Period labels like Postmodernism mainly serve present-day purposes rather than describing the past.

Evidence

No wonder that Kermode calls Postmodernism ‘another of those period descriptions that help you to take a view of the past suitable to whatever it is you want to do.’ — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 125

Categorization

• DEFINE: Kermode’s one-line demolition of what a period description does — directly relevant to contesting Jameson’s periodizing of postmodernism.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: does this period-description critique apply equally to Callinicos’s own ‘classical Marxism’ framing, or is that category differently grounded?
• SHARE: Send to whoever is wrestling with defining eras via contrived period labels.