A convenient introduction to Jameson's key writings on postmodernism

No one would contest that Fredric Jameson, one of the leading Marxist critics in the English-speaking world, has had an immense impact on the way we now understand the phenomenon of postmodernism. His classic work, Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, has been widely acclaimed as the seminal analysis of postmodernity from a cultural, philosophical and historical perspective.

Jameson's reflections have become an essential reference-point for all those attempting to engage with postmodernism. However, until now his key writings on postmodernism have been unavailable in an easily accessible and affordable form. This book, designed as a short and convenient introduction to Jameson's thought for both the student and the general reader, meets this need. Jameson on Postmodernism includes:

  • “Postmodernism and Consumer Society,” Jameson's classic analysis of postmodernity
  • “Marxism and Postmodernism,” in which Jameson responds to his critics
  • “Theories of the Postmodern,” his survey of alternative approaches
  • “The Antinomies of Postmodernity,” an extract from his recently published work, The Seeds of Time, in which he surveys the philosophical tensions embedded in the postmodern
  • “‘End of Art‘ or ‘End of History’?” and “Transformations of the Image in Postmodernity,” two pieces hitherto unpublished in English on art and the image in the postmodern epoch.
  • The Cultural Turn is an indispensable reference guide to the most arresting and substantial theorists of postmodernism.

    Praise for Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism :

    “For anybody hoping to understand not just the cultural but the political and social implications of postmodernism Jameson's book is a fundamental, nonpareil text.” — Gilbert Adair, Sunday Times

    “In a brief compass, The Cultural Turn traces the movement of one of the leading cultural intelligences of our time, in pursuit of mutable forms of the postmodern world. The results will leave few indifferent.” … Perry Anderson

    Fredric Jameson is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at Duke University, where he is Director of the Graduate Program in Literature and the Center for Critical Theory. He has previously published with Verso Late Marxism: Adorno, or The Persistence of the Dialectic; the prize-winning Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism; and Brecht and Method.

  • Publication
    May 2009

    128 pages

    Series
    Radical Thinkers

    Paper
    ISBN13: 978 1 84467 349 0
    US$12.95 / £6.99 / CAN$14

    Also available from Verso:

    A Singular Modernity

    Brecht and Method

    Archaeoligies of the Future

    Late Marxism: Adorno,or the Persistence of the Dialectic

    Postmodernism: or; The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism