Post Modernism Wide Reading

Week 2
1. Write up a brief cultural and academic background of the theorist you have selected to
research and read.
1) Write up a brief cultural and academic background of the theorist you have selected to research and read. The
American Novelist John immons !arth "as born in #ambridge$ %aryland$ %ay 2& 1'(). *e brie+y studied ,-lementary
Theory and Advanced .rchestration/ at Juilliard before attending Johns *opkins university. *e received both a !achelor
of Arts and %aster of Arts degree$ and became a professor at the 0ennsylvania tate 1niversity. *e taught for t"elve
years and then moved to the 1niversity at !u2alo. *e then "ent to the tate 1niversity of Ne" 3ork and taught from
1'45 to 1'&(. 6n that period he came to kno" 7the remarkable short 8ction7 of the Argentine Jorge 9uis !orges$ "hich
inspired his collection ,9ost in the :unhouse./ *e then taught at !oston 1niversity and Johns *opkins 1niversity before
retiring in 1''5. 2) 6n your o"n "ay$ either through the use of lists or diagrams or "ritten summaries$ e;plain your
theorist<s perception of "hat post=modernism is about. 6n his controversial essay about the contemporary state of the
novel$ ,The 9iterature of -;haustion$/ American "riter John !arth does little to proclaim its death> rather$ he rallies for
the novel<s ackno"ledgment of its limitations and announces its need for change. Written in 1'4&$ the essay begins by
proclaiming the illness plaguing the modern artist? blindsided repetition. !arth describes the problem "ith combining
di2erent modes of artistic e;pression mi;ing painting and poetry$ for e;ample by proving that the rise of these
inter=media arts has severed the traditional ties bet"een artist and art vie"er$ "riter and reader. According to
!arth$ most artists in the 2)th century lack virtuosity$ and the impassivity of art is on the rise because of this situation.
John !arth de8nes three kinds of "riters and artists in The 9iterature of -;haustion$ and his e;planations of "hat
each group contributes or lacks raises important @uestions about literature in the 2)th century. The 8rst group of
"riters !arth describes are the technically old=fashioned artists. These creators "ork through the past to interpret
the future$ essentially doing nothing more than using contemporaneous "ords and images to signify "hat everyone
already kno"s and has already read. While familiarity may be pleasant$ it is contains no virtuosity. The second category
of artist$ the technically up=to=date non=artist$ uses social conte;t and popular culture to master arti8cial output. 6t
is in the third group of !arth=de8ned artists that literature 8nds redemption? the technically up=to=date artist. !arth
cites Jorge 9uis !orges$ amuel !eckett$ James Joyce$ and :ranA Bafka as e;amples of artists "ho maintain genuine
emotion$ creative mastery$ and originality in their novels and short 8ction. Wide Ceading Jac@ues Derrida 1) Write up
a brief cultural and academic background of the theorist you have selected to research and read. Derrida "as born in
the to"n of -l !iar$ :rench Algeria into a ephardic Je"ish family. .n the 8rst day of school in 1'E2$ he "as e;pelled
from his class by anti=emitic :rench administrators. 6n his adolescent period$ Derrida found in the "orks of
philosophers and "riters such as NietAsche$ Fide and Cousseau an instrument of revolt against family and society.
Derrida received a grant for studies at *arvard 1niversity$ and after graduating taught philosophy at orbonne. 2) 6n
your o"n "ay$ either through the use of lists or diagrams or "ritten summaries$ e;plain your theorists perception of
"hat post=modernism is about. Derrida called his approach deconstruction$ and associated it "ith the attempt to
e;pose and undermine the oppositions and hierarchies. !ut$ as a second step$ Derrida added that one must do "hat is
needed so that the t"o concepts stay separate and non=hierarchical. 6n order to achieve this$ one must intervene in the
8eld e2ectively$ to create ne" marks$ a ne" concept that no longer is$ and never could be included in the previous
regime. Derrida approaches all te;ts as constructed around elemental oppositions "hich all speech has to articulate if it
intends to make any sense "hatsoever. This is so because identity is vie"ed in non=essentialist terms as a construct$
and because constructs only produce meaning through the interplay of di2erences inside a 7system of distinct signs7.
This approach to te;t$ in a broad sense$ emerges from semiology advanced by :erdinand de aussure. aussure is
considered one of the fathers of structuralism "hen he e;plained that terms get their meaning in reciprocal
determination "ith other terms inside language () What are some of the common and di2erent concerns of both
theorists regarding 0ost=%odernismG !oth theorists attempted to de8ne 0ost=%odernism