English 168, Postmodernism Study Terms For First Tri-Term Exam The majority of the terms you may be asked to define or work with, although others we have reviewed may appear Pastiche: something (such as a piece of writing, music, etc.) that imitates the style of someone or something else. Pastiche is also characteristic of postmodern culture. The Marxist academic Fredric Jameson has examined the functions of postmodern pastiche. He describes pastiche as ‘the random cannibalisation of all the styles of the past, the play of stylistic allusion.’ This is partly the result of over exposure. !n the a"e of mass media there is a sense that #e have seen too many films, #atched too much T%, too much advertisin". &e are over familiar #ith the forms of mass culture, which means it’s impossible to be original. &e can only recycle the conventions of earlier texts ' which Jameson calls the cannibalisation of the past. Jameson describes pastiche as ‘blank parody’. This means that rather than bein" humorous or satirical, pastiche has become a ‘dead lan"ua"e’ unable to satirize in any e*ective #ay. &hereas pastiche used to be a humorous device, it has become ‘devoid of lau"hter’. Subject-position Mytheme/ Bundle of Relations: a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element,[1] a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways ("bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image)[2] or linked in more complicated relationships. For example, the myths of Adonis and Osiris share several elements, leading some scholars to conclude that they share a source, i.e. images passed down in cultures or from one to another, being ascribed new interpretations of the action depicted as well as new names in various readings of icons. Claude Lévi-Strauss, who gave the term wide circulation,[3] wrote, "If one wants to establish a parallel between structural linguistics and the structural analysis of myths, the correspondence is established, not between mytheme and word but between mytheme and phoneme".[4] Extending structuralism to social phenomena, which are also systems of signs like language Myths from different cultures (myths whose contents are very different) share similar structures Myth is a language: Myth is made of units that are put together according to certain rules There are the equivalent of "langue" and "parole" for myth: its "langue" is its timeless meaning, its "parole" is its historical setting Myth also exists on a third level: its flexibility/adaptability (myth can be manipulated -without losing its basic shape) Mytheme is the elementary unit of Myth (several sentences representing an event, a scene, etc) A mytheme is a "bundle of relations" Mythemes can be read both diachronically (the story that is being told, the sequence of events) and synchronically (the timeless meaning of it, the "themes") The themes of myths are relations/tensions between two opposing concepts (e.g., between selfishness and altruism) Mythical thinking is logical thinking Myths use that binary logic because it is the logic employed by the human mind " Myths think in men without their knowing" Mythical thinking is inherent to the human mind Mythical thinking is the human way of understanding nature and the human condition Myths provide access to the way the human mind works The distinction between real and unreal disappears Anti-foundationalism: A philosophical position which rejects foundationalism, i.e. it rejects the need to ground philosophy. Anti-foundationalist philosophers are often accused of being nihilists or moral relativists because their position cannot claim any absolute ground on which to base itself. This is exacerbated, too, by its refusal of metaphysical categories such as truth, which might be used in place of absolute grounds. However, while it is true that anti-foundationalism is susceptible to these charges, that does not mean the position is an empty one. Noted anti-foundationalist philosophers include Richard Rorty and Stanley Fish. Cathexis/Affect: Freud defined cathexis as an investment of libido, pointing out for example how dream thoughts were cathected with different amounts of affect. !" A cathexis or emotional charge might be positive or negative, leading some of his followers to speak as well of a cathexis of mortido. $" Freud called a group of cathected ideas a complex. %" Freud fre&uently described the functioning of psychosexual energies in quasi(ph'sical terms, )" need quotation to verify" represent frustration in libidinal desires, for example, as a bloc#age of (cathected) energies which would eventually build up and re&uire release in alternative wa's. This release could occur, for example, by way of regression and the "re(cathecting" of former positions or fixations, ." or the autoerotic enjoyment (in phantasy+ of former sexual objects: "object(cathexes". Freud used the term "anti(cathexis- or counter(charge 0" to describe how the ego blocks such regressive efforts to discharge one's cathexis: that is, when the ego wishes to repress such desires. Li#e a steam engine, the libido's cathexis then builds up until it finds alternative outlets, which can lead to sublimation, reaction formation, or the construction of (sometimes disabling) symptoms. 3" M. Scott Pec# distinguishes between love and cathexis, with cathexis being the initial in-love phase of a relationship, and love being the ongoing commitment of care..