimes thon
becomemainglream.
doesBoudrillord'stheory.
MONDO 2000, a
ThaN'eright, ln fact', many qlooeycyber-qlam
'BOo
think that, Saudrillardis really zine,latre cre-
doinqeciencefict'ion,and trhatr alion of R.U. ?ir-
muchof cyberpunkeciencefict'ion iue and Queen
ie reallyVretIy qood Iheory. AfLer Mu "domined-
onlydeecribeea
all, Oaudrillard itrixl'ie
ToeImoderneociet'ylhat Vaeoive- etruffed
ly ourrendersNof,hesensual, wilh raV
obecenefrowof hyVerrealilyand on gmarA
eimulacra.7uI cyberVunk ecience druqo,cyber-
fiction not only deecribesa world fashion(cyberpunke
of simulacrabut aleo showeiI to ofbenwear mirror-
be a world dominated by vasf' ohadeo),cyber-qoeoip,ef,c.
me7a-corVoratione,and euqgeetre lvlond o'e Vopularit'y wae
a form of resistancelo Nhecon- ecliVeed,in 1993, by Wired,a eile
exer- for cyberVunk
trol these huqecor?orat'iong aulhors euch as
cige over uo, WilliamGibeon.Wiredwenf'online
like1au-
cyberVunk,
However, in 1994 as HotWired.
drillard,hae nowceasedt'o be lTe[iloltlireil
avanNqardeand ie now merelYhiV, www.wirBil.G0|l|
 SeeideeLhese?o?ularmaga- e r n c i v i l i z a l i oinn t e r m i n a ld e c l i n e
zinee,f,oneof cyberpunk
eci-fihae hookeup wiLhrebellioue
ultrimalely
beenVumpedouT^1uT,il all eounde and lou qh-lalking (youlhI aftifrcial
pelly muchNheeame.Ae Ceicoery- inlelligencelrock culto) who offer
Ronayaeke: nol of (communi-
the alt ernaLive,
"Howmanyformulaict ales t y I ooc ia l i e mI t r ad i t io na l va l ue eI
can one wadeNhrouqhin whicha tranecendentalvieion),buLof eu-
eelf-deetruclive bul eeneilive qoinq
?reme,lifeaffirminghippneee,
younqVrolaqonieL
with an (im- wilh lhe flow whichnowflowein
-
Vlanf,/ Vr oeIheeie/ Lelecht ronic t al the machine,
aqainet,the epecf,er
ent) trhaI makeeLhe evil(mega- of a world-eubverLinq (arLi-
corVoraT,io
neI police el at eeI fi cial inf,elliqenceI mulbina -
c r i m i n aul n d e r w o r l d ep)u r e u eh i m tional corVorate web/ evil
Lhrouqh(waetredurban|andecaVeel qeniue)?"
elite luxuryenclavee|
eccentric (7Re1O4)
q
e?aceef,alions)full of groheeque
(haircuLe/ cloth esI eelf- mulila -
t ioneI rock mueicI eexual I
t

h o b b i e/ ed e e i q n edr r u q o/ f

f,elechf,ronic qa d qeto/ na oty

newweaponeI ex\eriorized
hallu ci naIi one) re?reeentin g
Ihe (moree/faehione) of mod-

.,t\j

f.,.,,
/

'1t{l
\t
 t h a n I h e o r i q i n a lT. h u es h e i s
just
E well,cyberpunk deliberately Irivial, shallow,formu-
soundslike o bunch of
laic. And not,only in her videoe.
boys with high-tech
the realizeethat "real" lite ie juol
power fqntosies.How ore
show biz aleo.Thueehe collecf,s
theseony different from
her VaycheckbuNneverreallyqoee
Rombo?And whot does
t o work.Whenshe dresoeeu? ao
cyberpunk hove to soy
MarilynMonroeshe does so wilh
obout the problemsof
the knowledqe IhaI MarilynMon-
crime, drug oddiction,
roe, hereelf,waejuet a VuT,-on,
a
sex qddiction, obout juot
consbruction,a simulacrum,
women, obout ecology?
likedreeeinquV in draq or voque-
I
inq,Thuoher dreseinqu? ae Mari'
[if Wharever
reVlaceo
cyberpunkwill havef,o be lyn Monroeis doublecodedin Nhe
more eart,h-cenf,ered
and oame 6enoethat Dlade Kunner
more woman-cenf,ered, architecbureare
and Tosf,modern
doublecoded.
Some of her crilice, VeoVlelike
Whot'sso Postmodern Tlanned?ar'
f eminiets, Neachers,

obout Modonno? enthood,Veteransof ForeiqnWars,

ehc.reqardMadonnaae juot a
Well,tor one thinq, she ie cheese'
all surtace,
quitreconeciouely cakeywhore
all Vut-on,all dreoe-uV,
all dreeeedup
all simulalion,all
make-over, in Nraehyjunk jewelry,with
the knowebhat
eimulacrum. a hrNherebellybulf,on
we livein an aqe of hyVe,of and a fondle-my-
hyVer-reality.the knowstrhat' bra, boy-toy
simulationand a??earance attitrude.
meanmorelhan subsf,ance
and reality.the knowsthat
and
fhe apVropriaf,ion
replicationof lhe
oriqinalare morereal
 oexualdif-
9ome
ference,For
Madonna-
ingtrance, it, io
oloqisfs,on Nhe
ou??o6edly a
of,herhand, re-
f e m i n i nqea m a
qard Madonnaao
noNa maoculine
deconelruclinq eooen-
q a m e , t ow e a ra
lialisl notionsof malel
blacklace bra, with a
female,hiqharr,lVoVafi,,
little bit of etraV ohow-
blackl whiNe,virqin/ whore,
inqaI f,heehoulder. Dut,
fucker/fuckee, et c,
I in Vadonna';videoemen
lEl Deconstructing essen- havebreaste and wear
tialist notion of whcrt? bra6,imVlying NhalXhey
E Traditrional genderrole6, havebreaotrenvy(inotead
ideaoof whal it Nakesto be of the womenhavinqVenie-
maoculine or feminine, are 6nqy),wornenhavehard-ons,
keVIin Vlaceby fixedpolari- virginsare whoree, and eluNe
triee-binaryo??osites of are virqino,

