Overview
This book presents a groundbreaking analysis of the emergence of a postmodern paradigm in the arts, science, politics, and theory. From the authors of Postmodern Theory, the much-acclaimed introduction to key postmodern thinkers and themes, The Postmodern Turn ranges over diverse intellectual and artistic terrain—from architecture, painting, literature, music, and politics, to the physical and biological sciences. Critically engaging postmodern theory and culture, Steven Best and Douglas Kellner illuminate our momentous transition between a modernist past and a future struggling to define itself. The Postmodern Turn is essential reading for anyone interested in the analysis of contemporary society, and serves as an ideal text for courses in social theory, cultural studies, architecture, art history, science studies, intellectual history, and contemporary theory.Synopsis
This book presents a groundbreaking analysis of the emergence of a postmodern paradigm in the arts, science, politics, and theory. From the authors of Postmodern Theory, the much-acclaimed introduction to key postmodern thinkers and themes, The Postmodern Turn ranges over diverse intellectual and artistic terrain—from architecture, painting, literature, music, and politics, to the physical and biological sciences. Critically engaging postmodern theory and culture, Steven Best and Douglas Kellner illuminate our momentous transition between a modernist past and a future struggling to define itself. The Postmodern Turn is essential reading for anyone interested in the analysis of contemporary society, and serves as an ideal text for courses in social theory, cultural studies, architecture, art history, science studies, intellectual history, and contemporary theory.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"In Postmodern Theory, Best and Kellner examined the transformation and upheaval of contemporary social and cultural theory. In The Postmodern Turn, they complete the difficult task of extending and deepening their systematic analysis through a far-reaching and definitive survey of seismically active terrain in philosophy, science, and the arts." --Darrell Y. Hamamoto, PhD, University of California, Davis"Best and Kellner lead the reader on an illuminating and engaging journey through the often confusing and always contested terrain of postmodernity and its relations to modernity. Their masterful account maps the uneven development of social relations in recent decades, and the attempts of various theoretical, political and cultural movements around the world to advance, to oppose, and always to represent these changes in the context of their differing needs and desires. The authors' own position--respectful and critical of both modern and postmodern projects--provides a welcome respite from the 'culture wars' that all too often these days contain thinking about our pasts, presents, and possible futures. This is an essential text for readers in every discipline and of every political persuasion." --Sandra Harding, Professor of Education and Women's Studies, UCLA