After Postmodernism - The Suspect Wanted For Questioning
(A Neo-Modernist Critique?)

O.	Introduction

Are philosophical fashions like waves on a beach? Before we know it the latest fashion, from a blur on the horizon, comes crashing in upon us to be displaced, in turn, by some other noisy concoction of the human spirit. Or, extending this metaphor, might this phenomenon be merely the re-iteration of the same forces at work with each wave saying essentially the same thing, the ripples of each wave merging into all the others in one long conversation where what is more left unsaid is that this has all be said before, the only difference being in a matter of direction or angle?

In this paper I hope to question this phenomenon of the postmodern influence in discourse, helping ourselves to appreciate the significance, the place and force of such a cultural fashion and in the process try to thematize what might be, at this very moment in time, re-fashioning the intellectual market place of ideas.

To facilitate the course of this process of insight I have divided this paper into a number of modules concerned with the following topics, namely, the phenomenological, the hermeneutical, the semiotic, the existential, and, finally, a conclusion in the form of an overview.

With time I have come to the opinion, certainly more of a prejudice than a pre-judgment, that modernists seem to share a number of valid, or rather, valuable aspirations but whose arguments in support of those conclusions it would appear can be dismissed as generally invalid. In contrast, on the other hand, postmodernists share a set of powerful arguments used to validate a set of conclusions of which the consequences of some of those conclusions, intuitively, I feel must be quite inappropriate to our being responsible citizens in this world-of-life. In the light of this perception it is my hope then to show how postmodernist tendencies can make a more positive contribution in cultural discourse. To this end I would like to state here that it is my belief that we can make a distinction between a 'good postmodernism' and a 'bad postmodernism,' such a distinction being made on the grounds that the practice of a 'good' postmodernism 'invests the narrative structure of a text.' Where by the expression 'good' is meant 'that which productively enriches our textual understanding and appreciation, and, by extension, enriches our being as a reader (of a culture's artefacts within the same or some other cultural background) and who as a person, and not some mere passive reader, is then able to be assisted in their being the author of their own production and interpretation, etc.' 
In this essay I do not wish to define 'modernism' and 'postmodernism' other than to say at this point that in my opinion a 'postmodernist orientation' is 'essentially a meta-textual orientation in its treatment of texts' as opposed to 'modernism's textualist orientation' regardless of whether those texts are defined as literary or non-literary, as philosophical or non-philosophical, as theoretical discourses or forms of practice. But let me more appropriately discuss these points within this paper as they arise. 
I.	First Module: The Phenomenological Treatment Of Texts

	In a phenomenological investigation that under examination is treated as a phenomenon in order to examine the distinctive, and characteristic, constitution and context of that phenomenon. Put more simply, we are merely interested in looking at it in order to understand how that phenomenon appears and in what apparent context it had itself presented within. When we conduct a transcendental suspension, henceforth to be noted only as a 'suspension,' we put to the side, bracket, suspend, all types of judgment in our appreciation of this 'phenomenon' other than those of an essential nature. In this regard we seek only to describe the essential constitution of its apparent content and context. In this light all other types of judgment are ruled out of court in this type of procedure. Therefore considerations of beauty (aesthetics), moral rectitude (ethics), factual existence, pragmatic considerations, its 'pre-' and 'post-' interpretative environments along with all other considerations of a cultural nature are put to the side. By 'essential' is meant 'all forms of identification be they nominal or numerical, perceptual, lexical, grammatical, etc.'
	Although such prejudices, as forms of pre-judgment, bring us to the task to-hand, all such considerations are put out of action in our desire to merely discern the characteristic structure and function of that under investigation. Our prejudices, as pre-judgments, are 'put out of action' in the suspension by being entertained in the form of a balance by being paired with their opposing co-relative contrasts. Such investigations being 'transcendental' in nature by virtue of the fact that they are purified of all prejudices dealing with all other matters other than those considerations of an essential nature which, in turn, are also subjected to such transcendental bracketing through a pairing with their co-relative contrasts; the whole descriptive process being tentatively proposed on an ongoing provisional basis until such a time our interpretative process realises a sense of resolution or conclusion, productive or otherwise. 
	In this process of suspension the determination of essential characteristics, in the form of a reduction, is, more or less, the enumeration of those relational aspects of the phenomenal experience that, in general terms of reference, describe the distinctive nature of that 'type' of phenomenon. In effect this process also realizes a sense of location for our investigations in a 'semantic tree' grounded in our human constitution as 'an embodied person within this overall world of life' which in the process subjectively and intersubjectively maps that under investigation through a hierarchical contextualization of its context of presentation. In effect this realizes a simulated reconstitution of that phenomenon in its context of presentation that, ideally, in order to promote its existential spontaneity, should be in a state of balance with the metaphorical 'weight' of its simultaneous reduction. 
	In more simple terms we might say - in our investigations prejudices are purified by putting out of action all types of judgement other those of an essentially descriptive nature, and, that in turn, those descriptions are balanced with their contrasting co-relative opposites.

