Teets, Lyotard

“What, then, is the postmodern? It is undoubtedly a part of the modern… A work can become modern only if it is first postmodern. Postmodernism thus understood is not modernism at its end but in the nascent state, and this state is constant” (44). I stared at these lines for a while trying to make sense of Lyotard’s explanation. I finally determined that it is modern to be postmodern. If a work can only become modern if it is first postmodern, then that would likely mean that a postmodern work is then considered modern. Postmodernism is evolving, but it is still stuck in a constant state with future potential.

“A postmodern artist or writer is in the position of a philosopher: the text he writes, the work he produces are not in principle governed by preestablished rules, and they cannot be judged according to a determining judgment, by applying familiar categories to the text or to the work… The artist and the writer, then, are working without rules in order to formulate the rules of what will have been done” (46). Again, after reading this section, I was staring blankly at the page for several minutes. I knew there was something important within this text, but it didn’t come to me straight off.

I gathered that postmodern writers or artists are outside of the modern, outside of the rules. They can’t be judged by previous rules, because they are formulating their own. However, until the ideas stick, their ideas will still be considered modern. Their thoughts are postmodern, but they remain within the modern period. They are trying to step outside of reality to create a more realistic reality. They are revolutionaries, seeking to push society to new heights, towards the postmodern era. Postmodern thinkers are ahead of their time, but their time is still considered to be modern, and not postmodern.