Distinction of 'postmodernist' from 'modernist'

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Didactics - English - History of Literature Eras grade: 20 National University of Ireland Galway language: English abstract: The distinction of modern and postmodern artists sometimes seems to be a bit challenging do to a lack of chronological boundaries between modernism and postmodernism which are additionally extremely blurred. To determine artists by the dates of their works is not necessarily possible since the epoch of postmodern art did not entered every country at the same time. Although Charles Jencks sets the 'death' of architectural modernism on July 15th 1972 at 3:32pm modernism in general is said to end with World War II. In North America however it rather ends with the Great Depression. Thus the broad agreement on the period of Modernism is from 1885-1935. Modernists continued writing even after 1945 but did not earn much attention any longer. The period of postmodernism must have begun some when between then and 1960. Obviously the passage of modernism and postmodernism is fluent. Postmodernism is said to be nostalgia and retrospective. Collages and imitation are regarded as being postmodern as well as any rejection of modernism. Modernism in contrast would display the avant-garde forms of expression and the 'shock of the new'. But those definitions are general and just give a hint to what could be the distinction of modernism and postmodernism. Because of this in the present essay I will elaborate and compare the ways that 'postmodernist' might be distinguished from 'modernist' and solve the question of the differences between these epochs. To do so I will focus on terms of literature visual arts and architecture which are regarded as being characteristically for modernism or postmodernism.