What is Post-Modernism?

by Charles Jencks

Provides a lucid exposition of Post-Modernism in art and architecture. This book clarifies a tradition that is thriving but still very much misunderstood. The reader is presented with many examples of art and architecture appropriate to Post-Modernism as well as being introduced to the history which preceded it, facilitating a much clearer understanding of the overall concept and initiating a thirst for more.

Genres: Architecture, Art, Philosophy, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published September 1, 1986

About the author

Charles Alexander Jencks (born 21 June 1939) is an American architecture theorist and critic, landscape architect and designer. His books on the history and criticism of modernism and postmodernism are widely read in architectural circles. He studied under the influential architectural historians Sigfried Giedion and Reyner Banham. Jencks now lives in Scotland where he designs landscape sculpture.

Reviews

[Henna · Rating 2 out of 5]

کتاب جالبی بود ولی خب خیلی از جمله ها و مطالب سنگین نوشته شده بود. خیلی موقع ها خیلی کتاب ها می تونن خیلی مفید باشند اما بخاطر استفاده از یک سری کلمات سنگین واقعن ذهن رو برای خوندن خسته می کنن. کاش مترجم ها و نویسنده کمی به این موضوع دقت کنند.

[Ferit Behrat · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب با عنوان "پست مدرنیسم" ارائه شده، اما در واقع چکیده‌ای از مقالات و نظریه‌های چارلز جنکز در مورد موضوع پست-مدرنیسم است. از طرفی بیشتر نظریات و مباحث روی مقوله‌ی معماری تمرکز دارند. بنابراین اولا برای شروع مطالعه‌ی پست-مدرنیسم مناسب نیست و ثانیا برای خواننده‌ای که قصد مطالعه‌ی مقولات دیگر پست-مدرنیسم مثل ادبیات را دارد کتاب مفیدی نخواهد بود.
کتاب رو برای کسانی پیشنهاد می‌کنم که اطلاعات اولیه - و حتی ثانویه - در مورد پست-مدرنیسم دارند و می‌خواهند در زمینه‌ی معماری این جنبش اطلاعاتی بگیرند.

[Маx Nestelieiev · Rating 4 out of 5]

про ідею подвійного кодування як смислу нашої доби. твір - дворівнева конструкція - щоб задовольнити профана і спеца, а точніше, щоб задовольнити профана і дати насолоду спецу (привіт Ролан Барт).

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as a companion to Barth's "Friday" pieces and Eco's "Postscript to The Name of the Rose," both of which, not coincidentally, mention each other, and Barth, Jencks. Taken together, the three posit the "Post-modern," as the "Postmodern," stripping the term of its temporal aspect and replacing it with a concept that Eco calls "double-coding," in which the artwork is experienced simultaneously on (at least) two levels at once-- the example given (and repeated) is that of the lovers who, experienced enough (perhaps jaded enough), cannot simply say "I love you madly," "because he knows that she knows (and that she knows that he knows) that these words have already been written by Barbara Cartland. Still, there is a solution. He can say, 'As Barbara Cartland would put it, I love you madly.'" The point being, "he" has still said "I love you madly," even as he has not "said" it.

Of the three, Jencks has the edge because, even if his ideas are more explicitly about architecture, they are, because they are about architecture, more simply (i.e., to a lesser degree subject to criticism of their examples' effects) explained and digested. This is a nice, brief explanation of the value of the category and its application, and of the category "Postmodernism" particularly, and its application.

What Jencks seems to be saying is that the Postmodern work, as opposed to the Modern and late-Modern, has at its core not only a realization and self-conscious appreciation of its medium, but also that the message thus conveyed has value beyond the medium, and, as such, implies that there is value in the accessibility of that medium and that message. One does not make the artwork free from concerns that it will be "understood." Whereas the Modern work, and what he identifies as the late-Modern work, consider only that something should aspire to be the ne plus ultra of its kind, the Postmodern may share this concern, but always with an eye as to how it will then be experienced by its audience, and with an eye toward broadening its appeal to that audience.

Of course, by choosing just these traits to emphasize, Jencks also manages to show that the Modern/Postmodern divide contextualizes both movements as parts of a cycle that is always in operation: greater sophistication/broader appeal, greater sophistication/broader appeal, etc.

And all of this in less than 50 pages, with plenty of illustrations.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice guide to postmodernism and a place to start if the subject is new to you. Unusually, there are some specifics to postmodernism such as its deconstructionist nature, but the style epoch dates offered in the book should be treated as a guide and seen with some flexibility. Its a good starting place for the "subject".

[Narain Manohar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave me what I needed I guess

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really like how jencks makes a distinction between postmodernism and late modernism (or hypermodernism) and calls them rival brothers. this really helps when people claim postmodernism doesn't really exist or is just an extension of modernism.

[Craig Smillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half said little new but Parts 3 (PM Society) and Part 4 (The Universe as Measure) made it worth persevering with. Good.