Pre-Class Blog: Lyotard

In Lyotard's "What is Postmodernism?", I gathered that he was trying to analyze how the legitimation of knowledge has changed in the computerized societies of the twentieth century. Lyotard tries to clarify the conventional definition of ‘Postmodernism’. Postmodernism, in his definition, is characterized by ‘multiplicity of perspectives,’ meaning there is no single way of looking at a thing, an event, a form of art, etc. Postmodernism is dynamic, and therefore it is not a defined period. In other words, it cannot be marked or differentiated from other periods by clear cut lines; which leads him to the fact that the word itself is flawed. Lyotard draws on architectural theory to show the difference between postmodernism and modernism. He wanted to show that postmodernism, as opposed to modernism, is not a defined period: “Modernism lays emphasis on the capacity of human beings to create essence or meaning out of chaos.” To express this idea and to oppose traditional ideas,in this context it would be in architecture, modernist objects and buildings are characterized by minimalist designs; Minimalist buildings, thus, become idiosyncratic of modernism, as distinct from the architecture of earlier periods, like the Victorian period for example. In trying to unpack this reading I did think of his ideologies in terms of architecture to visualize them. The whole idea of chronology itself is a modern construct. Names are assigned to particular time periods in order to make it distinct from other, just like the Victorian time period I used as an example. Postmodernism, however, does not attempt to distinguish itself from specific ideologies. Postmodernism is characterized by diversity. I am still sort of confused about his idea of tying all of this into metanarratives; hopefully we will discuss this part in class!