	The next point I would like to make is that in order to investigate a certain situation the material-to-hand needs to be frozen or fixed, metaphorically, and literally, in the form of a 'text.' Without this degree of retention our subject matter could not persist long enough for us to successfully examine it. It is necessary to iterate, and periodically re-iterate, the apparent textualization of this phenomenon under examination in order to be able to examine or re-examine it and therefore necessitates the entracement of its simulation in experience. This constructive process of entextualization occurs simultaneously in experience and in its memorization, and, which through ongoing re-construction allows itself to be apparently 'fixed' within the streams of experience, and, which in some later point in time, we must assume by similar methods, is re-constructed in our retrospective examination of those previous acts of perception and its memorization. Such a process being assisted in and through the use of language, or similar,  in the formulation and thematization of concepts, etc. The process of entextualization spilling over into a parallel multi-textualization of the world that at an inter-subjective level forms the appearance of an 'inscriptive textual event' and the temporal and spatial persistence of its 'textual deposition' be that a shopping list or a literary text, a painting or a sculpture, a photo or footprints in the sand, apparently intended manipulations of the face or changes in brain chemistry that under normal circumstances cannot be directly recognized, etc.

	As this (en)textualization of experience is a necessary condition for the very act of its appreciation to take place it follows that a phenomenological examination is also a hermeneutical task, i.e., a procedure that necessitates our interpretation of that to hand. However, although given this latitude in our re-definition of this term 'text,' in this paper let me again restrict and return the meaning, or sense, of this term 'text'  'to that of a literal nature,' namely, moreover, those texts that are relatively 'literary' and those which appear to have been considerably structured by postmodern influences. Furthermore, for the sake of economy and convenience let me declare episodes from the television series of  The Simpson's, in general, as an ideal text for examination. As the temporal limits of this paper stop me from demonstrating an actual process of phenomenological appreciation let me instead summarize what I believe are some of the essential characteristics of this type of text that would allow me to declare that this type of text is indeed representative of a literary text heavily influenced by postmodernist tendencies.

	In my opinion this television show not only presents a typical postmodernistically influenced text but also typifies what would be, in my estimation, an example of 'good postmodernism.' By that I basically mean the incorporation of postmodern oriented practices that invest the narrative structure of that text with a richness that, by degree, marks it out as one that has been productively enriched by postmodernist techniques and aspirations.  That, in contrast, a so called 'bad postmodern' text is one in which postmodern influences destroy the narrative nature of a text without the productive replacement of such a fundamental textual basis within the document of that text.

	I will, for convenience, assume that we are all well acquainted with this television show. Instead of discussing these cartoon characters and the types of situations they find themselves entering into let me summarize what aspects of the overall program, that in my opinion, demonstrate its relatively postmodern flavour (as distinct from earlier cartoons series like Donald Duck, Tintin, The Flintstones, etc.).
	In this light I would like to note the following four key characteristics that identify this type of text as relatively postmodern in orientation and influence, namely:

		1.	A relatively exaggerated sense of self-reflexivity on a textual level.
		2.	Increased invocation of other genres overall and in passing.
		3.	Increased use of non-relevant subtexts from the textual viewpoint. 
		4.	Exhibition of deconstructive tendencies from tensions in the text.

