Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften Peripheral (Post) Modernity: The Syncretist Aesthetics of Borges, Piglia, Kalokyris and Kyriakidis

Are there such things as peripheral modernity and postmodernity? This groundbreaking book focuses on the notions of modernity and postmodernity in two countries that never before have been studied comparatively: Argentina and Greece. It examines theories of the postmodern and the problems involved in applying them to the hybrid and sui generis cultural phenomena of the «periphery». Simultaneously it offers an exciting insight into the work of Jorge Luis Borges, Ricardo Piglia, Dimitris Kalokyris and Achilleas Kyriakidis, whose syncretist aesthetics are symptomatic of the mixing up of different and often opposed aesthetic principles and traditions that occur in «peripheral» locations. This book will be very useful to scholars and students of Latin American, Modern Greek and comparative literature as well as to those interested in Borges studies. Review «Eleni Kefala's book is ambitious in scope, comparativist in approach, and handles an enormous amount of material - historical, theoretical and textual - in an intelligent and informed fashion. It develops a very densely textual, original and revealing analysis of a real continuity between four writers, and an intriguing overview of common dilemmas in the culture of Argentina and Greece.» (Steven Boldy, Reader in Latin American Literature, University of Cambridge) About the Author The Author: Eleni Kefala lectures in Spanish and Latin American literature at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Cambridge, England, and subsequently held a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, United States. She has published numerous articles on Latin American, Modern Greek and comparative literature.