Postirony

Postmodernism has been connected to consumer habits and cultural production since
the 1970s. Under neoliberalism certain elements of this connection have intensified,
prompting artists who came of age under these conditions to respond to them critically in
their art. The Pale King (2011) by David Foster Wallace is one such novel that comments
on contemporary bureaucracy and the effect of capitalist systems on the individual and
collective psyches. This thesis aims to connect the view on capitalism expressed in the novel
to Mark Fisher’s (2009) articulation of capitalist realism and postirony as discussed by Lee
Konstantinou (2012; 2016; 2017).
The introduction will provide context for discussing The Pale King together with
postmodernist literature and postmodernist philosophy. The literature review will outline the
movement from Marxist cultural criticism to postmodern philosophy, critiques of capitalism
and the related prevalence of postmodern irony. Then relevant concepts of postirony for
analyzing The Pale King will be highlighted. The literature review will also provide an
overview of academic and critical discourse on The Pale King. The second chapter will
introduce the main themes of the book, after which an analysis of the novel in three
subchapters will be provided through a close reading of the representations of credulous
metafiction, intensified postmodernism, and bureaucracy in the novel.

Life writing, the topic of this special issue of Ilha do Desterro, has to do with the personal. Life writing, or escritas de vida as this issue is called in Portuguese, appears in many forms, since the way we tell stories about ourselves is as diverse as what this self might look like. Diverse as life writing may be, though, it relies on certain common threads in its weaving of lives through writing: self, truth, and memory.

This paper analyses how the tree, mainly as a living being, is used in contemporary art. The tree is approached as object and subject, but also becomes a territory-space of experimentation and research. But beyond its plant and objectual character, the tree itself adopts a territorial sense as place. The diverse examples selected corroborate the use of the tree in contemporary art as a universal global icon of conservation and the environmental destruction of the planet.Dieser Artikel analysiert wie der Baum, hauptsächlich als lebendiges Wesen, im Bereich der zeitgenössischen Kunst verwendet wird. Der Baum wird als Objekt und als Subjekt behandelt, wird jedoch auch zum Experimentier- und Forschungsfeld der Kunst. Abgesehen von seinem Wesen als Objekt und Pflanze, erlangt er gleichzeitig als Standort eine räumliche Bedeutung. Anhand ausgewählter Beispiele wird aufgezeigt wie der Baum als weltweite Ikone sowohl auf die Zerstörung der Umwelt als auch auf die Ökologische Erhaltung ...

Samimiyetin ve iyi yürekliliğin geçer akçe değerler olarak karşılaşıldığı televizyon dizileri sayıca artış hâlindedir. Dostluk bağları ve dayanışmanın önemi, insani çeşitlilik ve iyimserlik (optimizm) atmosferi bu dizilerde vurgulanır olmuştur. İyimserlik ile kinizmi ustalıklı biçimde harmanlayışları bu dizileri değerlendirmek için farklı kapılar açmaktadır. Karakterler arasındaki iletişimde sıklıkla cereyan eden samimiyet anları insaniyeti tasdik etme yolunda farklı olanaklar sunmaktadır. İronik tutum ile samimiyet arasındaki salınımları vesilesiyle onları daha kapsamlı kültürel eğilimlerle ilişkilendirmek ve böylelikle aralarındaki ortak karakteristik özellikleri vurgulamak mümkün görünmektedir. Bu minvalde, makalede BoJack Horseman, Fleabag ve The Good Place dizileri başta olmak üzere 2010’lu yıllardan seçili televizyon komedileri ‘Yeni Samimiyet’ estetiği bağlamında incelenmiştir. Yeni Samimiyet, postmodernizmin getirdiği nihilizm ve kinizmin ötesine geçmeyi şiar edinen kültürel bir akımdır. Buckland’in (2020) tanımı ile “estetik ve duygulanımsal bir tepki” olan Yeni Samimiyet, “iki karşıt güç olan ironi ve samimiyet arasındaki dinamik gerilime dayanan güncel bir duyarlılıktır” (s. 19). Yeni samimiyet dâhilinde değerlendirilebilecek kültürel ürünlerde ironi ve samimiyet birbirinden ayrıştırılamayacağı gibi biri diğerini dışlamamaktadır. İki nitelik arasında devridaimden ve bir salınımdan bahsetmek mümkündür. Yeni Samimiyet çağdaş kültür ürünlerini yorumlamak için adeta biçilmiş bir kaftandır, zira pek çok güncel televizyon komedisi samimi değerlere ve insancıllığa sırtını yaslamaktadır. Gördükleri büyük ilginin ve takdirin temel nedenleri arasında ‘insani idealizmi’ kerteriz almaları yatmaktadır.

A chapter that offers a typology of four models of postironic literature: Motivated Postmodernism, Credulous Metafiction, the Postironic Bildungsroman, and Relational Art. A few concluding remarks on the relationship of postirony and neoliberalism.

What is 'postirony'? Foremost, it is a response to the ironic zeitgeist. Moreover, it is the key to understanding a specific form of literature. The contemporary reader is familiar with and – unfortunately – used to postmodernism's ironic, self-reflexive metafiction. Authors like David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers chose a different path: Despite the reign of contemporary irony, they strive to reach the reader on a level beyond, cognitively as well as emotionally – they claim to be sincere and true. Focusing largely on nonfiction by said authors, Lukas Hoffmann explores the means the texts use to achieve something new – namely, a new form of sincerity.

Buen Vivir and/or Croatian Contemporary Art Praxis/Practice
Summary
Suzana Marjanić


In the three-fold realm of definition of the buen vivir concept (Gudynas 2016:311-312), I am going to present selected examples (selected art works by Tajči Čekada and Josip Zanki)  in Croatian contemporary art praxis/practice, which are similar (though not the same) to the definition of the buen vivir concept, such as "living in harmony and equilibrium, in harmony with the cycles of Mother Earth, of the Cosmos, of life and of history, and in equilibrium with all forms of existence" (cf. Huanacuni Mamani, 2010). While Tajči Čekada realises this concept through the natural materials in her anti-fashion design, Josip Zanki, together with multimedia artist Bojan Gagić, achieved this return to Nature, through the revitalisation of the archaic funeral practise named mirila, through their art practice.