So much is being said about “The Crying of Lot 49”, I figure, why not be different and look at Jameson’s article. The problem with that is there is WAYYYY to much to go into any great detail. The main point that kept grabbing my attention is the constant reference to architecture. The fact that Jameson credits architecture as one of the first modes of postmodernism shows how important expression is. There is a quote from Mies van der Rohe that I love, “Skyscrapers reveal their bold structural pattern during construction. Only then does the gigantic steel web seem impressive. When the outer walls are put in place, the structural system, which is the basis of all artistic design, is hidden by a chaos of meaningless and trivial forms… We can see the new structural principles most clearly when we use glass in place of the outer walls, which is feasible today since in a skeleton building these outer walls do not carry weight.” (Mies van der Rohe. from Martin Pawley, introduction and notes. Library of Contemporary Architects: Mies van der Rohe. p12.)
The skeletal frame of the building can be in any form, much like postmodernism can take on writing, art, music, even capitalist ideals and express them. Mies van der Rohe let the viewer see the insides of his buildings. Gehry’s process starts with sketches that look like they are thrown onto paper and then he designs in a matter that conforms to the initial idea and not the limitations that arise. He adapts to each new idea.
I think Jameson sees this in postmodernism in general as well. on pg. 72 as he grapples with explaining Lacan, he moves from language to biology, then back to the ideas of paternal authority represented in linguistic function (the Name-of-the-Father). I think this is why I see postmodernism as one big conglomerate. It cannot be pinned down, wrestled with until it gives you a definite idea of what it is, or finagled into something tangible. As Jameson references architecture on pg. 80 he says, “The newer architecture therefor-like many of the other cultural products I have evoked in the preceding remarks-stands as something like an imperative to grow new organs, to expand our sensorium and our body to some new as yet unimaginable, perhaps ultimately impossible, dimensions”. For anyone who has seen a Gehry building, you’ll understand just how relevant this idea is in a postmodern sense.