A01=Georg Schmid
Author_Georg Schmid
Category=JPF
Category=NHA
collective identities
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Product details
- ISBN 9783631575628
- Weight: 630g
- Dimensions: 148 x 210mm
- Publication Date: 27 Mar 2009
- Publisher: Peter Lang AG
- Publication City/Country: CH
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Civilizations «narrate themselves» in order to establish legitimacy, succeed against others, portray their own merits to their best advantage. The results express societal dynamics, yet also have a retroactive effect and decisively influence the self-conceptions of the «initiating societies». Political philosophies, interpretations of history and social perceptions of artistic achievements all contribute to these narratives. The dignified components, however, are by no means the sole or even the most important ones. Distinction in material culture (technological proficiency, popular art forms, etc.) or economic adroitness are even more consequential. The occidental narrative has been badly vacillating lately. Its severe crisis – due in part to a lack of collective self-confidence, but also to disagreements between its main strands – merits a meticulous analysis of a multitude of criteria. The resulting critique is embedded in reflections on a general theory of narrativity.
The Author: Georg Schmid was born in Vienna and now lives in south-western France. He has taught at universities in the USA, in Paris and mainly at the University of Salzburg. Among his recent books is Profiling the American Detective (Frankfurt am Main 2004).
