Pastiche, blank parody without satiric impulse, is the postmodern signature device.

Evidence

Pastiche was a ‘blank parody’, without satiric impulse, of the styles of the past. Spreading from architecture to film, painting to rock-music, it had become the most standardized signature of the postmodern, across every art. But it might be argued that fiction was now the domain of pastiche par excellence. For here mimicry of the defunct, unhampered by building codes or box office constraints, could shuffle not only styles but also periods themselves at will — revolving and splicing ‘artificial’ pasts, blending the documentary and fantastic, proliferating anachronisms, in a massive revival of — what must perforce still be termed — the historical novel. — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 161

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Jameson’s central concept of pastiche as ‘blank parody’ and traces it to Adorno’s critique of Stravinsky.
• XREF: Connects to Jameson’s foundational postmodernism debate; also echoes this reader’s Addisonian ‘periodization disputes’ focus — pastiche is the clearest period marker. — connects to: Pastiche emerges from the loss of individual style and must be distinguished from parody. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 74; Postmodernism functions for Jameson as a cultural dominant marked by depthless pastiche. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 484

Broader Connections

• Pastiche emerges from the loss of individual style and must be distinguished from parody. #expands (0.95) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 74
• Postmodernism functions for Jameson as a cultural dominant marked by depthless pastiche. #corroborates (0.95) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 484