-
 .: ).4i-, -2_

TIITII IITIII
"DieVlacemenl,
ie at,lhe core videoJuetify My Lovehae become
of f,hevideo'olraneqressionwhere a k i n do f g a y a n t h e m .I I b l u r eL h e
bodieeintereect in the infamoue differencebelweeneexualorienta-
bedroomecene.Vultiplebodiee lione, belweenqenderand sex,
ehiff poeitionein a eerieeof die- Vortrayinqan erotic flow of frac-
whilecameramove-
placemenf,s, tured imaqeoLhal refueeto play
menLeimulaleethe ffuidilyof eitherthe leebianor Nhehelero'
erolic activity as iI ranqeeover eexualqame,eiLherthe eLraighf
bodiee,undieNurbed
by subetitu' qameor the qay qame,eilher
f,ione.CoreidenliLieaaurcender t h e b l a c kq a r n eo r t h e w h i l eg a m e ,
of erof,icrolee
Io lhe aeeumVf,ion e i t h e rt h e m a l eq a m eo r L h ef e '
in a oplif,tinqbetweendark and maleqame,buN,wibha litIle imaq'
liqht,maleand female,gay and e
inabionand crose-dreesinq,play
eLraiqhr- differencee multiVlied lhe hybrid,mulanl, hyperreal,
and compounded" 1u?Fibo-g). Iesbian-heleroe exual qame, I,he
3y deconef,rucNing the riqid an 6ame,t he
heferosexual-leebi
belweenmaeculine
boundariee -
mulaf,to maleI esbia n qa me,the
a n d f e m i n i n em, a n a n d w o m a n , half-breed-temale-gay- man qame.
qay and etrrai7hl,Madonna'
e

140
 Butif Modonno's
videosdecontruct
gender,sexuolity
ond roce,don't
thesevideos-ond
the wholeModonno
phenomenon-hove
somethingto do
with power?

E Yee,Or with?ower
fant aoiee,Naf,ually,
the
?owerleselike?ower.
And a largepafi of
\Aadonna'e ?ower
derivesfrom herabiliby
Lo Vroduce imaqesof
rebellinqaqainstestab-
lished?owere.buL, >-
often the only?ower
Madonna fane haveie
Nobuyher Vroducf,e: ((i
t o increasethe wealth
of the mulLinatrional
enlerLainmenl cor?ora-
LioneNhathaveIhem
hypnoNized.
 Untitled Film ?tills somef,hinglike maeke, o?eninqa letler, elc.
concealinq"Cindy'o" All of trheeeimaqee
face (whichie nol so eeem otrranqelyfamil-
familiar lo ue) but, iar. buf, this io only
I
remindinqu6 of eome- becaueeIhey were
l9l Hypnotizedthem?
T Ihinq familiar (yeL, ineVired,in Varb,
fl Yeo.Theflow of we cannol
someT,hinq by clich1efrom old
mediaimaqeohyVno' Dri7iINeDardot and
quile qraeV).
lizee and conditione )oVhia Lorenmovies.
ue.The hyVerreality Whenyou oee one
of Vadonnaimaqee of her Vholoe,you
becomeemore real think you recognizea
NhanNheMadonna characler or ecene
wanna-beswho imi- from an old movieyou
t ale her.And Ihis have6een,Dul, in
Vhenomenon-of fact,Ihe phot'osdo
lhe imaqebeing notrreVroduceany
more realthan t'he opecificaceneoin any
human-is drama- movieebu| pullup in
lized W VhotograVher What'we oee,t'hen, our mind'e eye t'he
Cindytherman in a ie noI Cindytherman, kinds of vieualalich4e
eeriesof Vhof'oqraVhe and roleo womenhave
butran imaqeof a
laken bet'ween1977 glarlef', a Vlayedin old moviee
Vaooed-ouf'
and 19BO ent'it'led hitch-hiker, a woman we havegeen.
Untitled Film ?tille,
The imaqeaare act'u-
allyall of Cindyther-
man,the phot'ograVh-
er, hereelf,bu| we do
nol, eee Cindyther-
man.Whal we eeeare
imaqeothal a??ear
in our mind'oeye.
Theeeimaqeoact'

142
 Thus,our momenf,
of recoqnif,ion
io only
a n i l l u e i o nT.h o u q h
Iheee imageeoeem
lo refer No eomething
oNherthan them'
selveo,Iheyare all
oufiace,all deVth-
lessness.

@ lhal whirl by wirh imaqeeqlowand

Another Tootmod- such velocitythat fricker,makinqthe
ern arLifact ie MTV f,hey have been viewerinlo a kind
ET etriVVedof all mean- of mindecreen.
El whyMrv? inq-refercinq only
T
fl Wall ,lelevision,in tro olher imaqee-
general,ie considered Nheaudiencehavinq
t o be TosT,modern reachedthe point,
becauseit, is like a of t ot al saturation
t ornadoof imagee ae lhe meaninqlees

Butsomeof the imoges
dO mokesense.Mostof the
sit-comsond soopshove
stories-qrrotives.
barbiedollein compromieinq
poei-
T,ione,
dreeeingthem up in boy'o
clothinq,or,ae lhe barbieLibera-
trionOrqanization
did, ewitchin7
the voice-boxee of barbiedolls
wilh thoee of G.l.Joe.

AndNhaf,'ewhy E whqtmokes
\. o novel or o film
is consideredto
[i
ti
I
Postmodern?
naalaaJ^--2
be eepeoially
!
Toslmodern.
---r/a
E Modernist
gecaueefor \: novelgconcern
moel of IV, trhemeelves
with
the limiteof individ-
narrative-hae been ual congciousness-
the norm. Ouf,Mry ie not \- howthe individual
"4
basedon etories but, knowsNheworld.ln
on disconneated novelesuch as
flowe of images.Then James Joyce'ePor-
there ie subvertleing,a tmit of the Anist ao
5-r' a YoungMan, the reader
q c am--.;<i**iffi
advefliein io plungedinto lhe st ream
of huqe(,-#ffi
paiqno of thouqhtreand feelinqo
\
corVoraf,ione \i of a youn7manae he
by creatinq Varo- attemVte to knowthe world
diesof their aroundhim.
meogaqeg, guch
ao: "American Excegg:
Don'l Leave Home Wil"hout,

ciatedwithAarbie-art,, {T }tj
fft'i
the af7 of subveftin7
Oarbie-ismby Vlacing ffib
hH
 In the ?oatmodern
novelor film,how_
eventhe queation
ie not,eo much
Howdo I knowthe
world? but,What
ie a world?

