What is Postmodernism, Anyway?

Many papers that set out to define a concept introduce a simplified thesis at the beginning which is highly likely to be followed by the author's attempt to elaborate by presenting a multitude of examples that seem to support the main point. A difficulty arises when the given concept is one that cannot be summarized in one succinct sentence. When postmodernism itself is the subject of a paper, it seems only appropriate that the paper be composed in a "postmodern" sort of mindset, without claiming to lump all the ideas that constitute this broad way of experiencing the world into one neat little package. According to postmodern though, that package would possess different contents for each person who opened it. It would possibly even carry different concepts for the same person opening at different points in time, or within different contexts. It would be quite difficult to write a paper entitled, "What is Postmodernism?" due to the fact that there could be no full, concrete answer to that question. According to one author, "Postmodernism is best understood not as a rigid concept or a coherent ideological stance but as a bundle of shared impulses and tendencies amounting to a kind of common spirit... postmodernism is an attitude, and that attitude is definitively ironic" (Lehman, 5). Instead of attempting to define the un-definable, this paper will attempt to relay how an understanding of postmodernism can influence one's personal perception of not only literature, but aspects of life and culture as well.