Recent years have witnessed radical changes in our social and political existence, with traditional ideas and way of living increasingly being called into question. Such questioning has led to a crisis of authority that goes under the general name of postmodernism. But what does this word mean and why is it so important? The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism provides all the answers you need. It is an accessible and comprehensive survey of the intellectual developments that have brought about a wholesale shift in cultural perspectives. Combining detailed essays, written by experts in the subject, with an invaluable A-Z guide to 'who's who' and 'what's what' in postmodernism, this is the indispensable guide to a phenomenon that has shaped today's world.
Stuart Sim is retired Professor of Critical Theory at the University of Sunderland, and currently Visiting Professor in English at Northumbria University. He has published widely in the field of critical theory and 18th-century English literature, and is a Fellow of the English Association.
'I recommend every household to buy two copies of this exemplary compendium. One for the teenagers who should have absorbed its wisdom before setting off to college; and the second for the parents, who won't ever need to make fools of themselves again by asking what metanarrative is.' – A.N. Wilson, New Statesman
'An extremely useful compilation ... This is a work crammed with interesting fact and speculation and with a most assiduous cross-referencing of key terms.' – Times Educational Supplement
'Concise and clear ... the Companion will be useful to many types of reader ... [it] provides an interesting and varied overview of the many ways in which postmodernism has established itself as a cultural phenomenon.' –Philosophy Now