Coneider the film

Blue Velvet,for
rt iuxta?ooeatwo
:::^!,", veryutt
dif_
fe re n tw o rl d g :
2 utnnr)^; _ .' vrx
r.ow
n,middre-c,I nlJ
romance,and "!"^'l,l ""niTl'
a worldof murder
sadietic 6exua and
It juxtaPoseo
them in suchlitY'
a waythat we
do not
knowwhichworld
ie more,"uti.

Anotherfilm that
iu ott"n
branded*?ootmodern,
i6
WimWendere,s
Wingeof
Desire.Again,
the filmjuxta-
?oeeo two verydifferent
worlde.
Theplace is tserlin_international,
coomo?olitan,
filled with different
languagesand
cultureeand iden_
tities. Eacho.
mented^,o,l,!,2:Z'
;,::t;
others. Each man livee
in his own
"
private world.
ITITITIITITI
WE ARE CAPABLE OF LISTENING IN ON PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS:

T 0 A Y O U N G t q A N C O N T E N 1 P L IANTG S U l C I D E : T 0 A D YI N G

N l A N 0 N T H E S T R E E T ; T 0 P E 0 P L E C 0 F 1 N 1IUNTG I N C A R S ; T 0

N l O T H E R SA N D F A T H E R S . L O V E R S A N D C H I L D R E N . E V E R Y

A L I E N A T E D , I S O L A T E D I N DI V I D U A L H A S B E C O N 1 E
L IKE A

L I T T L E S T A T E W H E R E E A C H S T R E E T H A S B A R RI E R S , A N D A L L

IS SURROUNDED
B Y A N O - N l A N ' S L A N D T H R O U G HW HI C H O N E

CAN PASS ONLY I F ONE HAS THE RI GHT PASSWORD.

T H E O T H E R t / { O R L D , J U X T A P O S E DW I T H A P O S T M O D E R N
B E R LI N .

I S R E A L F 1O F E T E R N A L T I I ' , l E . O F P U R E S P I R I T . I N H A BI T E D

BY ANGELS. THE ANGELS CAN HEAR PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS

AND NlOVE INSTANTANEOUSLY GH SPACE. THEY ATTEIqPT

THROU

T O I N T E R V E N E I N W O R L D L YA F F A I R S B Y B A T HI N G P E O P L E

I N S P I R I T U A L V I B R A TI O N S . B U T O { : T E N T H E I R H E L P F A I L S .

S U I C I D E J U t L l P ST 0 H I S
THE Y0UTH CONTEtqPLATING DEATH.

Y E T . B O T H T H E A N G E L S A N D S O M E O F T H E H U M A . N SA R E

0 F E A C H 0 T H E R ' , S E XT 9 T E N C E . 0 F T H E E 4 ! l l A l
Ay-JARE

O T H E R N E S SO F E A C H O T H E R ' S E X I S T E N C E .

IIIIIIIIIIII

l+to
 But how obout in fields other
thon the orts? Whqt impoct
hos Postmodernismhod on
the reol world?

f E ?ost'modern haoeven
trhouqhl
move'
had an impacl on Ihe ecoloqical
ment-and thus u?onmount'ains, redwoodo,
oceano,rivers and lakee.Aft'erall, Toslmodernisf's
are eue?icioueof qrand narcaf,ives-ofbiq eNoriee-
of ulopian vieions.And coneervalionists-t'he kind
of VeoVlewilh "gave the Kiver"bumVerelickere-
dream of a ut oVianecoloqicalwilderneeefree of
pollulinqinduetrries.
ie t'o diemiee
T,endency
The Toef,modern
Lhe conceVtof euch a ?ure ulopian
wilderneelae a qrand narraf,ive.And
whaf,'emore,IhiebiqeIory ie basedon that
rucf,uraliet,
evilof Tostret evile-a binary
oVVoeibion. ln Ihie ca6e,lhebinaryo??o-
nr eition wilderneeelcivilization,
7ut, olher environmenT,alist
o-
eeVecially
Nhoeeinfruenced
by
poel and eco-acbivist,
Gary 1nyder-
Nhat ie
are aclinq ouNa Vhiloeo?hy
boNhToetmodernand ecological,

fft
tl;/ ,
ineteadof engaqingin empty 1nyder's poeli c eco- Vhiloeo-
f,heorizinq
whilethe foreetreand phy danceoarounddeconslrucV-
rivereare euffering.enyder'e ing the eeeming"IeVaraf,eeelvee"
environmentaliemie baeedon hiE of "wilderne66"and "civilizalion."
longimmereionin Zen Suddhiet, ln Vractice,thie meanedancinq
medilaf,ionand philoooVhy. bel,weenand weavinqt oqether
The SuddhieIuniveree, like ecologicalallianceebetrween
Lhe
the Toetmodernuniveree,
is made "oe?aratre6elve6"of landowners,
uV of counhleeehelero7eneoue corporaf,ion6, f ed eral agenciee,
selveswith counf,leee
heleroge- f oregIg, mo unf,ain
e, mounNain
neoueviewVoinbe.
Notra utoVia, Iioneand troqe. lt mean6,too,
basedon onevieion,but a het- lhal,we are all membersof a
eroto?iabaeedon the vieioneof muf,ualeating eociely.We both
counlleee)lhere. Andall of eat and are eaf,en.The eyeeof
f,heee)r,her selves-l,he selvee lhe mounl,ainlioneXalkina
ue
of mounlainlione,redwoods, are our own.
rednecks,con6ervalioniele and
rivere-are inLerconnected
and
muluallyinherdeV
endenN.And
becaueenoneof theee eelvee
etand alone,by themeelvee,
wilh-
oul all the Of,here,
their ee?a-
raT,enees-t heir Otrhernes s-i s
EmpIy,an lllueion.
Thue,likethal NaLiveAmeri-
can trickster figure,Coyote,
 rhe ana the
aniu,lgf n d t hc artsdtr
i7 . a- n5rr..tt! ,t5
\./E
'-'2

