Introduction: Theory of Postmodernism

Abstract

This article was written as an introduction to an anthology of postmodernism that includes texts by the leading Western thinkers such as Leslie Fiedler, Jürgen Habermas, Jean François Lyotard, Fredric Jameson, Terry Eagleton, Ihab Hassan, and Andreas Huyssen. As English literature scholars, the authors acknowledge the necessity of postmodernism as a cultural theory that provides a framework for understanding the new cultural aspects of the consumer-oriented, multi-national capitalism of Korea. At the same time, they emphasize that Korea is in an exceptional political, national, historical situation as a divided country in a condition of truce.

Keywords:

• Korea
• contemporary art
• postmodernism
• postmodernist theory Lotte World
• Western capitalism
• cultural populism
• Jean-François Lyotard
• Andreas Huyssen

Notes

1 Editor’s note: This text—originally published as the introduction to a book of essays on postmodernism—is a stand-alone text in this issue of Art in Translation. For reasons of comprehensibility, however, all references to other contributions in the source book have been retained.

2 Editor’s note: Lotte World is a major theme park opened in Seoul in 1989, with the “Magic Island” outdoor amusement park and the world’s largest indoor theme park. There is also a hotel, cinemas, sports facilities, and a folk museum. It attracts over 7 million visitors each year.

3 Editor’s note: in South Korea, a chaebol (literally “wealth clique”) is a large, family-owned business conglomerate.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeong Jeong-ho

Translated from Korean by Namin Kim

Originally published as “Poseuteumodeonijeumnon seomun” in Poseuteumodeonijeumnon (Seoul: Teo, 1990), 13-27.¹

Kang Naehui

Translated from Korean by Namin Kim

Originally published as “Poseuteumodeonijeumnon seomun” in Poseuteumodeonijeumnon (Seoul: Teo, 1990), 13-27.¹