Unity and Closure - A Performatist Reading of Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Sep 22, 2026

Uploaded by Adam

The current research paper explores and analyzes Performatism through its key features in the contemporary American novel Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. It situates the study within contemporary debates that postmodernism is dying or already dead, and new frameworks such as metamodernism, remodernism, digimodernism, hypermodernism, performatism, and post-postmodernism are replacing it. Performatism is presented as a systematic theory for charting cultural shifts and achieving closure, especially via monism, double framing, opaque subjectivity, and theism.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Literature Review

Research Approach and Analysis

Performatism Features

Postmodern Background Traits

Pakistan Languages and Humanities Review April-June, 2022, Vol. 6, No. 2[66-77] P-ISSN 2708-6453 O-ISSN 2708-6461 |
| | | | --- | --- | --- | |
RESEARCH PAPER | | | | Unity and Closure: A Performatist Reading of Poet X by Elizabeth
Acevedo
Ali Ammar* 1 Prof. Dr. Munawar Iqbal Ahmad2
1. Ph. D Scholar, Department of English, Faculty of Social Sciences, Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan
2. Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Social Sciences, Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan | | | | DOI | | [http://doi.org/10.47205/plhr.2022](http://doi.org/10.47205/plhr.2022) (6-II)06 | | PAPER INFO | | ABSTRACT | | Received:
February 17, 2022
Accepted:
April 05, 2022
Online:
April 15, 2022 | | The current research paper attempts at exploring and analyzing Performatism with its various features in a contemporary American novel Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. The study is developed in the background of the recent propositions in literary theory which have tried to emphasize and argue that postmodernism is dead or in the process of dying and is being replaced by new theoretical and methodological concepts like metamodernism, remodernism, digimodernism,
hypermodernism, performatism, post-postmodernism etc. However, there is so far no consensus as to which literary theory is the most suitable one to define the current cultural moment. Performatism is also considered to be one of the leading and most systematic theories that tries to chart cultural changes in the contemporary art and literature breaking away from the split concepts of sign to the unified one aiming for specific closure of the work. Monism, double framing, opaque subjectivity and theism are its salient features which need to be explored and analysed in the work to ascertain if performatism really be the answer to the dilemma of defining literary moment after postmodernism. Textual analysis of Poet X suggests that there is substantial evidence of performatist features in the novel yet there are also certain postmodern features present in the background. | | Keywords:
Closure, Double Framing, Monism, Performatism Subjectivity, Theism,
Unity, | | | | *Corresponding Author
aliammar26812@g[mail.com](mail.com)) | | | Introduction In the wake of brandishing multiple literary and cultural theories by various contemporary theorists since the turn of the millennium, the readers, scholars and aspiring students of literary and cultural studies have to study extensively in order to decide as to which proposition is univocal and befitting to define and “chart the cultural changes” (Hucheon, 2002, p. 181) that are happening around the world. Although many replacements of postmodernism like Metamodernism (Vermeulen & van den Akker, 2010), Cosmodernism (Moraru, 2011), Hypermodernism (Lipovetsky, 2005), Remodernism (Childish & Thomson, 2015), Performatism (Eshelman, 2008), Altermodernism (Bourriaud, 2015), Digimodernism (Kirby, 2009), Automodernism (Samuels, 2009), Renewalism (Brooks & Toth, 2019a) and Post-postmodernism (Nealon, 2012) have been proposed but so far there is no consensus on a single proposition to be the most suitable representative of the condition of the contemporary literary theory (Quintero, 2022) . So much so that one of the leading literary theorists of postmodernism, Ihab Hassan (2003) even makes comment questioning the confusion and inability for a unified understanding of postmodernism “what was postmodernism in the first place? I am not at all certain, for I know less about it today than I did some thirty years ago”(p. 200) . Yet, to move on to a new phase of cultural changes occurring in the world, it is pertinent to define and somewhat sum up postmodernism. The problem of coherent definition of postmodernism also lies in its having multiplicity of ideas and “incoherent sensibilities” (Vermeulen & van den Akker 2010, n.p.) . Certain leading ideas like“depthlessness”,“weakening of historicity” and

FAQs

What novel does the research focus on and what is the main approach?

The study focuses on Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo and examines it through the lens of Performatism’s features.

Why does the paper discuss the decline of postmodernism?

It frames Performatism within literary theory debates arguing that postmodernism is dead or dying and being replaced by other theoretical concepts.

Which features of Performatism are highlighted as central in the study?

The paper highlights monism, double framing, opaque subjectivity, and theism as salient features requiring analysis in the novel.

Sep 22, 2026

Uploaded by Adam