Part of the Routledge Critical Thinkers essential guide for literary studies, Simon Malpas’ book about Jean-Francois Lyotard
is required reading for anyone who has ever heard the phrase
postmodernism thrown around and is still wondering what the heck it means.
Lyotard is one of the foremost figures in postmodernism and you need to know about him and his works if you are reading this because you are interested in postmodern works. Malpas covers him from head to toe, obviously well acquainted with his writing and the man. He starts out by giving a biographical background of the man that leads easily into the background of modernism and how modernism birthed postmodernism.
From there it dives headfirst into a non-chronological analysis and
explanation of Lyotard’s major works. Malpas chooses not to proceed chronologically, instead focusing on Lytoard’s most famous works, the ones that most readers would be most familiar with. He begins with the central work in Lyotard’s canon, The Postmodern Condition and how Lyotard’s theories spring from those of such precursors as Kant, Hegel and Wittgenstein.
After that Malpas focuses on postmodernism as it relates to art, aesthetics and the sublime. Postmodernism, of course, lives most fully in the arts and this chapter gives a great explanation as to why that is so.
Lyotard’s book The Differend affords the opportunity for discussing how postmodernism operates in the social and political spheres. Along the way, Malpas finds the opportunity to check in with Baudrillard and the theory of the simulacrum.
The book ends with the concept of using postmodernism to rewrite modernity, not just extend beyond it.
All in all, even though it’s a slim volume written in a terse, no frills style, you could do a lot worse as an introduction to Jean Francois-Lyotard than to pick up this book. It is to the point and gives you all the pertinent information as well as offering an extensive reading list to help you out in case you find yourself really interested in postmodernism.