Post-Theory, Games, and Discursive Resistance : The Bulgarian Case

This anthology of mixed-genre writings on East European political culture examines the aesthetic character of Eastern Europe before and after 1989, the beginning of a "post-totalitarian age."

This book consists of a dialogue of genres (fiction, parables, essay, analytic, programmatic) on the topic of Eastern European political culture before and after 1989. These texts introduce us to a reexamination of the aesthetic and political character of Eastern Europe. The later texts undertake a major theoretical revision of some of the key concepts in aesthetic and political philosophy associated with post-totalitarian Eastern Europe.

The topic is very important for a correct evaluation of the current ideological and aesthetic makeup of our postmodern age. The most stimulating aspect of this collection is its continuous detour through related areas-its definition of political aesthetics by way of the historical avant-garde, its explanation of communism by way of the modernist utopia.

Alexander Kiossev teaches in the Department of Slavic Studies at Georg-August Universität in Göttingen, Germany.