International Postmodernism: Theory and literary practice

Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages #XI

by Hans Bertens (Editor)

Containing more than fifty essays by major literary scholars, International Postmodernism divides into four main sections. The volume starts off with a section of eight introductory studies dealing with the subject from different points of view followed by a section that deals with postmodernism in other arts than literature, while a third section discusses renovations of narrative genres and other strategies and devices in postmodernist writing. The final and fourth section deals with the reception and processing of postmodernism in different parts of the world.
Three important aspects add to the special character of International Postmodernism : The consistent distinction between postmodernity and postmodernism; equal attention to the making and diffusion of postmodernism and the workings of literature in general; and the focus on the text and the reader (i.e., the reader's knowledge, experience, interests, and competence) as crucial factors in text interpretation.
This comprehensive study does not expressly focus on American postmodernism, although American interpretations of postmodernism are a major point of reference. The recognition that varying literary and cultural conditions in this world are bound to produce endless varieties of postmodernism made the editors, Hans Bertens and Douwe Fokkema, opt for the title International Postmodernism .

Genres: Philosophy

597 pages, Hardcover

First published February 20, 1997

About the author

Hans Bertens, born Johannes Willem Bertens, is a Dutch academic writer and professor emeritus of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He specialised in American studies and comparative literature.

He was born in Harderwijk, the Netherlands, and studied in Utrecht.