translation studies. retrospective and prospective views

aesthetic”) or even the other terms related to the previous period (“late
modernity”), one thing was definitely accepted – postmodernism exists as a
clearly defined period or condition and one of the new questions that arose
even in Bradbury’s mind was: “How long is it here to stay?”. Some, among
which the writer-critic that is our subject of inquiry, have already declared
its extinction and, while having already identified the new traits of the new
period, are simply looking for a new term to describe of what is to be postpostmodernism.
2. PREmodernism/ MOdernism/ POSTmodernism or PrePOSTterous?
106
Motto:
Son, whenever faced with two extremes,
Always pick a third.
(Jencks, 2007)
Mere etymology places modern within the sphere of immediacy.
According to Raymond Williams (1983: 208-209), it derives from the Latin
root modo meaning “just now”. Modern was regarded in opposition with
ancient, or medieval, describing at first a new type of architecture, spelling
and language, or fashion in dress and behaviour. Unfavourably regarded at
first, the term came to be appreciated positively only in the twentieth
century when it “became virtually equivalent with improved” (1983: 208-
209) experimental art and writing. This does not mean, however, that any
newly arisen movement is also modern. As Thomas Docherty states,
to be ‘modern’ implies a particular self-consciousness, a consciousness
of one’s difference from the immediate historical locale and an
alignment elsewhere or with another time than the present. (1996: 2)
Such was the case of the artistic experimentations of the twentieth century
but also of particular moments of the Renaissance and of the
Enlightenment as they brought about some kind of revaluation of classical
models, modes and values. This is, for instance, the exact type of behaviour
manifested by Diderot as Bradbury imagines him in To the Hermitage where
he appears encouraging Russia’s reform, modernisation, progress and
invention in his dialogue with Catherine the Great of Russia (2001: 291) for,
after all, “ours is the age that made the difference.” (2001: 480)
Historically speaking, modernism was launched as an urban
phenomenon and a reaction to the new conditions of production (the
machine, the factory, the expansion of the city), transportation,
communication and consumption, to the new political views or to the
articulation of new needs. This contributed to the shaping up of a new