postmodernism

postmodernism
postmodernist, n., adj.
/pohst mod"euhr niz'euhm/, n.
(sometimes cap.) any of a number of trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the dogma, principles, or practices of established modernism, esp. a movement in architecture and the decorative arts running counter to the practice and influence of the International Style and encouraging the use of elements from historical vernacular styles and often playful illusion, decoration, and complexity.
[1970-75; POST- + MODERNISM]

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Any of several artistic movements since about the 1960s that have challenged the philosophy and practices of modern arts or literature.

In literature this has amounted to a reaction against an ordered view of the world and therefore against fixed ideas about the form and meaning of texts. In its reaction against Modernist ideals (see Modernism) such as autotelic art and the original masterpiece, postmodern writing and art emphasize devices such as pastiche and parody and the stylized technique of the antinovel and magic realism. Postmodernism has also led to a proliferation of critical theories, most notably deconstruction and its offshoots, and the breaking down of the distinction between "high" and "low" culture.

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Universalium. 2010.

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