uh*
[ln RetrospEdJ
Sothen, whot lS a n d c o n f u e i n cq o n - ;urcender.
Vaoeively
Postmodernism? loure of our late Accordinqto
caVitalief,ictimee, cyberpunk,
il ie a
Accordinqt,o Accordingto worlddominatedby
Lyotard,if, has Lo Saudrillard,
ToeL- m u l t i n a l i o n acl o r -
do with eceVliciem moderniemie a flow Vorationeand lhe
about Grand Narra- of ullr a -fe ch noloqical dala they conlrol.
Livee:and if, ie about i m a g e ei n a c o n e u m - Yel cyber?unkeadvo-
heleroqeneily.Ac- erisl hyperreality caf,ea hackeref,hic,
cordinqf,o Jameeon, acroeea mediaocaVe I a p V i n qi n t o a n d
iL muet involvea way or mindecreen
Lo ueinqeuchdala for
o f m a ? ? i n qt h e n e w whichwe can only ?eroonalende.
 Accordinqto ity; by lookinqback-
CharleeJencks, ward t o trhepaol, or
however,
all these eidewaysto a local
thinkereare only culture.Thue,while
deecribinqlahe ueinqmodernietr
capilaliamor f,echniquee,lhey
laNemodernism. includelhe Other,
AuNhenIicToet' humo ro uoly, ir onically
moderniem,
he or Vlayfully,ralher
ar0ue6,involvee
dou' trhanexcludinqit, Thie
ble codinqIhe a(bie- ie why Jenckewrites
lic repreeenf,at,ion ?oe|,-modernism
wii',h
of moderniemwith menNof NheOther- becausein
a hyphenz
somethinqdoe- whetherIhat, Other Ihese Toetmodern
6ome )Nher.For, ie Other individuals, f,imeg,Nhereare a lol
ae all ToeNmodern Other qrou?e,Other of hybrid identritiee.
Ihinkerewouldadmit, oVecieo,Other raceo, AndIhis ie eometrhinq
f,heworld ie ohrinkinq. the }ther of "malel' quiNenew.For,ae we
Thereie no one dom- the Other of "f,he havediscuseed,in
?lu-
inan| worldview, Westl' the )ther of VaeI centurieowe
ralism rulee.Tradi- "Europe,"NheOther of lookedfor eome
t r i o n a lm
, odern,laNe T,heconsciouemind, SuVermyIhor meeei'
modernand ToeL- rhe Orher of Nhe ah Io unile all of
modernattitudeg ratrionalmind,trhe humanityundertrhe
all rub elbowein the Otrherof moderniem, umbrellaof one over-
oameculT,ure. rhe )ther of "our- archinqphiloooVhy,
This meanethat, gelf" or in "ouroelf," The Tostmodernmind
the Other increaeinqly Throuqhdouble hae qivenu? eucha
encroacheeupon coding,Toef,modern hoVe.Thie hae led to
what had once been architreclure,arA and a radicalchanqe
our VrivaNeopace.So liNeralurerepreoenl in how we believe.
much of ToeNmodern rhe Obher,and t'hus We are forced lo
thouqht,has t'o do recoqnizeLhaNour
Vreoent,hetreroqene-
with lhis encroach- world resisle qrand
narralivegae much gucha mage,in guch objecf,iverealit y, And
as individuals
and and euchan orbil few believe
that any
qrou?ocravetrhem. thal can be mathe- one eyelem of
ThaI our world is a maNically
deecribed, thouqht,any one biq
carnivalof colofiul or lhaN WeeT,ern
med- etory or theory of
and contradicNory icineio ouVeriorf,o mythic Vropoftiono,io
worldviewe.We have Orienlalherbalism,
or caVableof exVlaininq
cometro realizethat trhat beinqfeminine everythinq.Not,even
our viewof reality equaloouqarand ocienceio objeclive-
ien't ae real as it eViceand everyfthinq becauseiLe data are
once eeemed.We have nice,or T,haNthe Cau- alwayedependent
comelo realizelhaV casian race is Nhe on lheory. Realitiee
there is noI one reali- magT,errace- areeocial,linguislic
ty buVmany different,, ' all theee are man- congt,rucNiong-
t,
oft,enconfficlinqreali- €l made nolione. ueefulfrctione,rela-
\ 9 , < ,'
tieg. We havecometo I ney are NiveVereVeclives.
eee thaf, our ideas lf rhe qrand nar-
about,trulh are notr ralives, the mastrer
et ernal,but,made. narraf,iveo,f,he big
Theideaethat the gT,orieg,
are no lonqer
only God isYahweh, believable-if Nhey
or Allah,or the God- havedieaVVeared-
dees,or lhat oome Ihey havebeen
qod named1umba t na n replacedby a hodqe-
vomitedlhe Moon podqeof litlle narca-
and 9t arg, or the gci- lives. Toelmodern
entific nolion NhaI
VeoVle,instead of
trheMoon ie a phyoi- dreaminqof the day
cal bodyof such and whenall lhe world
euch mae6bhat, will be unihed
orbite another Vhyei- underthe univereal
cal body,Lhe Vlanet bannerof Marxismor
Eafbh,of such and

