Lyotard and the End of Grand Narratives

Lyotard shook the cultural world in the late-twentieth century by announcing postmodernism and the end of grand narratives. He captured a feeling of unease about the standpoint of great modern thinkers who claimed to have resolved the big problems of epistemology, society and history. Now, after the first quarter of the twenty-first century, it is apposite to review Lyotard’s observations, which always contained more than soundbites about the end of modernity – just as there is more to Hegel and Marx than the passing of modernist certainties – and this book reviews the whole of Lyotard’s work, adopting a critical attitude to his thinking. It similarly resists taking the thought of Hegel, Marx and other grand theorists for granted, considering them appropriately to arrive at a critical reframing of modern thought in the light of Lyotard’s postmodern perspective.

' ... Browning presents accessible accounts of both Lyotard's positions and the critical responses they engendered that are not unduly burdened by jargon ... Lyotard's originality and ingenuity is fully and critically appreciated by Gary Browning, who maintains a stance of sympathetic but critical detachment throughout this study. His reservations are clearly expounded and justified, and the book as a whole offers an integrated and persuasive account of how Lyotard's repudiation of generalising explanatory approaches was itself inflected by that mode of thought, but is also attentive to the significance of his contributions to the development of theorising after structuralism.' (Poststructualism and Radical Politics Newsletter) 'Those...who are looking for a clear and somewhat detached reconstruction of the strong critical and agonistic aspects of Lyotard's (political) philosophy, will surely like this beautiful and well presented book.' Tijdschrift voor filosofie