After the Great Divide: Modernism, Mass Culture, Postmodernism

Theories of Representation and Difference

by Andreas Huyssen

"One of the most comprehensive and intelligent postmodern critics of art and literature, Huyssen collects here a series of his essays on pomo . . . " ―Village Voice Literary Supplement

" . . . his work remains alert to the problematic relationship obtaining between marxisms and poststructuralisms." ―American Literary History

" . . . challenging and astute." ―World Literature Today

"Huyssen's level-headed account of this controversial constellation of critical voices brings welcome clarification to today's murky haze of cultural discussion and proves definitively that commentary from the tradition of the German Left has an indispensable role to play in contemporary criticism." ―The German Quarterly

" . . . we will certainly have, after reading this book, a deeper understanding of the forces that have led up to the present and of the possibilities still open to us." ―Critical Texts

" . . . a rich, multifaceted study." ―The Year's Work in English Studies

Huyssen argues that postmodernism cannot be regarded as a radical break with the past, as it is deeply indebted to that other trend within the culture of modernity―the historical avant-garde.

Genres: Theory, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Art, Criticism, History, Academic

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1986

About the author

Andreas Huyssen is the Villard Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he taught beginning in 1986. He is the founding director of the university's Center for Comparative Literature and Society and one of the founding editors of the New German Critique.

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little repetitive, since it's comprised of essays written over the course of about a decade. The final essay is an excellent summation of the different strains of postmodernism from the 60s through the early 80s in both the US and Europe, and also contains a very convincing section arguing that the conflation of post-structuralist theory with postmodernism in the US is fallacious, and that post-structuralism is in fact a theory of modernity.

The essays in Part 1 and Part 3 leading up to the final essay serve as mostly background material and can be safely skipped unless one wants to read more about the historical avant-garde, Pop art, etc. Part 2 consists of only tangentially-related essays about individual art works.

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a couple historical narratives worth watching in this book. One is the appropriation of surrealism by the Modernist movement. I am very interested in how Huyssen describes this historical moment, where surrealism began in reaction to the distance modernism attempted to create between art and a general public. And then Modernism's subsequent appropriation of surrealism's artistic impulse. Perhaps this is general art history, but it was my first interaction with it.

But what I find even more fascinating is that the book is written as a study on Germany's experience of art, and I think Huyssen does an excellent job describing the cultural challenge artists encountered coming to a national understanding post World War II. It has significantly influenced my thoughts on how art practices relevance in general society.

[Hannah Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting reflections on gender and industrialization

[Laszlo Rapaport]

Leida introduccion y articulo n°10 para Historia del Cine II

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

(9/10) A smoothly-argued and evenhanded analysis of the postmodern turn.