161
Chrietianityor gcience,are more
intrereetred
in oeeingLhe world as
a kind of carnivalof culluree-a
tribal qaNherinq.
Theshininqounof Universal
Truth and Meanin7io ecliVoedby
the colofiuldieVlayof little dancee, instead,they celebrateihe f act,
lilf,leeloriee.giq etories are
reVlacedby little etories.gtorieo
are no longeraboutran attemVV
lo establishsomesofr of univer-
oal UIopia,unlessii be a hetero-
toVia. Theydo not try to ?rove
themselveo by makinquniversal
claims.A Tostmodern
etoryteller
maytell in onenighVthe Grimms'
fairy t ale of Haneeland Grelel
and trheevilwitch in lhe
dark forest who livee
in trheqingerbread
houee,a NaliveAmericanNricketer
tale of CoyoLeeeducinqthe chief'e
dauqhter,and an ancientmyfrhfrom we havebequnto playaroundwith
lndiaaboul the creationof the uni- f,hoseeignoand eymbolshumorouo-
veroefrom a qoldeneqq,Theetory-
tellerand the audience
form a
socialbond,but it is the bondinqof
a heheroqeneoue
eocietythat can
conflicf,s, Thuswe may be a "quasi"funda-
livewith lhe inconqruitieo,
and qa?obetweenthe variousst o-
riee.This Toef,modern
societydoeo
not mindif one et ory oayelhal lhe
Moonand Slare werevomiled
fofth, and anotherotory proclaimo
Nhat,the moonand sNarswerecre-
ated by God. Tostmodernaudiencee
don'|,demandIhaI allf,hehetero-
qeneouoslories add up t o some
qrand,qlobal,univerealtotal oenoe;
that il's ?Kto etop makingeo
muchoen6e,Because
I of the exVloeion
tural meeeaqee,
of cul-
weare
beqinning
to under-
st and lhat, nol onlyour
stories but also our rit-
uale,religioue
dogmao,
mytrhe,qenderroles,eelf
conceple,beliefe,histo-
rieeand trheoriesare
culbural,
social inven-
fione.Weare beqinninq
lo realizeNhaNwe livein a worldof
man-madeeiqnoand eymbole,
and
ly and ironicallyeo that we are not
enslavedto them. Thieoft,enmeano
acceptinga Grand Narrative,but,
havinqan ironicattitude toward it.
menlalist,Chriet,ianor Muelimor
Jew or Calholic;weqo to
orAhodox
churchor lo lhe eynaqoque
or the
mo6que,eventhouqhwe may have
o o m e d o u b t e a b o u l t r h em e l a V h y o i - m u l t i p l e ,l o c a lf o r c e s h a s l i b e r a L e d
c a l c l a i m o ? r o ? o u n d e df , h e r e W
. e
m a y b e l i e v eI h a I o u r ? a r f , i c u l a r
v o c a b u l a r ya n d i d e a ea b o u t L r u b h
have no opecialclaim to reality.
ThaL VeoVlewith other orienLa-
Iione may bejuet, ae oriented No
lheir own realif,y.Juot, ae ofNen
i N m e a n e V a r t r i c i p a L i ni n
q more
than oneqrand narraLive-beinq
a b u d d h i e l C h r i e l i a n ,f o r i n s l a n c e ,
The fraqmenLaNion
of qrand nar-
raLivesunder Lhe oreeeureof
Ihe concernfor Othere.Whereae
m o d e r n i s Lw r i te r e o u c h a s C o n r a d
t h o u q h l N h e yc o u l d 6 ? e a kf o r
Olhere-for Lhe colonized,for
Africane,for women,for Lhe
Or i e n t - ? o e t m od e r n i o me' e m p ha -
e i e o n d i f f e r a n c e( i r r e c o n c i l a b l e
difference)hae allowedformerly
e i l e n c e d) N h e r s s u c h a o w o m e n .
q a y e , b l a c k eo, r i e n l a l ee t c , l o
expre66their own storiee in Lheir
own voices.
 E Butisthisreotty
hop-
YouBerruR Do tr l"lY WAY. pening? Hoven't thesePost-
modern times producedjust
os frequentlywhqt Boudril-
lord describesos o prolifer'
otion of myths of origin?
Hosn't Postmodernismseen
o multiplicotion of cults,
suchos Jopon's SqrinGos
Sect?And sincethere ore
so mqny millionsof people
cought up in cults ond sects
ond mojor religions,it
seemsos though there is q
need for Grond Norrotives
ond thot the Postmodern
erq hos even produced o
proliferotion of them. So
how doesone reconcilethe
Postmodernnotions thot
peopleno longer believe
in Grqnd Norrqtives,thot
Grond Norrotivesoppress
qnd morginolizeminorities,
that there is no Big Picture,
thot there is no DeepStruc-
ture to reolity (ond thot if
therewcs, the humon mind
could not know it) with the
foct thot Grond Norrotives
are vety much in evidence?
 Yee,f,ha|,'gf,rue.The NewAqe opiritualiNy,
whileoflen serious
movemente
of Nhe'6Osand'7Oe and eclecNic,
tended t o be
drew ineVirationfrom a mixbure narcieeisticand worehiptulof
quruo euch
of poV-peychedelic aulhorily figuree.
ae Timolhy Leary,rock-ehamans qh many Generaf,ion
AlLhou
such as Jim Morrieonof the X-ers reject lhe poychedelic'
Doors,and mantra-chant ing fueledcommunalhedoniemof lhe
eavanls from lndia oteeVedin boomer6,rrluchof GeneralionX
the Bhagavad Gita. baby boomer eViritualitrycontinueeNo circulaIe
by meaneof imaqeeborrowed
from VoVand rock.Thue,in the
oameway trhat,a big chunkof
Doomer'6Oe oViritualibydepend-
ed on trheima7e-mixof the 1eaI-
lee and lhe Mahariehi,in the
rGl
| r+r \{Al I
'9Oo,
publictelevisionelevated
{ ssrcarI
I V,lrtrctt-1 Io
mylholoqielJooephCamVbell
L]^'J Ihe stalue of eainlhood:M'N
iconssuch as MadonnawriNhed
Lrackswhiledan-
Nohechno-beat,
q l i n qr e l i q i o u ceh- i cf a e h i o nba n q l e o
accenf,inq
such as cleava7e-
roearies;fashiondeoiqneredrew
inopirationtrom HasidicJewish
tradilionalismand Amiehunder-
statement; aust ere monasbic
chantrCDehit numberone on the
Vopchart,e:anqelebecamewidely
circulated ima7eeand a t opicof
Nalkehows;Nhehighlypublicized
and qoddeeo
men'omovement,
movemenlcelebratred
a ret urn Lo
oVirituality
Va qaniem;Oof,.hic

