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Modernism And Postmodernism. The Margins Of Articulation, Rainer Nägele

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

The difference between 'Modernism' and 'Postmodernism' is not one of definitions. The latter is rather a radicalization of a tendency inherent already in Modernism: calling into question the underlying principles of definitions, delimitations and boundaries. If, in Modernism, this tendency is marked by an increasing self-reflective gesture of the text, Postmodernism radicalizes this self-reflection to the point where the self-reflective circle and its closure are broken. The subversion of demarcation takes place not only on the semantic level, but on the level of the text's literal and linguistic qualities. Such a move displaces particularly any totalizing project, which, for example, …