Full Description
In the words of Ezra Talmor: To deal with European Culture in a Changing World is to deal, in fact, with the reciprocal relation between Politics and Economics on the one hand, and Culture on the other. In an era when economic forces are pushing towards European Economic Unity or towards the Globalisation of National Markets it is rather difficult to demarcate the role of Culture. While the European Narrative may have been written by Monnet, De Gaulle, and Adenauer, the Global Narrative is written by an unknown author or rather by Adam Smith's Invisible Hand. On the one hand the postmodernist claim that the Grand Narrative is dead is given the lie. A Grand Narrative is now being written not by Philosophers but by Managers of Multinationals. The Foucauldian "ça parle" (it speaks) is instantiated by the anonymous authors of the Global Narrative. The question to be asked is: What will happen to the rich mosaic of National European Cultures? The answer to this question is not only a matter of National Memory and National Identity, it is also a matter of the sources of cultural creativity. L'Europe de nations may have been the theatre of endless national wars but it was also the cradle of a very rich mosaic of national cultures. The point is: how will creative genius adapt to the two new trends - European Unification and Globalism? This volume brings together essays by leading scholars in a myriad of disciplines, all of which attempt to shed light on these issues.Contributions by:Nicholas Perdikis, Shari L. Boyd, William A Kerr, Sylvia MacPhee, Marcela Cristi, Anu Randveer, Martti Randveer, Viljar Jaamu, Vello Vensel, Anatoly Zotov, Warren Breckman, Douglas Moggach, Malgorzata Bogunia-Borowska, Alexandros Kioupkiolis, Eric W. Ruckh, Avron Kulak, Kevin P. Spicer, Bernard Zelechow, Dorothy M. Betz, Robert Stanley, Rosemary Gray, Jean-François Thibault, John Danvers, Ewa Macura, William A. Everett, Armand Singer, Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Contents
Section 1: Politics And Economy; Chapter One: Nicholas Perdikis, Shari L. Boyd, William A Kerr - Multinationals, Biotechnology, Intellectual Property Rights; and Developing Countries. Should Developing Countries; Seek to Be Exploited?... 1; Chapter Two: Sylvia MacPhee - Who is an Italian: Italy's Struggle for National Identity... 11; Chapter Three: Marcela Cristi - Theoretical Remarks on Civil Religion and Politics: A Comparative Perspective... 22; Chapter Four: Anu Randveer and Martti Randveer - Sectoral Convergence... 46; Chapter Five: Viljar Jaamu and Vello Vensel - Bank Performance and Efficiency in a Small Open Economy; on the Threshold of the European Union... 56; Section 2: Philosophy; Chapter Six: Anatoly Zotov - Hermeneutics as Ontology of Contemporary Society... 68; Chapter Seven: Warren Breckman - Emancipation and the Bounds of Meaning: Reading, Representation and Politics in Young Hegelianism... 75; Chapter Eight: Douglas Moggach - Republican Rigorism: Hegelian Views of Emancipation in 1848... 86; Chapter Nine: Malgorzata Bogunia-Borowska - Social and Cultural Functions of Advertising Transmission; in Consumption Society... 96; Chapter Ten: Alexandros Kioupkiolis - Theorising the Freedom - Equality Nexus From the Standpoints; of Deliberative and Agonistic Democracy... 105; Chapter Eleven: Eric W. Ruckh - Theorizing Globalization: At the Intersection of Bataille's; Solar Economy, DeLillo's Underworld and Hardt's and; Negri's Empire... 117; Chapter Twelve: Avron Kulak - Descartes and the Infinity of the Other... 140; Chapter Thirteen: Kevin P. Spicer - Antisemitism, Nationalism, and the Commandments: Catholic; Clergy in Berlin during the Third Reich. Their Experience; and its Meaning for Today's Church... 152; Section 3: Literature And The Arts; Chapter Fourteen: Bernard Zelechow - Identity and Erasure: W. G. Sebald's Fictions... 164; Chapter Fifteen: Dorothy M. Betz - Arnold, Mallarme, New Worlds to be Born and the Redefinition; of Poetry... 172; Chapter Sixteen: Robert Stanley - Spiritual Concerns in Graham Greene's Colonial Novels,; with Particular Reference to The Heart of the Matter (1948); and A Burnt-Out Case (1961)... 178; Chapter Seventeen: Rosemary Gray - Genius loci; Mungoshi's Waiting for the Rain and The Setting Sun; and the Rolling World... 190; Chapter Eighteen: Jean-Francois Thibault - Le Tableau Qui Bouge: Art in Motion 1913-1930... 202; Chapter Nineteen: John Danvers - St Jerome @ the Villa Grimaldi... 213; Chapter Twenty: Ewa Macura - Posing the East: Englishness and the Dancing Body... 221; Chapter Twenty One - William A. Everett; From French to European to Global: The Saga of Schoenberg; and Boublil's Les Miserables... 229; Chapter Twenty Two: Armand Singer - America's Fascination with the Western... 237; Chapter Twenty Three: Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe - Consciousness, Theatre and 11 September... 246; List of Contributors... 262; Index... 270