imageeof body-Vierc-
inq,l,aILooin7and glM
inundatedM'N: and
cyberVunk
morphed
introcyberehamaniem,
Cyberohamanism,
or
technoshamaniem,
by
the way,is a Nechnopaganat -
Iemptrlo creale ancienar,
ehamanielicexperiencee of
eceNaey(tra dili on allyinduced
by chantinq,drumming,
dancinq
and f,he inqeebionof
Vey-
choacbiveeubelancee)
throuqh comVulerizedfract al
afr,,designerdrugo,and reVe-
tilioue music Ihat fille hhe
room likeincense.gometrimee
cyberehamane evenen7aqe
in toadlicking,a fad eta(Ded
by a rurnorNhat,inqeolinq
Nhevenomof a Colorado
Riverf,oad ie a qood idea.
The venom,however,ig
often falally Loxic.
tt seems
thot,in the
E
some woy os the mod-
ernists,we ore trying
itso ffi
*-*5;E;
to fill in the post-
Nietzscheon Voidby
inventingour own
imogesqnd grond
norrqtives.Arethere
ony troditionolgrond norrotives
from otherculturesthot ore cop-
oble of embrocingditference?
r
lfl Yeo.Althou7hthe qrand narca-
tjvee of Chrielianity,lelamand
Judaiem havea difficulf,Nimedeal-
inq with differences,there are f,wo
major traditrione-D uddhiemand
Hinduism-LhaNcan and do embrace
Ihe ditrerence;in our increaeingly
pluralieEic
world.
Duddhiemie democraT,ic,
cool,
practrical,
inexpeneive, and (becauae
the liberationof Tibet,from Chinahas
becomea hiVcauoe)Duddhismje
Volit ically correct. ?oetmodern Veoples
and culr,urel livein a world of differ-
encee.Buddhism'ephiloooVhy of inter-
deVendence lele ue eee our differencee
ae a vaeNinlerconnectred web.ln facN,
the imaqe guddhief,e use Io illuslrate
thie ie Ihat of lndra's net. At each inter-
eeclion of the elrande of this vaeVnetr,
whichie lhe universeof differenl eelve6,i6
r
.v

a jewel-a "eelfn- whichreffecl,eall rhe ffi

ffiA\ ilffiffiffi
otherjeweloin the net,.No oinglejewel, ffi""
lt s exietencede-
f,hen,ie self-eufficienl. tffi*-:
ffi'ffi
pendou?on,and reilecf'o,all the ot'hers. ffi
linqo,eachjewelie
Andso, in Ouddhiet, ffi
Emptyof self-exietence' ffi
ffi

E rhis soundsa lot like deconstruc-

mutuolly interdependent.Neither
con exist without the other.

@ rru, Anda Suddhiel wouldoay,

"Eoth the facee and the candle are
Empty of inherent exiatence!"
Anolher lradition capable of
differenceeie Lhe
accommodatring
 baudrillard,Jean
(A) Amerique.(?arie:Orasset,lgSO).
()ED) De la aeduction.(?ario:Galilee,lgSO).
TheEcataay of communication.Trans.oernard and caroline
)chuf,ze.(NewYork: Iemiot ext(e),1gBB).
For a Critique of the PoliticalEconomyof the Oiqn,Trano.
CharlesLevin.(9t. Louio:Telospreo6,1gb1).
(FF) For7et Foucault.Trans.NicolaDufresne.(NewYork:Semiotext(e), 1gS7).
(99M) In the ghadowof the Silent Majoritieo. .. or the End of the
)ocial and Other Eoeayo.Trans,?aulFoeo,?aul ?atton ana
John Johnoon.(NewYork:Iemiotext(e),1g\b).
(9 l M) ) im ulat ion a .T ra n e .N i c oDl au fre s n e .(N ew Y ork:
S emi ouexv(e)
19S b).
La eocietede consommation. (yario:Gallimard,lgTO).
Le oyoLemedes objete.(?arie:Oenoel-Oonthier,1967).
Ceicery-Ronay,letavan
(9R9) "Cyberpunkand Neuromanticisml'in Storming the Reatity gtudio, Larry
McCaffery,ed. (Durham:DukeUniv.?rese,1B4).
Deleuze,Gillee and Gualtari, Felix
Anti-)edipue.Trane.Kobert,Hurley,Mark )eem, and HelenK. Lane,preface
by MichelFoucault.(NewYork Vikinq,1g7T).
Kafka:For a Minor Literature,Trane.Dana ?olan.(Minneapolis:lJniv.of
Minnesota 7ress,19BO).
'Khizome.'Trans.
TaulFossand ?aul?alton, I and C S (1951):4g-71.
A ThouaandFlateauo: Capitalism and gchizophrenia.Trane.grian Maseumi,
(Minneapolie:Univ.of Minneeotra?ress,19B7).
Derrida,Jaoquee
Of Grammatolo7y.Trans.Gayatri gpivak.(balNimore:
John Un P76).
Eco, Umberao
(fNK) ?ootocript to TheNameof the Kose.(NewYorkand London:Harcourt
DraceJovanovich,1984\.
Foucault,Michel
Diociplineand Funish:Thetsirth of the Friaon.Trans.AlanSheridan.(New
York:?antheon,1977).
The Hietory of Sexuality,VolumeI: An lntroduction. Trans. Robert Hurley.
( NewYorkz?anIheon,1977).
TheOrder of Thinqo:An Archaeologyof the Human gciences.Trans. Alan
theridan. (NewYork:Tantheon,197O).

158
Gibson,William
(N) (NewYork:Ace,19B7).
Neuromancer.

Haraway,Donna
"A CyborgVanifestozScience,Technology,and gocialist Formationin lhe
Late TwenliethCenturyi'in gimiane,Cybor7eand Women:TheReinvention
of Nature. (NewYork:Rouiledqe,1991).

Harvey, David
The Cond iti on of ?oetm od ernity. (Dla ckwell: Oxford, 199O).

Hase a n ,l h ab
(TLf) The Dismembermentof Orpheus:Towarda FostmodernLiterature.
(NewYork:OxfordUniv,?ress,19b2).

Hemingway,Erneet
(ggEH) ThethorD gtoriee of Erneat Hemin7way.(NewYork:gcribner'e,1925).

Jameson, Fredrlo
(?CL) NewLeft
"?oslmodernism:or the Culf,uralLoqicof Late CaViLaliom."
Keview,146 (19B4): 53-92.
(?CO) "?ostmodernismand Coneumergociety|' ln FoetmodernCulture,Hal
Foeter,ed. (Londonand Sydney:1985),

Lyotard, Jean Francois

(DF) Discoura, fiq ure, Taris:Klincksieck, 1971.
(?c) The 7oatm od ern Cond it'ion, Trano. Oenninqton and
Massumi.(Vinneapolis: Univ.of Minnesota?rese,19B4,
first edif,ion1979).

iohwiahtenberg, Cathy
(MfF) "Vadonna's?ostmodernFeminisml'in TheMadonnaConnection.Caihy
5 chwichtenberq, ed. (6 oulder, CO:Westview 7rese, 1995).

