英语论文网

e and are therefore not part of the realm of reality. The discourse is of course real, however its contents are, more often than not, falsehoods which are created by individuals or institutions as a simulation of some underlying reality which may or may not exist. Let us take the example of Marx and capitalism as an example of a meta-narrative. The theory expounded by Marx begins with an explanation of social relations arising from the relations of production (ie. ownership of means of production). Marx gives substantial evidence to support his assertion, and finally concludes that revolution will happen and a socialist society will come about. The postmodernist would reject this and ask, 'who says so - Marx?'. 'How does Marx know all this? It is merely his interpretation and construction surrounding a theme which has interested philosophers for many years, and anyway, it depends on concepts which cannot be proved to exist; it is a mere story'. 2.6. Postmodernity and the breakdown of cultural borders. The fifth tenet of postmodernism involves the crossing of the borders between traditionally distinct boundaries such as those between music, art, and culture. The example of Madonna as a postmodern artiste is closely tied to this fifth tenet. Culture was, until the coming of postmodern theory, traditionally seen as distinct from it producers, ie. people (Williams 1961:passim), as transcending whilst embracing the individual, a sort of collective conscience (but not strictly in the Durkheimian sense). The rise of phenomena such as hip-hop has given postmodernists the evidence to argue their point cogently. Within the bounds of hip-hop culture, music and art become inseparable. The musicians are also the artists and they create music which reflects graffiti art, which in turn, reflects an indistinct (dis)satisfaction with their host culture. A process which at once reproduces and destroys itself, hip-hop is a evolutionary phenomena which is ever changing and thus blurring boundaries between itself and other phenomena. This is part of the reason why, according to postmodernists, hip-hop art, culture, and music has shifted from a socially unacceptable phenomena (graffiti covered trains in New York and loud ghetto blasters) to a socially acceptable phenomena (graffiti art in major galleries and hip-hop music in the charts). 2.7. Denying the importance of the author. Finally, it follows from the discussion above that there is little importance attached to the author of a text as the creator of a text. If postmodernists are correct in their philosophising, then once a text has been created it goes through a myriad of changes which may render it completely distinct from the original4. Thus, we could look at the struggle of an unknown band to get their first single released. Undoubtedly the first rendering of the chosen song will be considered as unacceptable by the record company producers and will have to be re-recorded many times before its final release. The final edit of the song will normally be quite different from the original version. The point here is, that although the authors of the song are the band, it has actually been created by the process of being recorded for general release and its manipulation by producers and a record company5. This aspect of postmodernism is not exclusive to postmodern theorists. Indeed literary critics such as Macheray, a marxist, and Brooks accept the argument. These tenets are by no means exhaustive