About this ebook
Subjects Barbarian, Monstrous, and Wild responds to a contemporary political climate in which historically invested figures of otherness—barbarians, savages, monsters—have become common discursive currency. Through questionable historical comparisons, politicians and journalists evoke barbaric or primitive forces threatening civilization in order to exacerbate the fear of others, diagnose civilizational decline, or feed nostalgic restorative projects. These evocations often demand that forms of oppression, discrimination, and violence be continued or renewed.
In this context, the collected essays explore the dispossessing effects of these figures but also their capacities for reimagining subjectivity, agency, and resistance to contemporary forms of power. Emphasizing intersections of the aesthetic and the political, these essays read canonical works alongside contemporary literature, film, art, music, and protest cultures. They interrogate the violent histories but also the subversive potentials of figures barbarous, monstrous, or wild, while illustrating the risks in affirmative resignifications or new mobilizations.
Contributors: Sophie van den Bergh, Maria Boletsi, Siebe Bluijs, Giulia Champion, Cui Chen, Tom Curran, Andries Hiskes, Tyler Sage, Cansu Soyupak, Ruby de Vos, Mareen Will
In this context, the collected essays explore the dispossessing effects of these figures but also their capacities for reimagining subjectivity, agency, and resistance to contemporary forms of power. Emphasizing intersections of the aesthetic and the political, these essays read canonical works alongside contemporary literature, film, art, music, and protest cultures. They interrogate the violent histories but also the subversive potentials of figures barbarous, monstrous, or wild, while illustrating the risks in affirmative resignifications or new mobilizations.
Contributors: Sophie van den Bergh, Maria Boletsi, Siebe Bluijs, Giulia Champion, Cui Chen, Tom Curran, Andries Hiskes, Tyler Sage, Cansu Soyupak, Ruby de Vos, Mareen Will
Subjects Barbarian, Monstrous, and Wild responds to a contemporary political climate in which historically invested figures of otherness—barbarians, savages, monsters—have become common discursive currency. Through questionable historical comparisons, politicians and journalists evoke barbaric or...
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About the author
Maria Boletsi is Assistant Professor at the Film and Comparative Literature Department of Leiden University. Her recent book publications include Barbarism and Its Discontents (Stanford UP, 2013) and the volume Barbarism Revisited: New Perspectives on an Old Concept, co-edited with Christian Moser (Brill|Rodopi 2015).
Originally from Western Canada, Tyler Sage completed his BA in English Literature at the University of British Columbia and his Research Master’s in Literary Studies at Leiden University. His Master's thesis explored forms of aesthetic expression and critique in a post-truth political environment.
Originally from Western Canada, Tyler Sage completed his BA in English Literature at the University of British Columbia and his Research Master’s in Literary Studies at Leiden University. His Master's thesis explored forms of aesthetic expression and critique in a post-truth political environment.
Maria Boletsi is Assistant Professor at the Film and Comparative Literature Department of Leiden University. Her recent book publications include Barbarism and Its Discontents (Stanford UP, 2013) and the volume Barbarism Revisited: New Perspectives on an Old Concept, co-edited with Christian Mose...
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