The Political Construction of the Post－modernist Aesthetic Discourse —— On the Post－modern Political View of Linda Hutcheon〔*〕

Liu Xiaoping，Wang Xiaojun

(Academy of Arts Chengdu University，Chengdu Sichuan 610106)

Ⅰ．Introduction

Zygmunt Bauman holds that since the symbiosis of“knowledge and power”，the most distinctive character of modernity has been established in the enlightenment age，the discourse strategy of intellectuals is closely connected with the practical mode of national power．Although different from modernity or post-modernity，post-modernism，as the discourse strategy of the intellectuals is inevitably related to power discourse in the respect of self-consciousness and the artistic and cultural self-construction．Jameson points out a remarkable hypothesis that political perspective consists of“the absolute perspective of all reading and interpretation”in his book，Government Unconsciousness．Despite that Jameson aims at making efforts to establish the status of new Marxism in the total criticism，he regards cultural production as the symbolic conduct of society，exposes the indispensable ideology of texts and explains how the texts are accepted，understood and interpreted by means of the ideology．Finally，Jameson defines post-modernism as the“cultural logic of late capitalism”from the perspective of ideology and politics，which proves the words of David E．Wellbery that“the post-modern aesthetic experiments possess hard-to-remove political level and indispensable criticism on leading power”．No matter in the heated wave of post-modern argument or the detailed analysis afterward，people can hardly avoid the influence of political perspective on the definition of post-modernity and value judgment．

The historical sense of post-modernism makes it indispensable to ideology．Besides，post-modernism，as a discursive construction，possesses ideological nature itself．Hutcheon，Canadian post-modernism theorist，notes that“…we always act and use language in the political environment．It needs to be constructed by ideology and needs to construct ideology in turn that how to play our role in society and how to realize this process by means of art”．

Louis Althusser remarks that“every piece of artistic work is produced by a purpose both aesthetical and ideological．”According to Althusser，art is not ideology，but born in ideology．It is hard to divorce art and ideology．The“ideology”in the free humanism system is a suppressed concept，which excludes history，politics and society．However，the post-modernism theory and practice doubt this suppression and object regarding art as a permanent，universal self-sufficient body．Discourse is not a stable，consistent entity，which cannot be explored by some sort of fixed text;due to the fact that discourse is the combination of power and knowledge，it has to change its form and meaning by according to who it is talking to，the power and status of the talker，the customs of the talker and the institutional context．

Ⅱ．Attention to the context of power

Foucault believes that although discourse is made up of language，discourse analysis needs to be constrained by linguistic conventions and rules．He argues that discourse analysis should be connected with politics，society and culture，and that discourse is formed by the function of power mechanism．

Foucault holds that power is ubiquitous in his genealogy．He thinks that power is a relative network，and everyone is a dot on this network．They are the conductors as well as the acceptors of power．Discourse and power influence and restrain each other in the discourse construction．The function of power，influenced by the inner regulations of specific discourse system，can only function when it enters the discourse system．Meanwhile，specific discourse system and its rules are the results of the function of power．Therefore，since the implementation of power is not fulfilled by a unified，fixed main body，the power status of different speakers and their different contexts decide the non-continuity of discourse systems．He said that，“Power is a mobile foundation which upholds the relations of power，and the unequal relations lead to the appearance of power state．”The so-called truth is just the standard formed by the discourse power of the person in power，and there is no“absolute truth”or“absolute power”in terms of traditional view．The edge that is suppressed in one discourse system is likely to be the center of another discourse system．

Foucault regards“discourse”as a network which communicates between various power systems，which acknowledges his view that matters relative to politics are ubiquitous in the dynamic society．Discourse is put into the network，but it does not turn to authoritative tradition for help．Instead，it doubts the foundation of the generation of all knowledge．Free humanism holds that language can reproduce the past and present．“Imitation”and“satire”are just used to further indicate that the past or present incidents are more accurately and truly reproduced．

Ⅲ．Connection of aesthetics and politics

Hutcheon holds that free humanism is doubted from the perspective of postmodern theories and post-modern art．First，as is mentioned before，free humanism is the unified system which leads power．Post-modern theory and art first participate in the tradition and then publicly acknowledge that they are parts of it so as to get rid of the authority and mystery of the system given by humanism．On the other hand，post-modern theory and art further show the doubt for some“hypotheses”behind the humanism system．Subjectivity is an individual in the social and historical context in the post-modern theory，instead of a unified，consistent ultimate product with fixed meaning as presupposed by the humanist tradition．The post-modern theory and art have transformed our thinking pattern of the main body and subjectivity in terms of free humanism．For instance，the postmodern English novels of Canada interrogate the thinking pattern of subjectivity by means of imitation and satire．They“restate and reform the concept of history from the perspective of literature and history，thus redefining the subjective probability of literary works”．

There is a tradition of dividing art and ideology(aesthetics and politics)in humanism and formalism．However，more and more people have realized that art and ideology cannot be divided，but instead，influence and compensate each other．Eagleton once said that“The construction of modern concept of aesthetic works，the formation of predominate ideology of modern class society and the new form of human subjectivity suitable for the social order are closely connected”．