Venturi, Robert;5oott brown, Denlee;and lzenoun Sbven

(LLV) Learnin4from Laa Ve7ae.(Cambridqe,Maoe.zMIT 7ress,1977).
A c
adverAieinq,l44 C a 4 eJ, o h n , 1 B , 7 B , 7 9
aesLheticof coqnitivemaVVing,40 CamVbell, JooeVh,156
Africansculplure,lS capitaliom,35,116
Age of Reason,g-13,15,2b-29 cenLral oymbole, 1OO-1O4, 1O6
Aqeeof Moderniem, Toelmoderniem, Kealiem Cezanne,Zaul,121
(Jameoon),36-37 Mont 1aint-Victoire, 21
Allegoric
al Claeeicism, 92 Chriolianity,11,12,29
Andrejevic,Millel.,Apollo and Daphne,gb Cla s eical I enoibility, 93
anthroVomorphiom,B B-Bg codeo,of Vower,95
anli-arL,1B Communism,19,90
arboresence, 10B-14 com?uter6,and knowled qe, 22-23
architecture, 72-02, B4-B B conoumVtion, 45-47
art CoyoLe(Snyder),14O
for arL'ssake,13 Coiceery-Ronay,letavan,137
ae moderniet,ree?on6eto the void,lb-14 Cubiem,13-14, 121
audioanimalr onic paparazzi,135 cyberpunk,123, 128,130-38, 149, 156
cyberopace, 3-4, 134-35
o cyborqo,l29-3O,134
b a c h ,J . 9 . , 1 1 O
Oacon,Francis,9 D
BarbieLiberat ion Orqanization,144 Death of the Real(Oaudrillard),59-64
baroqueera,11B deconstruction,96, 99-107, 157
barLhes,Roland,93 Deleuze,Gilles,93, 10b-15
b audrillard, J ean, 41-71,95, 11
4, 123-24, 13O, democracy,1l9
149 denol atrive ot at ement, 26
America,6T-69 Derrida,Jacquee,93, 96, 99-107
The Ecotaoy of Communication,69-11 ?tructure, Sign and Tlay in the
For a Critique of the PoliticalEconomy Discourseof the Human Sciencea,gg
of the )iqn,45 deterrencemodel,53
0n )eduction,65-67 Dionyouo,lO
The)rders of the gimulacra,4B-64 diecourse,ecientificvs. narralive, 25-33
thadow of the 1ilent Majoritiee,64-65 D o n n eJ, o h n , 1 1 B
The)ociety of Conaumption,4S doublecodinq,01-83, 89, 126, 13O,15O
The ?yetem of )bjecto,45 dreame,20,112
b a u h a u e5 c h o o l , 7 2 Drumheller,Grant, Li7htninq Thrower,92
O e c k e t t 1, a m u e l , 7 O Durkheim,Emile,ElementaryFormsof
DhaqavadGita,155 Keli7ioueLife,121
binaryoppooiteo,lol-3, 105-7, 13O,139, 147
binaryrequlalion,52-53 E
"7lade Kunner"(film),122-Zb,133 eclecticism,B1-83, 84, BB
b onaventure HoIel (Loe Anqelee),57-b B Eco,Umberbo,BO
Borqeo,Jorqe Luie,SB e6o,3B
Drown,Deniee1colt, B5 Einstein,AlberL,121
Ouddhiem, 147-4B, 156-57 Elior,T. 9.,14
burke,Edmund,I TheWaateland,16
Durrouqho, William, Tb Enlightenment,28, 97, 11B-19
environment alism,147-4B
exchanqe value,46
existentialism, 99
F I
f alsification,ruleof,27 iconoclaem, S6
feudal era, 4b-49, 116-17 lndependent, GrouV,Tb
fi\m,145-46 lnduetrial Kevolution,50, 51
Fischl,Eric, 1ad boy, 91 lnternational 7tyle, 72-77, b4
Flaubert,Gustave,121 int ernet,l14
Foucaull,, Michel,93, 94-96 lzenour,St'even,b5
freedom,29-30
Frenchinlellectuale,2O-29, 97-99 J
FrenchRevolution, 9, 2B J ameeon,Frederic,34-40, 140-49
Fostmoderniem,or the Cultural Logic
F r e u d9, i 6 m u n d , 1 4
7O, 79 of Late Capitaliom,35-30
FuIler:7uckminsf'er,
Jencke,Charlee,7O-b4, OO,90, 92, 149, 15O
G The Lan6ua6eof ?oet-modern
6enderroles,13942 Architecture, TB
GenerationX,155 Johneon,?hilip,AT&TFuildinq(NewYork),BB
Genel,Jean,TO Joyce, James, 14,7B, 121
George,?aul,My Kent )lale,91 Finneqan'eWake,16,79
Gibson,William,136 ?ortrait of the Artiet aa a YounqMan,
Neuroma ncer, 123, 132-34 15,144
Gogh,Vincentvan, ?eaoantthoeg, 36, 37 Ulyeeee,16
arratives
grand narraf'ivee.I ee metran "Juraeeic Zark" (film), 54
(Lyorard)
Graves,Michael,B2-O3
K
Kafka,Franz,112-13
?or\landTublic)ervices buildin4,B2
"Letter Io His Falherl'112
Gropius,Walter,72
The Meta morphooie, 16, 112-13
Guatt ari, Feliz,93,1OO-14
TheTrial,113
H Kandineky,Vaeoily,T2
Haraway,Donna,l2B-3O Klee,?aul,72
gimiana,Cyborgoand Women:The knowledge
Keinventionof Nature, 129 and comouters,22-23
Harvey,David,The Conditionof ?ootmodernity, and poetetr uct'uralism, 9 4
116-22 and ecience,29-31
Haeean,lhab,17-1b Krier,Leon,91
" ?OOTmodernl)M A Taraarilic al 9iblioqra - Krieteva,Julia,93
phy"(eeeay),7O
He6el,G.W. F.,29-30 L
Heminqway, Ernest, 12,34, 3B-39 Lacan,Jacquee,20
lanquaqe
heter oqeneify, 21-22, 15O
helerolopia,l4B,152 and Vootetr ucluralism,94
hierarchy,vs. non'hierarchical(rhizomatic) and ecientific inveetiqation, 22-23
thinkinq,lOB-15 t y V e oo f , 2 6 , 3 2
" Hiqhbrow'culture,16, 37 v g .t h e u n c o n e c i o u s , 2 0
Hinduism,156,157 Lagcauxcaveo,simulacrumof,60
Lawrence, D. H.,14
hiot ory,awareneooof, 40
Hitler, Adolf,11,15 Learninqfrom Lao Vegae(Vent'uri,Orown,
Holocaust', 15,20-21, 3O lzenour),B5-Bo
HotWired,136 Leary,Timothy,155
hyperrealily, 60-64, 13B Le Corbueier,36,73-76
 Liqare,David,Womanin a GreekChair,g2 NewWaveof Frenchtheory,42
lo6ic,9 Nietzeche,Friedrich,10-11,12-13
"Lowbrow"cull,ure,16, 37 non-arl,1B
LyoIard,J eanFrancois,19-33, 148 novele,modernieLve. VoeLmodern,144,
i4b
Diacouree/fiqure,20
The Toat-modern Condition: a report on o
knowledqe,22 objecLe,ae commoditiee,45-47
)ediVue comVlex,110-13
M Onie,Federicode,7O
m a c h i n ea q e m y t h o o , 1 5 other,the,15O
Madonna,lSb-42,156
"JuoIify My Love"(video),140-41 7
"makeit, new"(?ound),13,74 p a r a d o x , 3 1B, B
Mandel, Ernest, LaLe Capitaliom, 35-bO parody,3B-39, 02, 09, 92, 127
Manet,Edouard,14,121 ?arf,henon,75
M a o T e eT u n q , 1 1 ?aetriche,3B-39, 82, 89, 126, 127
market,capitaliem,SS Tearlotein,ThiliV,TwoFemaleModeleon
Marx, Karl,9 BrentwoodLoveeeaL and Ru6,92
Marxism,19,29,40, 42, 43, 45-47, gO perlormativity, 31
Masaccio,Trinity,2l philoeophical narcative, 2B-29
m a o oc u l t u r e , 4 1 , 7 B piazzao,9l
M c L u h a nM , arehall.TB ?lato,74,11O
meaninq p l u r a l i e mB,B
in lanquaqe,45-47 Voliticalart,22
in poeLmodern archif,ecf,ure, b9-9O Volilical nar raf,ive, 20-29
Medieval era,117 ?oVArt,37,70
me la nc h o lci C al s s ic i s m ,9 1 Toef,modern Claeeicism,90-93
met ana r raf,iveo (LyoI ard), 29 -33, I 4, j 4 b-O7 Voolmoderniem
metaVhor,Voetic,22 in architeclure,7B-9O
Met aphyeicalClaesiciem,91 i n t r h ea r L s , 5
micronarratives, 32-35 beqinnin7of movement,7B
modele,5l-52 l a n q u a qo ef , 6 - 7
of power,95 meaninq of,7,14O-57
moderniem,lT-18 ve. modernism,17-1b
artiet ic etylee in, 13-16 ?oetet ruct uralism,93-121
meaningot, B-16 ? o u n dE, 2 r a , 1 3 , 1 5 , 7 4
ve. Vostmoderniem,17-1B "Canl,og,"16
M0Np0 2000,136 ?ower
M o n e t ,C l a u d e , 1 4 and knowledqe (Fouc ault), I 4
monopolycaVilaliom,35 of Madonna,141-42
Morrieon,Jim,155 microVoliticeof, 94-96
M o s e eG , randma,92 ?roqreoo,idea of, b-13,15,29-30
M'N,leJ-aa,66 7roust,,Marcel,121
multiculturalism,l-4 Tlolemaic maV- m akinq, 117
Munch,Edvard,Thegcream,36 Tynchon,Thomae,O ravity'o Kainbow,22
music,24
Museolini,15
R
Keaqan,Ronald,95
myrLhe, 24-27,32, 59
RealietClasaicism,92
N reagon,9,20-29
n a i v er e a l i e m , 9 2 reinforcedconcrete, 50, 74
nano-rover,135 Renaieeance,50, 117 -1B
Narrative Claeeicism.91 K e n a u l tC
, amille,50
Nazia,20,3O
NewAqe movemenle,155
I
1ade,Marquiede,9

