ABSTRACT
Since this book does not attempt to introduce different critical schools or historical periods of literature, it might seem odd to include a chapter on the postmodern. In the following pages, however, we wish to suggest that this topic provides us with an invaluable set of terms for thinking about literary and other cultural texts. People nowadays use the word ‘postmodern’ all over the place (there are books about postmodern dance, postmodern winemaking, even postmodern saints): however, as we hope to show, this term can help us to develop a clearer critical understanding of ways of thinking that are unavoidable in the twenty-first century.