Hutcheon points out that post-modern art strives to“combine the satire of political belief and keeping distance”by means of creative ways，where there is distinct ideology．Livorno’s sculpture is first linked to the Italian renaissance，and then to the struggle of workers of capitalism．Artistic art and politics are connected in fabulous way．The post-modern architecture，another important area of postmodern art，is no exceptional．The post-modern architecture not only makes the historical tradition of architecture natural，but also combines aesthetic needs and social attention closely by using“imitation”and doubts the ideology of economy and social structure in traditional architecture and modernism architecture．

Ⅳ．Criticism and complicity:the absurdity of the doubleness

Hutcheon refers to the contradiction of post-modernism as“complicitous critique”，which has strong political implication．She points out that“complicitous critique”puts post-modernism between the economic capitalism and cultural humanism，which are the two predominate power of western world with the foundation of patriarchy．It is“complicitous critique”that consists of the features of post-modernism．It is noteworthy that due to the compromising political standpoint of post-modernism，“complicitous critique”tends to be understood as total dependence．Considering this，Hutcheon points out that“complicitous critique is not total affirmation or dependence，and that it is the awareness of difference and contradiction that never lacks in post-modernism．”Therefore，the“criticism”of“satire”in post-modern art is another important level of“discourse”，which is the interaction between“complicity”and“critique”and the display of variation and the process of decentration．Hutcheon refers to the“complicitous critique”as the doubleness of politics in post-modernism．

When defining post-modernism，Hutcheon holds that“absurdity”is an important feature of post-modernism poetry．The root of“absurdity”lies in the fact that post-modernism is the result of the contradiction of post-modernism．It aims at overturning the free humanism system deeply rooted in modernism，however，cannot totally break away from it．Hutcheon notes that this doubt of authority is the product of the social ideological trend of 1960s．The ideology basis of broad challenge against authority in the 1960s has exerted direct influence on the decentration of post-modernism．

As Hutcheon concludes，post-modernism is the result of the contradiction of modernism．In post-modernism theory，the presentation of the meaning of works includes the whole process of“authors-texts-readers”．The political“doubleness”of post-modern art leads to two different versions of its interpretation．

Hutcheon explains the political features of post-modern art by taking the in fluence of history and politics on post-modern novels in 1960s as an example．Post-modern novels show complicated emotions for the history and politics of the 1960s，when modern art began to fail．Charles Jencks even announced “the death of modern architecture”in the early 1970s．People crave for fierce revolution and regard indulgence and political revolution as a part of life．On the other hand，they lack a real historical sense in this period．

In the process of exposing the political standpoint of the presentation of postmodernism，Hutcheon mainly focuses on the discussion of photography．Elegant artistic form can effectively dialogue with popular artistic form，namely photography，in the process of watching and being watched．They involve social politics and at the same time，being effected by social politics．

Benjamin puts forward the principle of authenticity of art．Hutcheon holds that the works of post-modern photography have made up for the missing of this historical sense．She notes that“the double colonization of Canada”constitutes the major satire of the post-modern photography works in Canada，which means the political right of speech of British royal family in the past and the strong influence of the media discourse system of America in international politics．Therefore，she thinks that post-modern artists all focus on the interaction between art and the past and present social mechanism in the context of the double colonization of Canada，which possesses political implication as well as historical implication．

Notes:

〔1〕齊格蒙·鮑曼:《立法者與闡釋者:論現(xiàn)代性、后現(xiàn)代性與知識分子》，洪濤譯，上海:上海人民出版社，2000年。

〔2〕〔美〕弗雷德里克·詹姆遜:《政治無意識——作為社會象征行為的敘事》，北京:中國社會科學出版社，1999年。

〔3〕琳達·哈琴:《后現(xiàn)代主義詩學:歷史、理論、小說》，南京:南京大學出版社，2009年。

〔4〕Linda Hutcheon，The Politics of Postmodernism，Routledge，2002年。

〔5〕陸梅林:《西方馬克思主義美學文選》，桂林:漓江出版社，1988年。

〔6〕Michel Foucault， The History of Sexuality:The Will to Knowledge(Vol．1)，Penguin Books Ltd，1998年。

〔7〕〔美〕J．弗拉克斯:《后現(xiàn)代的主體性概念》，王海平譯，《國外社會科學》1994年第1期。

〔8〕琳達·哈切恩:《加拿大后現(xiàn)代主義——加拿大現(xiàn)代英語小說研究》，重慶:重慶出版社，1994年。

〔9〕〔英〕特里·伊格爾頓:《美學意識形態(tài)》，王杰、傅德根、麥永雄譯，桂林:廣西師范大學出版社，1997年。

〔10〕Peter Burger，The Theory of the Avant-Garde，Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press，1984 年。

〔11〕〔德〕瓦爾特·本雅明:《機械復制時代的藝術作品》，王才勇譯，北京:中國城市出版社，2001年。