A Teacher's Introduction to Postmodernism. NCTE Teacher's Introduction Series
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 397 451 CS 215 433 AUTHOR Linn, Ray TITLE A Teacher's Introduction to Postmodernism. NCTE Teacher's Introduction Series. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers off.gnglish, Urbana, Ill. REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-5009-8 PUB DATE 96 NOTE 174p.; NCTE Teacher's Introduction Series. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Ken'yon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 50098-3050: $9.95 members, $12.95 nonmembers). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) Historical Materials (060) -- Books (010) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC07 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Cultural Pluralism; Higher Education; High Schools; *Intellectual History; Interdisciplinary Approach; *Language Role; *Literary Criticism; Literary Styles; *Modernism; Multicultural Education IDENTIFIERS *Cultural Studies; *Postmodernism; Rorty (Richard) 'ABSTRACT Based on the idea that the study of postmodernism is a useful and valuable pursuit because it engages students in discussions of fundamental questions about the individual's situation in the world, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach to address postmodernism effectively. The book conceives postmodernism as a widespread cultural development whose importance can be traced in part to its treatment of truth, language and its relation to thought and to the world, and power and oppression. The book sees postmodern thought as making the most sense when viewed in contrast to Western cultural development from the 17th through the 19th centuries, known as "modernism." The book, in the form of a highly accessible tutorial, deals with many influential thinkers, such as the philosophers Descartes, Locke, Kant, Hume, and Nietzche, and the social theorists Max Weber, Clifford Geertz, and Michel Foucault. After an introduction, chapte'rs in the book are:(1) From Modern to Postmodern Western Philosophy; (2) Richard Rorty's Postmodern Synthesis;(3) From Modern to Postmodern Western Literature: (4) From Modern to Postmodern Art and Architecture; (5) Human Nature, Evolution, and a History of the Modern World; and (6) Postmodernism and Multiculturalism. Contains 7 pages of references. (NKA) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** "ffinummk aso""44. 0 111 U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TOREPRODUCE AND Office al Eaucanondi Resoarcn ana aniamument MATERIAL ED ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS CENTER tERIC) HAS BEEN GRANTEDBY This document has tmten reprotluced as received from the person or organization 17')fv114., originating d O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC) Ray Linn BEST COPYAVAIIABLE 2 A Teacher's Introduction to Postmodernisrn NCTE Editorial Board: l'at Cordeiro, Colette Daiute, Hazel Davis, Bobbi Fisher, Brenda Greene, Richard Luckert, Aileen Pace Nilsen, Jerrie Cobb Scott, Karen Smith, Chair, ex officio, Dawn Boyer, ex officio Two-Year College, Four-Year College, and University Section Committee: James L. Hill, Chair, Albany State College; Frank Madden, Assistant Chair, Westchester Community College; Pat Belanoff, SUNYStony Brook; Theresa Enos, CCCC Representative, University of Arizona; Gail E. Hawisher, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Dawn Rodrigues, Kennesaw State College; Tom Waldrep, Medical University of South Ca -olina; Demetrice A. Worley, Bradley University; Collett Dilworth, CEE Representative, East Carolina University; Louise Smith, ex officio, Editor, College English, University of Massachusetts at Boston; Miriam Chaplin, Executive Committee Liaison, Rutgers University; Miles Myers, NCTE Staff Liaison A Teacher's Introduction to Postmodernism Ray Linn Cleveland Humanities High School Reseda, California NCTE Teacher's Introduction Series National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 Manuscript Editors: Robert A. Heister, David A. Hamburg Humanities & Sciences Associates Production Editors: Michael Greer, Jarnie Hutchinson Interior Design: Tom Kovacs for TGK Design Cover Design: Barbara Yale-Read NCTE Stock Number: 50098-3050 ©1996 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of En- glish and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Direc- tors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Linn, Ray. A teacher's introduction to postmodernism / Ray Linn. p. c.m. (NCTE teacher's introduction series, ISSN 1059-0331; 5) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. l'ostmodernism. 