This is not to say, however, that the revisionists do not have a replacement
metanarrative of their own.
But I remain unconvinced that the thought of Israel as still in exile formed the principal
metanarrative governing either the thought of the time or Jesus' understanding of his own ministry.
Maso's
metanarrative critique of society raises stunning questions about war, fathers, media (televised execution?), and children's songs to name a few.
Moreover, his archaeological "salvage work" and the persuasive
metanarrative that frames it also rebutts the oversimplifications that abounded in the H.
Before opening Brown's tome my knowledge of post-modernism was largely confined to simple unreferenced definitions like "Post-modernism is the rejection of the
metanarrative" and question-and-answer couplets like, Q: "What is postmodernism?
For example, the neglected novel Eumeswil (1977) provides the focal point for Renner's essay on Junger's 'post-modernism' which, he argues, is not simply a matter of Lyotardian rejection of
metanarrative, but also of a complex example of intertextual writing.
Its subject matter is at the same time the story of Harjo's people, the poet's personal story, and the human
metanarrative; it is life and the lessons we each must learn and pass on to future generations.
He describes the paradox of witnessing, witnessing beyond the Christian
metanarrative hermeneutics, the Christian background of witnessing "beyond," the historical background to witnessing "beyond," Christ as the core of the idea, the examples of the Apostles in witnessing "beyond," the true power of prayer and of the Eucharist, the socio-theolgical dimension of the Eucharist, social organizations and their work, and grasping the concept of witnessing "beyond."
(I once described her as Agnes Martin with an ax to grind.) The
metanarrative of her oeuvre is the plucky, independent woman: the single mom surviving on minimum wage, welfare, or alimony and still yearning (perhaps) for her big lug, either divorced or gone off to a Roy Lichtenstein world of macho warfare--to Korea-Vietnam-Kuwait -Iraq-Afghanistan-"On Terror" conflicts colorized by the cinematic duplicity and gung-ho of the Greatest Generation.