Fredric Jameson, Marxist Theorist Who Defined Postmodernism, Dies at 90

Fredric Jameson, a prominent Marxist literary theorist, passed away on Sunday at the age of 90. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1934 and obtained his PhD on Jean-Paul Sartre from Yale in 1959. From 1985, he served as a professor at Duke University. His 1984 essay, later expanded into the 1991 book 'Postmodernism: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,' examined the Westin Bonaventure Hotel as a symbol of postmodern architecture and linked it to US military technology in Vietnam, reflecting on capitalism's unseen totality. In his 1981 work 'The Political Unconscious,' he posited that texts are 'always-already-read.' Jameson also introduced 'cognitive mapping,' referencing the League of Black Revolutionary Workers, and analyzed numerous cultural artifacts, asserting that art reveals societal frameworks. He released several books in his final year.