"Transcendence" in Post-Postmodern Literature

Transcendence has emerged as a buzz word of Post-postmodernism, although it, like PPM itself is still vague and in contested formation. Foucault demonstrated the significance of power in the arts, and of identifying power interests, collusion, and subversion in the critical enterprise. Working back in history, away from ergodic online PPM back to 20th century English in East Africa in particular, but also using examples from Canadian native writing and other interest groups, the lack of transcendence shown by writers who either chose sides or blurred the parameters in order to make ineffective and procrastinating neutrality seem viable and positive is explored. New Knowledge, I argue, depends on rising above known conflicts to innovate resolutions. Retroactively examining how literature of the past could be trapped in constituent voices instead of attempting to transcend them will illuminate similar traps in the present, both in literature and in critical theory, pulling readers into a more ontologically aware kind of reading.