	This list is not exhaustive. For practical purposes I would like to quickly bring to your attention in what way a postmodernistically influenced text can differ from a text that is relatively modern in complexion, and, in the process demonstrate how the former type of text is more meta-textually oriented. But this aspect of the 'meta-textual' will be discussed in our next module. At this point in time let me discuss this list giving illustrations of just these types of features at work (and therein giving us a pre-emptive introduction to the necessity of a meta-textual dimension within our overall textual experience).

	A relatively exaggerated sense of self-reflexivity enters into the text. E.g., in one episode Homer actually tells us on two occasions that there is still some time left before that particular episode should actually end. 
	In some episodes the overall theme of the program is an apparent awareness of the media and its influence, for good and bad, in the culture of the United States of America. E.g., in one episode we have cartoon characters discussing violence in the media with a violent cartoon show within this episode to further reinforce this self-reflexive observation. In effect, cartoon characters discussing violence in cartoons themselves.
	In another episode we have one cartoon character telling another that they are not like a one dimensional cartoon character when one of them gets their self pictured in a portrait that upsets them, etc.
	This sense of textual self-reflexivity is quite different from that of an author commenting (meta-textually) on their characters within a novel, etc. This reflexivity is expressed on a textual level by those characters themselves (or by the text itself at the level of that text).
	In the same vein I would like to mention that I saw a movie, recently, called Conspiracy Theory, where the hero actually apologizes for each instance of self-defensive violence. In this instance it is as if the character in the film is aware of the increasing political incorrectness of violence in action movies and in response apologizes to the audience for the commission of each instance of such an act.

	This type of text also shows an increased incidence of invocation of other texts and genres both overall and/or on a passing level within sections of the text (sometimes with a radical shift in its sense of genre creating new genre forms, or hybrids). 
	E.g., inserts within particular episodes that obviously invoke other texts, e.g., musicals, classic Walt Disney productions, etc. 
	E.g., whole episodes that invoke various literary forms, e.g., the detective genre, the gothic novel, science fiction, etc.

	Not only genres and other texts are invoked but also various subtextual themes. The incorporation of non-relevant subtextual textual-inserts in many ways reminds me of Mad Comics where small, micro-cartoons can be found drawn down the sides of the pages. In a similar fashion little comments, often of a satirical nature with a political message or a politically correct message or a non-politically correct comment on the same, are inserted into the text without actual relevance to the thematic course of that text itself. The skilful incorporation of such inserts actually enriching the text and not in the process disestablishing its unfolding despite the irrelevance to the course of that text itself. In this context we find subversive street signs and other similar instances of  signage; little jokes; passing references to various controversies, forms of political incorrectness; satirical comments on institutions, aspects of religion, race relations, etc.

	The overall pressure of these relatively unorthodox and diverse quotations and inclusions in the text is a tendency for that text to deconstruct in a direction that reinforces the real point of the text which in the process often radically re-qualifies the traditional thrust of the current genre adopted. 
	E.g., at the end of one episode one of the characters notes that perhaps there is no moral that can be made from the examination of that sequence of events. Another character then states that perhaps that the moral to be drawn is that there is none; a self-reflexive insight often quite at odds with the nature of the genre adopted in that episode that hints strongly that a moral is to be drawn, should be drawn, etc.
	In another episode where the grandfather helps the kids gang up on the street bullies, Bart, at the end of this episode, tells the kids that warfare is a horrible thing and that it is best avoided. Then he qualifies this observation with the comment that there have only been three good wars, namely, the War of American Independence, the Second World War and the Star Wars Trilogy... in effect commenting on this episode with a politically correct message that is then allowed to deconstruct through humour. I.e., under pressure from the interaction of the various strands of the text the apparent conclusiveness of the text (at the visible points of this tension) is allowed to deliberately de-construct itself in a manner that adds to the richness of that text (whereas this same type of procedure conducted in such an overt fashion in a modern text would more than likely not only disestablish this facet of invested richness but also the overall integrity of that text, not that such features are absolutely absent from those texts that one might consider as essentially modern). 

