Postmodern Postures: Literature, Science and the Two Cultures Debate / Edition 1

by Daniel Cordle

Overview

In 1996 the physicist Alan Sokal planted a hoax article in the journal Social Text, mimicking the social constructionist view of science popular in the humanities, and sparked into life the ’science wars’ which had been rumbling throughout the 1990s. Postmodern Postures puts this contemporary controversy into the context of earlier debates about the ’two cultures’, between F.R. Leavis and C.P. Snow, and Mathew Arnold and T.H. Huxley. Through an interrogation of interdisciplinary approaches to literature and science, and a discussion of the arguments surrounding postmodern culture, the book formulates a literary critical methodology for literature/science criticism, highlighting both the benefits and the limitations of attempts to link the two cultures. Three case studies, focused through the issues of knowledge, identity and time, put this methodology into practice, showing how ideas resonate through the culture between literature and science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780754600954
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/24/1999
Series:	Literature, Science and the Two Cultures Debate
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.62(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction: Patterns and postures; Part One: Theory: The two cultures: literature versus science; Literature-science methodology and the science wars; Part Two: Practice: Discourses of knowledge: Chaotic order; Discourses of identity: machines, bodies and information; Discourses of time: purpose and absurdity; Histories: Postmodernism, literature and science; Conclusion: Advancing Together?; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

Arguing that there are fruitful ways of linking literature and science, yet cautioning of pitfalls in the process, the author attempts to steer a methodological course between the two sides of the debate that has erupted into the media with the 1996 publication of Alan Sokal's postmodern parody in the journal . After the explanation of his methodology for literature/science criticism, three case studies, focused on the issues of knowledge, identity, and time are used to test the author's thesis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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