Barbarian: Explorations of a Western Concept in Theory, Literature, and the Arts: Vol. II: Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries [Hardcover]

This two-volume co-authored study explores the history of the concept of barbarism from the eighteenth century to the present and highlights its foundational role in modern European and Western identity. It constitutes an original comparative and interdisciplinary exploration of the concepts modern European and Western history and combines overviews with detailed analyses of representative works of literature, art, film, philosophy, and political and cultural theory.

Volume 2 broaches figurations of barbarism and mobilizations of the barbarian across diverse contexts, media, and fields from the early twentieth century to our present: from avant-garde manifestoes to contemporary multilingual literature and adaptations of the Medea myth, from anti-colonial to eco-socialist texts, from political philosophy and ethno-anthropology to contemporary pop culture, from Russian poetry to Western political rhetoric, from Europe to Latin America, from cinema to art biennials, and from (neo-)Marxists to the Alt-Right.

“Explorations of a Western Concept in Theory, Literature, and the Arts, Vol. II: Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries is a collaborative anthology edited by Markus Winkler and Maria Boletsi, with contributions from Josephina Bierl, Guillaume Broillet … . this volume builds upon the historical trajectory established in Volume I (2018), which explored the term from the Enlightenment to the turn of the twentieth century.” (Johanna Chovanec, Comparatio - Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft, Vol. 17 (1), 2025) 

Markus Winkler is Professor emeritus at the University of Geneva.

Maria Boletsi is Endowed Professor of Modern Greek Studiel#1