	By 'deconstruction' is here meant the determination of a polarity with the recognition of a privileging of one aspect of that contrast which is then set up in such a manner so as to find some form of a de-privileging of that polarization. In the above example, on this subject of warfare, the conclusiveness of the conclusion is de-privileged which in the process re-writes a new conclusion of some form or other. (The privileging of an aspect of a polarity is primarily a meta-textual preoccupation, a re-ordering of that prioritization occurring when the nature of the relationship between the textual and the meta-textual is rewritten, finds itself being rewritten).
	
	Given the validity of the results of this (transcendental) phenomenological investigation as outlined it follows that the phenomenon of the postmodern text, as a literary text influenced by postmodern tendencies, is indeed a distinctive cultural phenomenon. In the next module, of the hermeneutical, I would like to show that these postmodern tendencies, in the main, are aspects that emphasise the relatively meta-textual component present in the overall constitution necessarily involved in the textualization of experience.

II.	Second Module: The Hermeneutical Treatment Of  Texts

	In the reception of a text, be it a classical text (such as a novel, a letter, a shopping list, a telephone directory, etc.) or a non-classical text (such as a painting, a photo, a building, paths through the forest, etc.) it is obvious that we are presented with the physical presence of a text. What we may not be aware of is the necessary presence of the meta-textual dimension(s) of that text. A novel, e.g., is a novel by virtue of its invocation of the genre of a novel. Without a recognition of the 'form' of that text, i.e., its apparently intended genre, that text cannot be recognized and therein read as an instance of that genre, namely, the novel. Moreover, in a deeper meta-textual level, without some form of appreciation of this text as a 'written text,' something intentionally composed and written in a language, we would in turn fail to recognize, and therein read, this text as a text on this deeper level of experiential engagement. Hence the meta-textual dimension both informs the production of a text, and, in turn, our re-productive reading of that text informing us as to just what sort of text that text actually appears to be. Moreover, any other textual features that assist us in our reading of the text on this level of the meta-textual can also be considered as meta-textually oriented, e.g., titles; conclusions; definitions; the shape and context of a text; inter-textual comments on the text inserted by its author or authors, editors, translators, interpreters, etc. 

	Now such features have the paradoxical nature of informing us about the text while being at the same time features of that very text itself. E.g., a title tells us about that which the title entitles. Being 'about that text' it cannot be 'textual per se,' on the other hand, being obviously in the presence of the text itself it must also be textual in its having been entextualized. In a sense the relatively meta-textual being more about the text must to some degree also mis-represent that text! The nature of this (mis-representative) tension between text and meta-text, and the manner of its ongoing resolution, contributing, in our appreciation of that text, to the richness of our experience experienced in our reading of that text. 

	As already indicated this emphasis on the relatively meta-textual is, in the main, one of the key features of those texts that appear to be influenced by postmodernistic practices. Along with such an orientation we quite naturally find an emphasis placed upon titles, the 'sense' of definitions, margins to a text, an interest in genres, the significance of meta-textual insertions, deconstructive tensions between the text and various meta-textual levels associated with its apparent sense of genre, its links with other texts, etc.  
	An increased sense of irony is also often in evidence in so far as the increased emphasis placed upon the meta-textual in its discussion of the textual must also mis-represent it: being 'about' the text and not quite 'of' the text proper a certain distance opens up that perpetually threatens the totality of that text when treated as a mere text, etc.

	Recognizing this meta-textual emphasis placed upon a postmodernistically influenced text we should also be aware of the danger of a text that tries to be purely meta-textual in complexion when the meta-textual dimension by its very nature is to form, inform and comment on the textual content of the text itself. This apparent destruction of the text and its direct and/or indirect narrative qualities of its 'telling us something within that text' leaves us and it in an impossible situation as a text must, in the first place, be present for the meta-textual to comment upon, and, that such a necessary dimension in textuality must also persist throughout our textual engagement with that text. And it is from a destructive and a non-reconstructive treatment in the production and re-production of texts that Postmodernism overall has gained such an odious, ill-deserved reputation. On the other hand, Modernism in those forms blind to the very presence of the meta-textual dimension, along with an insistence on absolutist readings of mere textuality, equally do an injustice to this phenomenon of textual engagement. 

