Date: Mon, 13 Mar 95 17:06:40 CST From: David Westling <U55954-AT-UICVM.UIC.EDU> Subject: Re: postmodernism There is an interesting article in the book _Nietzsche as Postmodernist_ (State Univ. of NY Press, 1990), by Kathleen Higgins, entitled "Nietzsche and Postmodern Subjectivity", in which she asserts that postmodernism is flawed by the same historicist perspective as modernism itself; it is history (read: philosophy) that preoccupies both philosophical approaches. As a corollary, it is argued here that Nietzsche completely rejected the quintessential postmodernist notion that human subjectivity is an illusion. A quote from _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_ (p.152 of the Portable Nietzsche) runs: "Of all that is written, I love only what a man has written with his blood." The postmodernists would be guilty, then, of "excessive historical consciousness", the inability or unwillingness to "submit" to an immediate engagement with the moment. The obsession with pastiche, a mere manipulation of the elements of our cultural heritage, as if everything had been already accomplished, indeed, already _experienced_, is integral to the postmodern outlook, it seems to me. This extreme form of cultural weltschmerz was strongly depolred by Nietzsche. Higgins goes on to needle the principal "post- modernist" writers (she includes De Man, Derrida, Lyotard, and Baudrillard at least) for a dearth of lightheartedness in the writing itself. She seems to relate this to the "incredulity to all metanarratives", which does seem to be inseperable from the idea of the de-centered subject, a very sobering notion indeed. Can the de-centered subject feel unbridled joy? I suppose, as in the numbing intoxication of a presentation such as David Salle's paintings, it is possible. But it is a very peculiar joy if it is one at all. I will write more in a subsequent post, hopefully tomorrow. David Westling --- from list nietzsche-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu --- ------------------
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