2. Postmodernism (Literature) 3. Postmodernism and education. 4. Multiculturalism. I. Title. II. Series. B831.2.L56 1996 149 dc20 96-15312 CIP 6 For my students at Jordan and Cleveland High Schools Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii 1. From Modern to Postmodern Western Philosophy 1 2. Richard Rorty's Postmodern Synthesis 28 3. From Modern to Postmodern Western Literature 49 4. From Modern to Postmodern Art and Architecture 82 5. Human Nature, Evolution; and a History of the Modern World 113 6. Postmodernism and Multiculturalism 134 Works Cited 147 Index 155 Author 161 6 vii Foreword A Teacher's Introductibn to Postmodernism isthe fifth in a series of books that are especially useful to teachers of Englishand language arts at all levels. Ours is a wide-ranging discipline,and important scholarly de- velopments in various aspects of our field canbe highly complex, not to mention voluminous. We often wish we hadthe time to take courses or do extended personal reading in topicssuch as deconstruction, psycholinguistics, rhetorical theory, and the like.Realistically, each of us. can read intensively andextensively only in those areas that are of special interest to us or that are most closelyrelated to our work. The Teacher's Introduction series, then, is gearedtoward the intellectually curious teacher who would like to get aninitial, lucid glance into rich areas of scholarship in ourdiscipline. Let me stress three things that are not intendedin A Teacher's Introduc- tion to Postmodernism and in other books inthis series. First, the books are in no way shortcuts toin-depth knowledge of any field. Rather, these straightforward treatments are intended to provideintroductions to major ideas in the field and to whet theappetite for further reading. Second, the books do not aim to "dumb down"complicated ideas, sani- tizing them for an imagined "averagereader." Many of the ideas are quite challenging, and we don't want tosend the message that every subject which is important to English and languagearts teachers should be taught directly in the classroom. Thepersonal enrichment of the teacher is paramount here. A gr,2at deal ofmisery might have been avoided in the 1960s if teachers 1-4.1d beendoubly urged to learn about grammars new and oldthat's partof being a well-rounded teacher but to avoid bringing their new insights, treediagrams and all, directly into the classroom. We are grateful to Ray Linn for taking onthe formidable work of writing so lucidly about the complexities ofpostmodernism. We wel- come your comments onthe Teacher's Introduction concept. Cha rles Su hor Deputy Executive Director, NCTE ix Acknowledgments Not all high school teachers have been lucky enough to be around stu- dents and teachers who are willing to enter the world of abstract thought, but I have, and I want to thank them for the many class discussions and conversations which have kept my teaching life interesting, and which eventually led to this book. On students, I've always felt that the reason ihey exist is to help their teachers through complicated books and ideas, and in serving this purpose mine have been especially patient and help- fulfar more than they realize. So have other teachers I've been around, and here I especially want to thank Paul Paye, Bob Norris, Larry Kupers, Marty Kravchak, Jeremy Elkins, John Hartzog, Richard Coleman, Neil Anstead, and a twelfth-grade interdisciplinary team of humanities teach- ers that includes Melanie Miller, Chris Biron, Donna Hill, JerryDe Bono, Howard Wilf, and Nina Gifford. I also want to thank the people who helped to get this manuscript into publishable form, especially our school secretary Jody Stanfield, Cindy Dale of the Armand Hammer Museum at UCLA, Timothy Crusius (whose encouragement and criticism of an early draft *ere especially helpful), Mario Welshons and Michael Greer at NCTE, and Robert Heister of Humanities & Sciences Associates. Above all, I want to thank Nina and Neilwithout Nina, who vent endless hours questioning and editing the manuscript, it would never have been completed; and without my boss Neil, who lied and assured me that it could be finished "in a couple of weeks," it would never have been started. Introduction This book grew out of an interdisciplinary humanities unit which a group of teachers have been developing during the last few