Performatism, or the End of Postmodernism

by Raoul Eshelman

There is a widespread feeling that postmodernism is on its way out. However, up to now there has been no attempt to define what the epoch after it would look like. Performatism, or the End of Postmodernism is the first book to offer a systematic theory of culture after postmodernism. The book maintains that we have entered a new, monist epoch in which aesthetically imposed belief replaces endless irony as the dominant force in culture. This new cultural dominant, which I call performatism, works by artificially "framing" readers or viewers in such a way that they have no choice but to accept the external givens of a work and identify with the characters within it. In short, they are forcibly made to believe-if only within an particular aesthetic context. This basic procedure can be shown to operate not only in narrative genres like film and literature, but also in visual ones like art and architecture. This new aesthetic is documented in well-known films and novels such as American Beauty, The Celebration, Life of Pi, Middlesex, and The God of Small Things as well as in the work of major architects and artists such as Sir Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Andreas Gursky, Neo Rauch, and Vanessa Beecroft.

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[AlMohannad Kameli · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب أكاديمي نوعًا ما .. يتحدّث عن الأدائية .. والسرد في السينما ..

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

First we had the metamodernist manifesto, now we have a Performatist manifesto. Both will be regarded in the future as examples of how postmodernism ended history and how people endlessly try to grasp at straws to facilitate meaning into a unified theory. I understand the underlying message, but to deny and propose that we should move away from Postmodernism's affects upon Western art is simply hilarious. Postmodernism isn't cynical, it provides an inexhaustible well of hope. To rid things of interpretation enables one to have an individual interpretation, to rid the world of politics allows one to have their own politics. Postmodernism is still a quest for harmony, to abandon this for some preposterous old man's fart called "beauty" would be the worst. Proposition for a new name: Sentimentalism.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my problems with this book is Eshelman's complete denial of atheism as a current trend. For example, Eshelman credits contemporary architecture as being open to a monist force, rather than an environmental influence.