> Hopefully this clarifies to some extent the workings and relationship of
> semeiotics and deconstruction to postmodernism, and I hope that a defintion
> of postmodern has emerged from this, combined with the previous post
> regarding simulacrum.
>
WOW! excellent work Bill. I have never met anyone who could whip off a
definition of postmodernism as succinctly and as eloquently as the one
you posted.
For most people it's either a slippery slope leading to an abstract,
a-lingual trance or it's an arguement in a box.
I agree with your definition and would add the following. Discourses not
only include works of art, literature and historical texts, but also the
conditions, environment under which they are read *and* the people who
are reading them. This takes into account the re-telling of a text and
the re-reading of a text.
Discourse can also refer to any conversation, series of gestures, series
of images.....uh-oh.....slipping....down....the......slope........*
Richard Shechner calls this re-remembering. (kind of a silly word,
really) in his book "Between Theatre and Anthropology"
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We are all here on earth to help each other, but what the others are here for, God only knows."- W.H. Auden ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ken Pantheists http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/2446 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~