Between Terror and Freedom ― Politics, Philosophy, and Fiction Speak of Modernity

Exploring a range of literary, poetic, and filmic texts, occasionally in comparison to political texts, the 13 papers presented by Go (political science, Calvin College) and Dolan (rhetoric, U. of California at Berkeley) seek to understand the broad political implications of the philosophical stances of late modernity. The papers, which along the way engage Wallace Stegner, Heidegger, Cervantes, Nietzsche, Camus, Hans-Georg Gadamer, the Bible, Montesquieu, and Gunter Grass, among others, are organized into four thematic groups addressing the search for a ground for philosophy after the demise of foundationalism, the reconception of the principles that ordain the polis in this postfoundational age, the connection between the political and the categories of ordinary life and nature, and the task of crafting and interacting with texts. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Simona Goi is associate professor of political science at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.Frederick Michael Dolan is a member of the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of Rhetoric.