Metamodernism: A New Aesthetic Narrative Beyond Postmodernism

Abstract

This paper examines metamodernism as a new aesthetic narrative that arises beyond postmodernism, while still drawing upon the legacies of both modernism and postmodernism. The discussion opens with a brief philosophical prelude on God, man, and the universe, not as a central argument but as a contextual backdrop for understanding shifts in intellectual thought. The core of the paper situates metamodernism as an oscillatory sensibility that balances sincerity and irony, belief and doubt, detachment and commitment. In contrast to the skepticism of postmodernism and the certainty of modernism, metamodernism is shown to recover meaning, emotional depth, and human interiority without abandoning critical self-awareness. The paper also critiques the unreflective imitation of Western critical paradigms in Urdu criticism, emphasizing instead the importance of situating literary theories within their socio-cultural environments. Ultimately, it argues that metamodernism, at its current stage, should be engaged with as a theoretical framework rather than an applied literary practice.