tol
SarLre,Jean ?aul,42, 9b Wired,136
5aue6ure,Ferdinandde, 43-44 Witt genetein, Ludwig,26
oceVliciom,36 Wolff,RiDo,91
)cheer, Leo,114 Wood,Granl,92
ochizophrenia,1O7
science,9 Y
and tranemissionof knowledqe, 22-25 Yeaf,s,Willianrbur,ler,O,14
sciencefict ion,71,136-37
seduction,6ffi7
eemiotics,43,45-46
eex and oexuality,6MT, 92, 96, 135
thell ey, Mary, Frankenstei n, 132
Sherman,Cindy,UnbitledFilm ?tills,142-43
simulacra,95, 123-27, 136, 138
simulacrum-ism,56
Snyder,Gary,147-4b
Socialismor Darbariem(leftiet qroup),19
e?ace, perceplioneof, 116-22
opace-time comVreaoion,116
9t alin,Jogef,11
gteel,74
eNorytelling,lM
stream of consciougnegg,
16
stucco,SO
student uVrioinqe,
42-45, I O
eubject,SB
subverLieinq,l44
SupermanconceVt,10-11,12-13
?uperRaceconcept,lS

T
t eledildonics,lSS
televieion,l4S
f,ime, perceptionoof, 116-22
Tocqueville,Alexisde, Democracyin America,6T
Toynbee,Arnold,TB

U
unconscious,the,20
Unity of Knowledge (Heqel),29-30
urbanism,BB
use value,45
utoViao,36, 77, 79, 83, 119,147,148, 152

v
Venl,uri,Kobert, B5
verification,rule of, 27
void,the, 8,11-13,32

W
Warhol,Andy,37,7B
DiamondDuet thoea,37
WebenMax,9
Wenders,Wim,"Winqs of Desire"(fi|m),145-46
Williame,WilliamCarlos,15
Willto 7ower,10

163
 Artaud for Beginnerso revealsthe life
and art of the man known in rhe avant-
gardeworld as a "totally rebellious
artist." His book, TheTheaterand lts
Double,was first publishedin 1938,and
is still consideredone of the most
important contributions to 20th century
theater.Leading figures in the theater
Anreun Fon BEcTwNERso
haveattemptedto rurn into practice
Gabriela Stoppelman
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Bukowski for Beginnerso examinesrhe
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 At long last, a Divine Comedy with jokes,
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 Mahe me always a man uho
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'HE
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