	In this module in our examining the (meta-textual) hermeneutic dimension in textual engagement let me briefly make the following points:

1.	That the meaning and meaningfulness of a text is realised both productively and re-productively through its repetition, through its iteration and re-iteration, through its readings and re-readings, etc.

2.	That the nature of the iterative phenomenon as a meaning-full and meaningful experience necessitates the relationship and interaction between different types of  iteration and iterative stability. For convenience, and in the form of a mnemonic, let me note three type of repetition, namely:

	1.	Forms of 'mere' repetition with little alteration in content and/or  process,
	2.	Forms of  'sheer' repetition with some degree of variety, and,
	3.	Forms of 'bare' repetition wherein intended points of meaning and 				meaningfulness within a text are reinforced through re-iteration.

3.	Now note that the iteration of these types of iteration establishes the following aspects in the overall phenomenon of  textual engagement, namely:

	1.	That the iteration of mere repetition establishes a sense of consonant 			textual 	background, or genre, in essence the dimension of the 
									meta-textual,
	2.	That the iteration of sheer repetitive-variety establishes the sense of the 			dissonant uniqueness of that text, in essence the dimension of the 				textual, and,
3.	That the relationship and harmonic interaction between these two aspects of the textual and the meta-textual establishes the spontaneity of the existential (sense of the 'non-textual') reading of that text and that the repetition of the bare form of such points registered within a text reinforces the point of those relatively more important features of that text.

4.	That as a consequence the meaning and meaningfulness of a text can be realized through a re-iteration of that text, while a recognition of the repetition of its bare structures and functions can reinforce a sense of the self-verifying validity and value of our reading of that text. (The essential points of a text, metaphorically its 'bare bones,' being set up and developed through a harmonious resolution of the interaction between consonant forms of 'mere' iteration and dissonant forms of  'sheer' iteration. The repetition of the bare outline of such structural-functions reinforcing those apparent points that the text wishes to stress. That, usually, the important points of a text will find themselves being repeated!).

5	Moreover, in our reading of a text more hermeneutic interest and value must be released and realized in our reading of that text than that actually invested in that process of reading in order to be able to state that that text has been read and that meaning has not merely been read into it.

6.	That when this degree of hermeneutic investment realized is not much greater than the hermeneutic capital actually being invested in that reading then that hermeneutic appreciation of that text would, under normal circumstances, come to an end.

	To illustrate the practical nature of these hermeneutic observations let me briefly interpret the following haiku:

			In conversation:
			Beside the pond drinking tea
			With the mosquitoes.

	Conformity with three lines of five, seven and five syllables respectively suggests the genre is probably a haiku. 'Mosquitoes' can be seen as an indirect allusion to the season of summer? This traditional requirement of an allusion to season reinforcing this meta-textual appreciation of this poem-like structure as a haiku.
	The first line acts like a title. Like all meta-textual features it mis-represents the text. It would appear the poet is by themselves and therefore could not be 'in conversation.' 
	From first appearances the poet is alone and at peace with the world drinking a cup of tea. But many tensions appear in a deeper reading. 
	As a 'bare' structure that is repetitively reinforced notice the iteration of fluids and by implication the coincidence and juxtaposition of colours of those fluids. In our imagination we might imagine the pond as green in colour. In a similar fashion we might visualise the tea as green in colour also. The poet is drinking tea, the mosquitoes would be drinking from the pond too. But more likely the mosquitoes would be drinking the poet's red blood! You could imagine the poet cursing these visitors as they buzz around the face of this poor unfortunate person. Alas, this is not a picture of tranquillity! And indeed the poet is truly in a conversation, of a sort, after all.
	An understanding of the misrepresentation instituted by that title in effect re-writing our reading of the first line of that poem...

	In our next module dealing with the semiotic these three types of iteration will be looked at more closely.

III.	Third Module: The Semiotic Treatment Of Texts

	When we talk about 'perceiving the world' we use a language, a system of signs. When we talk about 'our talking about the world' we still use a language, a system of signs. In a similar fashion when we perceive 'the world' we utilize a system of signs, in essence a language of discriminations and contrasts, relationships manipulated in our re-construction of the world whose richness of appreciation is dependent upon a vocabulary of already pre-determined entities and states, etc. Our perception of the world therefore is textualized like any other language, and, to that extent, like any particular language is constructed. 

