contested elements outlines what we might regard as widely held postmodern convictions. First, whereas modernists seek to describe reality, postmodernists deny the existence of a singular reality, speaking instead of the various competing “metanarratives” or “standard stories,” one of which we unconsciously adopt and unquestioningly take as our reality. Only when confronted with an alternative do we become aware of the parameters of our own cultural-linguistic worldview, and then usually only long