就后现代主义问题写作的人,通常在开始总是试图对这个词下一个定义,然而马上又接着说,这个词是过于捉摸不定和过于含糊暧昧,以至于不能用任何简单的公式来予以表达。有一个作者甚至走得更远,他宣称,“假如‘后现代’这个词不被那些机会主义式的过分使用搅成了一派胡言的话,它本来是可以具有完整的意义的”①。我们在这里先要假定它是有意义的,但是我们还是要花一点时间来弄清这个词究竟是什么意思。据信它首先是被运用于描述某些建筑风格,但是这个词的使用被扩展到了其他领域,包括绘画、雕塑、音乐、文学,甚至哲学和神学。在这么多不同的背 People who write about postmodernism often start by trying to define the term altogether, but then go on to say that the word is too vague and ambiguous to be expressed by any simple formula . One author even goes even further, claiming that “if the word ’post-modern’ is not nonsense to those opportunist excesses, it could have been of a complete significance.” Here we first assume that it makes sense, but let’s take a moment to figure out exactly what the term means. It is believed that it was first used to describe certain architectural styles, but the use of this term has been extended to other fields, including painting, sculpture, music, literature, and even philosophy and theology. In so many different backs