	In a language relatively invariant components are re-arranged to form meaningful sentences. Those relatively invariant components, e.g., letters/words, are also essentially arbitrary. Moreover, the meaning simulated from such bits and pieces cannot be reduced to such components. Nor for that matter can each one of these languages, language games, be treated as absolutely distinctive entities in their own right. Only as systems within systems is the semblance of significance finally generated through the network and hierarchy of interrelationships that flow from the relatively lawful interaction of such manipulated units and systems.

	Seeing the meaning and meaningfulness of the world generated in this manner forces us to perceive the world as a complex, open ended, multi-dimensional text whose appreciation is constructed, constructed as a simulation. As a simulation that through re-simulation preserves the integrity of that text through retention. As a simulation that simulates 'a simulation' and not as a simulation that simulates 'that which is itself not a simulation.' Ongoing re-simulation in the process giving us an increasing 'depth' of detail until such a time that our investment of attention ceases to release further interest from the additional expenditure of such capital.

	This concept of simulation is not to be seen as the 'appearance presented by an unseeable substance.' This version of realism is patently untenable. Nor should this concept be treated in the opposite fashion whereby the 'world as a simulation is merely treated as the constructed fabrication of a creative mind.' Equally, this version of idealism is also untenable. With the dismissal of an 'outer world' and the equal dismissal of an 'inner world' what one is left with is the intersubjective-subjectivity of the lifeworld, that world-of-life as seen from one's own personal point of view, a world-of-life shared by others and other things with their own distinctive points of view.

	Taking to heart this picture of the world as a simulated-simulation, let us investigate how a cultural text in general is read in order to reinforce the observations noted in our hermeneutical module concerning the nature of the iterative process. In the following thought experiment let us imagine that we are walking along a street past the premises of a place that sells convenience food which will not be named.

	It's night-time. Looking inside the shop we find it's very well lit, its practically daylight in there. Above the door it tells you that the shop is open 24 hours a day. Indeed there is no obvious door, only a perpetually open doorway. On one of the windows it tells you the food is baked on the premises, on another the food is just like home made cooking. On all the other windows in neon similar messages are signaled to the world. You would have to be semiotically blind not to realize that all these message more or less reinforce the message anyone of those signs is telling you, namely, "fast food for sale." Of course they may say the food is just like that 'made at home' but these premises certainly don't look very homely, rather more like the concourse of some very busy railway station. 
	Here, in this thought experiment, the bare message is iterated so many times that making a mistake about the nature of these premises is considerably reduced. In a similar fashion our passage through the world is guided by an abundance of iterated message-complexes. This process of reinforcement of bare structural-functions also takes place in a literary text (although to a lesser extent) just as, e.g., in our reading of the haiku in the previous module we found an iteration of parallel structures involving liquids, drinking, conversation, etc., along with the presence in a literary text of their juxtaposition as well. 	Genre expectation being reinforced through forms of mere iteration and the distinctive nature of a text being presented through the unique iteration of its forms of sheer repetition, more prominent forms of textual dissonance taking place through a juxtaposition of prominent material, privileging of polar contrasts, novelty, provocative structures, etc.
	
	Now, the nature of the relationship between aspects of mere iteration and sheer iteration establishes, through resolution, and repeated processes of bare repetition, a semblance of a text that is being read. These two aspects in orientation forming the dimensions of the meta-textual and the textual respectively. In the well-formed text and in its appropriately being read these two orientations in our textual engagement act like a lock and key which, through a mutual harmonization, metaphorically opens that text, renders the text relatively transparent. In a sense when the meta-textual mirrors the textual, and vice versa, that text opens itself up to our being able to read it. To that degree that these two aspects of textual experience find a resolution in our reading of that text that text ceases to offer a semblance of a resistance to our engagement with the mere physically of its textualization. Not that a text can metaphorically be treated as absolutely transparent, nor, for that matter can a text through a meta-textual recognition of that text as a 'text' be treated as absolutely opaque.

