The Frame and the Mirror: On Collage and Postmodernism (Philosophy, Literature and Culture)

If the postmodern is a collage—as some critics have suggested—or if collage is itself a kernel of the postmodern, what does this mean for our way of understanding the world? The Frame and the Mirror uses this question to probe the distinctive character of the postmodern situation and the philosophical problem of representation. Brockelman's work is itself a collage of sorts, using juxtapositions of critics and art historical figures to conduct a debate between such figures as Karsten Harries, Gianni Vattimo, Rosalind Krauss, Immanuel Kant, Jean-François Lyotard, Slavo Zizek, and Le Corbusier about issues such as truth in art, perspectivism, theatricality, the sublime, psychoanalytic theory, politics, and urbanism. More than an introduction to the postmodern, The Frame and the Mirror advances our understanding of the contemporary world by relating its features to the peculiar characteristics of collage. Ultimately, Brockelman shows how collage demands that we reinterpret modernity, conceiving of it as suspended between a loss of certainty and a new kind of knowledge about the human condition. In doing so, his work challenges many of the claims made in the name of postmodernism—and offers in their place a new and ironic view of the cultural space in which contemporary and historical events occur. About the Author: Thomas P. Brockelman is an assistant professor at Le Moyne College and a lecturer in architecture at Syracuse University. If the postmodern is a collageas some critics have suggestedor if collage is itself a kernel of the postmodern, what does this mean for our way of understanding the world? The Frame and the Mirror uses this question to probe the distinctive character of the postmodern situation and the philosophical problem of representation. Brockelmans work is itself a collage of sorts, using juxtapositions of critics and art historical figures to conduct a debate between such figures as Karsten Harries, Gianni Vattimo, Rosalind Krauss, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Slavo iek, and Le Corbusier about issues such as truth in art, perspectivism, theatricality, the sublime, psychoanalytic theory, politics, and urbanism. More than an introduction to the postmodern, The Frame and the Mirror advances our understanding of the contemporary world by relating its features to the peculiar characteristics of collage. Ultimately, Brockelman shows how collage demands that we reinterpret modernity, conceiving of it as suspended between a loss of certainty and a new kind of knowledge about the human condition. In doing so, his work challenges many of the claims made in the name of postmodernismand offers in their place a new and ironic view of the cultural space in which contemporary and historical events occur. Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction: Collage and the Postmodern......Page 16 Part 1 Frame: The Truth in Collage......Page 30 1 Breaking the Frame of Truth: Karsten Harries and the Truth of Art......Page 32 2 Everything Goes: Collage and Perspectivism in Vattimo and Schwitters......Page 54 3 The Place of Truth: Theatricality and Modernity in Krauss and Greenaway......Page 76 Part 2 Mirror: The Crisis of Modern “Self”-Experience......Page 106 4 Kant and Collage: Judgment, Avant-Gardism, and the Sublime......Page 108 5 Posthumanism and the Postmodern in Contemporary Psychoanalytic Theory......Page 136 Part 3 The Agony of Utopia......Page 160 6 Utopia, the City, and the Limits of Collage......Page 162 Conclusion: Collage Hermeneutics......Page 198 Notes......Page 204 Bibliography......Page 234 C......Page 244 F......Page 245 H......Page 246 M......Page 247 P......Page 248 S......Page 249 T......Page 250 Z......Page 251 Credits......Page 252 This work seeks to probe the distinctive character of the postmodern situation and the philosophical problem of representation. Brockelman juxtaposes critics and art historical figures to conduct a debate about issues such as truth in art, perspectivism, theatricality and urbanism.