Abstract
Since the mid-1990s, Western literary theory has entered a “post-postmodern” stage, but there has been no proper concept or theory to express it in the academic world until the emergence of “metamodernism”. Metamodernism is a new discourse of literary theory in the new millennium that emerges out of the major change in the structure of culture and art as well as perception. It attempts to explore a new path for culture and literary theory between modernism and postmodernism, and its main strategy of discursive expression is “a-topic metaxis”. Epistemologically, it is “with” modern and postmodern imprint; ontologically, it is “between” the modern and postmodern; historically, it is “after” the modern and postmodern. Environmental designers replace “blueprints” with “greenprints”, and the new generation of writers and artists are gradually abandoning the aesthetic concepts of deconstruction, juxtaposition, and pastiche, turning to the aesth/ethical categories of reconstruction, myth, and metaxis. These trends express a (often cautious) sense of hope and (often disguised) sincerity, and embody a deeply inclusive and polarizing perceptual structure.
Keywords
metamodern, metamodernism, after postmodernism, a-topic metaxis, discourse of literary theory
First Page
162
Last Page
171
Recommended Citation
Wang, Hongyue. 2022. "Metamodernism: Thoughts on Literary Theory “after Postmodernism”." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 42, (4): pp.162-171. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol42/iss4/17