	In the apparent reading of a text the nature of this relationship between the text and the meta-text is experienced as an existential experience. In the next module in this paper let me look more closely at this existential dimension involved in the reading of a text.

IV.	Fourth Module: The Existential Treatment Of Texts

	The meta-text in a well-formed text when read appropriately is found to mirror the text and vice versa. The harmony of this parallel cooperation being further reinforced through processes of bare repetition that through such re-iteration give an added weight in our reading to those points of meaning and meaningfulness so set up, apparently, to be read as such within that text. 
	The nature of this relationship between meta-text and text is experienced as an existential experience, i.e., as one that is rich, enriched, enriching; spontaneous, as seemingly situated in a sense of the ongoing-present; as powerful, as able to overcome the resistance of a text and enter into the simulation of the presence of that text; simulating a sense of presence that can transcend historical differences in time and space and the boundaries between one culture and another. Moreover, this existential experience of the text is also experienced in a sense of the 'non-text.' That in the productive reading of a text our self as a reader, the material presence of the text, and, the simulated semblance of an author, or authors, seems as if to melt away in the relative transparency engaged in the very center of this overall relationship. Furthermore, when the right balance is entertained and maintained between these three aspects involved in  textual engagement an authenticity in the life of the reader is allowed to manifest itself along with an authenticity in our readings of these texts so engaged. An authenticity that authorizes the directly simulated-simulation of our relationship with that text in all the relevant richness of its existential engagement!

	This aspect of textual engagement I call 'non-textual' because when we find ourselves absorbed in the reading of a text it is as if the material resistance of the text has completely disappeared more or less. Moreover, we also find ourselves forgetting that we are actually involved in the reading of that text. However, when we re-remember, or become aware, in conceptual, ego-bound terms of reference, that we are actually engaged in the reading of that text it is then, as if at that moment, that our reading becomes existentially dis-engaged from a reading of that text. Let me demonstrate through the following arguments this existential aspect involved in the phenomenon of textual engagement.

	If I was to ask some one who has read many novels if they had read a novel sometime in the past? they would normally answer instantly that, "yes, that has been the case." Such a response appears to have been made almost spontaneously. As if without a trace of calculation.
	If next I was to ask if they enjoyed the last novel they read? again the answer would probably issue forth as if spontaneously. As if without a trace of calculation.
	Did they have to calculate whether they enjoyed the first paragraph, the first page, the first chapter, etc. The answer would be no! 
	Of course it might be argued that the person merely remembered whether they enjoyed the reading of that novel or not. That in mere recollection calculation would not be necessary. But then, in reply, we can direct exactly the same question at this process of how they came to understand, in that act of reading, whether they enjoyed reading that novel in the first place.
	What I believe is demonstrated here is that the act of judgment (as the 'judgment being made' and not 'the judgment delivered in an act of judgment') is essentially spontaneous and non-calculative in nature. That in the same manner our textual engagement is experienced in and through this sense of the non-textual; this existential experience being born(e) in the spontaneity of the ongoing present, seemingly an aspect of play and playfulness met at the very center of our relationships and the reading of those relationships. Preparation for reading may be laborious but in the successful act of reading it is as if this burden is suddenly given up_
	
	And this brings me to an implicit criticism of  postmodern philosophy that is rooted in, and only in, an overwhelming sense of the meta-textual. The creative 'playfulness' of  the artful text, the productive creativity of the philosopher, the hermeneut (or hermeneutist), the semiotician, the existentialist, etc., must truly revolve around this dimension of the non-textual and not that of the meta-textual or textual. Moreover, this aspect of the existential resurrects and resuscitates both the author (or authors) and the reader (and all other readers) in the virtual space of the text, simulates in this one, open-ended world-of-life the simulation of an encounter with that 'author' by that 'reader' that is not restricted by history or geography, that is not restricted by culture or language when the original language is adequately translated (either within that same language or some other).

V.	Conclusion

	In conclusion I would like to return to the title of this paper in order to explicate what I perceive are a series of criticism that can be leveled at certain formulations of postmodernism.

