"Silent Avant-garde" And "Plural Postmodernity": Studies On Ihab Hassan's Postmodern Criticism Of Literature

Recent years, there has been more and more introductions of postmodern theories in China, which mainly focus on the so-called triumvirates in the debates on Postmodemism, namely, Lyotard, Jameson and Habermas. My dissertation aims at highlighting Ihab Hassan, American critic of postmodern literature, who is a well-known literary critic and one of the earliest postmodem scholars. He determines the unique anatomy and the perspectives of the postmodem literature and receives wide acceptance in the western academia. His studies enable us to gain a more clear understanding of Postmodernism. The dissertation will completely explain Hassan's effects and his key role at the importantly historic moment in order to highlight his contributions. At the same time, it will elaborate how Hassan comprehends literary works and the cultural characters by the term "Postmodernism", and discuss Hassan's theory and his significance from the following three main aspects.First, Hassan is recognized as one of the most productive and the most influential critics in the debates on the postmodem in West. He has always insisted on studying Postmodernism. As the term "Postmodernism" was widely accepted, he has contributed a lot more than any other critics. Some people say that his early essays on this subject were the first to recognize, describe, and theorize the phenomena of Postmodernism; while others say that he was among the first to find its increasing limitations in 1980s and 1990s. That is why he is called the "father" or "godfather" of Postmodernism in the West. Hassan defines postmodern characteristics through diachronic and synchronic dimensions, and blends two trends of Postmodernism—"indeterminacy" and "immanence"—into one coinage: "indetermanence", that indicates the dialectical relations between them. "Indetermanence" implies the essential features of Postmodernism. It is Hassan's unique interpretation for Postmodernism and the brilliant point which distinguishes him from other average critics. Moreover, Hassan regards Joyce's Finnegans Wake as the beginning of Postmodernism because it profoundly predicted Postmodernity. These studies, as it were, have profound significance.Second, as a literary theorist, Hassan inquires Postmodernism starting with the literary phenomena. His interest is to study western avant-garde literature or experimental literature. Needless to say, He becomes a leader in the field of the postmodern literary studies. He explored the most influential literary movements in the 20th century, including avant-gardism, Modernism and Postmodernism, and elaborated all literary movements that agitated as avant-gardism in the early of the 20th century: Pataphysics, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Suprematism,Constructivism, Merzism, de Stijl and so on. They assaulted the bourgeois' act and manifesto, but their actions have an incline to be self-destructive. Hassan finds the characteristics of "expression-wordless" and "self-question" in the avant-garde literature, in which the literature began to turn against itself and aspire to silence, and led us behind with uneasy intimations of outrage and apocalypse. So he defines the avant-garde literature as "the literature of silence". The "silence" is a metaphor of a new attitude, which means literature has chosen to adopt itself. In Hassan's view,Henry Miller and Samuel Beckett represent two orientations of avant-gardism that reflected by "the cry of outrage" and "the voice of apocalypse". Moreover, he is sensible enough to synthesize "outrage requires apocalypse". In other words, the "silent" avant-gardism not only challenges the fundamental assumptions of the traditional value system, but also anticipates the birth of Postmodernism. It is the forerunner of postmodern literature. These studies represent Hassan's sensitive and unique receptiveness of contemporary literary critics.Third, Hassan is treated as the first critic to transform the concept of "Postmodernism" in the literary, circle into an inclusive one of culture. To him,"Postmodernism" is a broad concept, and the changes brought by the inclusive concept once virtually monopolized the discussions on Postmodernism. To put explicitly, Hassan is the first scholar who makes great efforts to clarify its applied rules unremittingly in the literary theorists those adopt the uncertain concept of Postmodernism. He begins with "indetermanence" of postmodern literature, then extends to entire western culture, and considers that the latter has been prevailing paradox of self-denial and self-contradictory characteristics. This inclusiveness makes it possible for him to take a panoramic view of Postmodernism. So in his view,Postmodernism is not only a literary movement, but also a social and cultural phenomena. While his inclusive episteme has problems, it at least provides us with a field on the panoramic view of the postmodern points. This will help us further understand the "diversity of mutations". This study will benefit from this perspective to explain how Hassan transforms "Postmodernism" from a literary concept into a cultural one. In addition, Hassan extends the inclusiveness to the field of literary criticism, put forward "paracriticism"—the postmodern criticism of attempting to recover the art of multivocation.This dissertation is divided into six chapters. The chapter one is an introduction.It represents the reasons of selection, the resources about Hassan at home and abroad,and the basic structure and methods of the study. The chapter two reviews briefly the evolution of Postmodernism, considers and analyses the debates between Modernism and Postmodernism, and reveals Hassan's postmodern theory. The chapter three focuses on "the literature of silence". It distinguishes between the avant-gardism,Modernism and Postmodernism, and points out the "silent" feature of the avant-garde literature, highlights Hassan's uniqueness among the postmodern theorists. The chapter four discusses the historic phases of Postmodernism, and analysis James Joyce's Finnegans Wake through closing reading to consider why it is greatly predicted the postmodernity. This novel creates a postmodern system of language that has a fanatical will of collapse. It also has postmodern features of writing, such as parody, nonlinear structure and "death of the author". So it demonstrates the integration of high art and popular culture, as well as Postmodernism that denies the elitist or authoritative Modernism. The chapter five mainly explains how Hassan transforms the concept of "Postmodernism" from literature to culture, and analyses the meaning of"paracriticism". The chapter six is the conclusion section of this study. It briefly accounts that Hassan's postmodem criticism of literature has already inspired and influenced literary theory in China.In one word, "Postmodernism" is an important topic of common concern in Western and Chinese academes. As the literary critic of Postmodernism, Hassan is of great significance: On the one hand, he identifies Postmodernism, determines its essence, and analyses the relations between Modernism and Postmodernism. All the studies indicate that Hassan is the pioneering hero in the postmodern movement.More importantly, he gradually expands the concept of Postmodernism. It establishes a solid foundation for postmodern criticism. When major postmodern theorists are introduced in China, Hasaan's postmodern episteme is considered to be "outdated".Therefore, he does not gain adequate attention in China. But in my view, his insight on the relations between avant-gardism, Modernism and Postmodernism qualifies him as one of the most outstanding theorists of Postmodernism. As for he turns to investigating postmodernist mutations, his postmodern theory becomes more and more inclusive and pluralistic. In such a context of cross-cultural communications between the East and the West, any foresighted theorist inevitably adjusts his or her academic perspective from "monolithic" to "pluralistic", because all cultural phenomena is no longer labeled as "Eastern" or "Western", but rather as "universal".This dissertation chooses Hassan as a study object and hopes to acquire a useful resource for our postmodern theory of literature by reflecting these problems in China today.