Introducing students to a range of key thinkers who have sought to question the contemporary situation, this guidebook enables readers to begin to approach the primary texts of postmodern theory and culture with confidence. Series Editor's Preface vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction: The Plurality of the Postmodern 1(2) Defining the Postmodern 3(2) Postmodernisms and Postmodernities 5(6) Modernism and Postmodernism 11(22) Architecture: Modernism and Postmodernism 13(4) Modernism and Postmodernism in Art 17(5) Reading the Postmodern Text: Postmodernism and Literature 22(5) Postmodernism as Immanent Critique 27(4) Postmodernism and Postmodernity 31(2) Modernity and Postmodernity 33(23) The Postmodern Condition: Jean-Francois Lyotard 36(5) The Meaning of 'Post-' 41(4) Defining Modernity 45(6) Jurgen Habermas and the Discourse of Modernity 51(5) Subjectivity 56(24) The Modern Subject: Descartes, Kant and Wordsworth 57(8) Disrupting Subjectivity: Freud, Fanon and Cixous 65(8) The Postmodern Subject: The Inhuman, Cyborgs and Matrices 73(7) History 80(25) Modern History: Hegel and Scott 83(6) Postmodernity and the 'End of History': Fukuyama and Baudrillard 89(8) Finite History and History as Narrative 97(3) Re-Imagining History: Postmodern Fiction 100(5) Politics 105(28) Modern Politics and Critique: Marx 109(7) Postmodernity and 'Late Capitalism': Jameson 116(5) Postmodern Consumption and Simulation: Baudrillard 121(7) Postmodern Politics: Resistance without Foundations 128(5) Glossary 133(4) Suggestions for Further Reading 137(2) Bibliography 139(6) Index 145