	The expression "after postmodernism" can have at least three meanings, namely,

	1	'after' as following in the footsteps of, being  in admiration of...
	2.	'after' as chasing after the culprit, the object of a posse...
	3.	'after' as that next philosophical fashion that will follow...

1.	In this first sense I have tried to show how some of the features of this postmodern fashion have had a beneficial effect upon the formation of  literary texts, criticisms of a dogmatic modernism, etc. Moreover, I  have tried to show that a 'good postmodernism' can be accounted for when meta-textual facets of the text positively invest the functioning of the narrative character of that text, and that the evaluation 'good' can be measured in terms of the creative productivity of that investment and in terms of the consequences that investment can have, in turn, on the productive activity of the reader themselves...
2.	In the second sense I have alluded to the nature and consequences of what occurs when a relatively 'bad' variant of postmodernism is let loose on the cultural stage. Such a text criticising textuality in a destructive and non-reconstructive manner without a cognisance of the fact that meta-textuality is as dependent upon textuality as textuality is dependent upon meta-textuality, and, for that matter, as both of these facets are equally dependent upon a non-textuality, and vice versa. That, indeed, both modernism and postmodernism have overlooked this aspect of the non-textual!
3.	In the last sense of 'after' I intimate a desire to know what the next philosophical fashion might have as its central interests. In this regard we might see a return to the textual and a 'turning' to the non-textual spheres of influence as balancing this excessive interest in the meta-textual centering of the postmodern. This that this 'turning' towards the non-textual, in my estimation, would entail a recognition of the existential, non-textual aspects of textuality, a qualified recognition of the 'author' and the 'reader' and that a virtual relationship can be simulated between the same, that cultural worlds need not be incommensurable, a recognition of the need for a sense of play or creativity to be centered in the productive formation and re-productive interpretation of texts along with a discernment of interrelated, parallel forms of resolution of relatively more prominent deconstructive strands disrupting that text and then forming viable subtexts supplementary to that text, etc, etc...

	The expression "the suspect wanted for questioning" can have the following meanings, namely,

	1.	That the 'suspect,' to be determined in the light of our three readings of the 		word 'after,' should be interrogated to determine what sins have been 			committed and what merits might also be entailed in such positions...
2.	That these various 'suspects' be merely questioned to determine the presence and nature of those facets presented and re-presented through forms of cultural selection and deposition_

1.	As already explained a 'bad postmodernism' can be read as that which results from an excessive interest in the meta-textual at the expense of the textual and the non-textual spheres of influence, etc.
2.	In the second sense the distinctive nature of the postmodern(istically influenced text) has been outlined as essentially meta-textual in orientation and aspiration (along with other aspects that should take into account textual and non-textual features), etc.

	In the last section of my title by the expression "a neo-modernist critique?" I would prefer to have found a better epithet that would have also captured this return to a more balanced way of seeing the nature of textual engagement, and by extension, a deeper appreciation of the polarities of the textual, meta-textual and the non-textual. In the process helping to re-establish some of the traditional themes of philosophy and religion, albeit in the non-dogmatic light called for in this critical exposition as outlined. My use of the question mark alerting the reader to the need for an ongoing transcendental suspension (reduction and reconstitution) in their phenomenological, hermeneutic, semiotic and/or existential researches.

	If this style of analysis has merit then we might be right in believing that philosophical and literary fashions are indeed like recurrent waves upon a beach. That from time to time various facets of this complex phenomenon of textual engagement find themselves being stressed or de-emphasized, noticed or overlooked, explicated or implicated, and, that, in the fullness of time, these peaks and troughs move on to find a return to a semblance of balance upon this beach of the lifeworld, giving this landscape in the ongoing course of history a greater degree of depth and definition that in turn finds itself reflected in the 'individuality' deposited in the texts of our latest literary production (and re-production)...

	Thanking you for persevering with this course on "The Textual Appreciation Of Postmodern Culture" in four modules (complete with an introduction and conclusion). You will find enclosed a certificate that recognizes your completion of this course and which now gives you permission to practice as a phenomenologist, hermeneut(ist), semiotician and/or existentialist.

								          Noël Tointon, 3.10.97.