Postmodernism: A Primer

Postmodernism: A Primer provides an accessible challenge to the standard interpretations of postmodernism. Nicholas Zurbrugg and Wayne Hudson have drawn together a vast range of material, here presented in accessible short passages, to encourage students to question standard distinctions between modernism and postmodernism.

This book contests the distinctions on which the other readers on modernism and postmodernism rely. In contrast to other readers on the topic, this book offers a more positive view of the continuing creativity of the avant garde. The text:

. emphasizes continuities and repetitions

. rejects apocalyptic judgments about postmodernity

. celebrates the new possibilities for artistic creativity technological advances make possible

. questions associations of postmodernism with nihilism.

Easy to use and clearly set out, this primer does not oversimplify the substantive issues. No comparable book offers this combination of easy access and depth."