Cultural Transformations of the Public Sphere: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives (Cultural History and Literary Imagination)

The last decade has seen renewed interest in political theories of the public sphere, reacting to new challenges posed by globalization, communication technology, and intra- and international conflicts. However, the role of culture and aesthetics in the formation of the public sphere has received insufficient analytical attention. The essays in this volume explore different strategies for enriching the ongoing debates on this issue, ranging from historical case studies to theoretical examinations of cultural interdependencies and the aesthetic potential of literature and art. The contributions implicitly challenge Jürgen Habermas’ assumption that the public discourse about art and literature should be seen as a mere precursor to the emergence of the public sphere in the eighteenth century, which, from his point of view, is best discussed in the terminology of political theory. Topics range from the French Revolution’s exclusive social metaphors to Herder’s anticipation of virtual publics, from the distortions of public communication to revolutionary potentials of popular taste, and from postcolonial feuilletons to the global bio-political imaginaries evoked by mobile communication. The essays are intended for scholars and students in political theory and philosophy as well as in German, Latin American, and Modern Hebrew literature and culture. Cover Contents Introduction (Bernd Fischer and May Mergenthaler) Part I. Historical Perspectives: Real and Imaginary, Inclusive and Exclusive Public Spheres Public Space and the Public: Johann Gottfried Herder’s Approach to Real and Imagined Communities (Dorothea von Mücke) Fraternity as a Social Metaphor (Susanne Lüdemann) Part II. Cultural and Theoretical Transformations I: The Limits of Public Representation Repressive Democracy: Pathological and Ontological Distortion in Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action (Jade Larissa Schiff) Political Autonomy and the Public: From Lippmann to Luhmann (Edgar Landgraf) Constitutionalizing the Public Sphere? Habermas and the Modern State (Christian J. Emden) Part III. Cultural and Theoretical Transformations II: The Aesthetic Potentials of Public Spheres Mass – People – Multitude: A Reflection on the Source of Democratic Legitimacy (Juliane Rebentisch) A Different Taste: Neither Autonomyn or Mass Consumption (Christoph Menke) Biopolitical Reflections: Cognitive, Aesthetic and Reflexive Mappings of Global Economies (Kam Shapiro) Part IV. Three Case Studies: From Postcolonial to Global Literary Public Spheres National Novels and the Emergence of the Public Sphere in Latin America (Fernando Unzueta) Gendering the Public Sphere: Literary Journalism by Women in Mexico and Brazil (Ignacio Corona) Totalizing Imaginaries: Collectivity and Utopia in Modern Hebrew Fiction from Altneuland to Neuland (Oded Nir) Notes on Contributors Index The last decade has seen renewed interest in political theories of the public sphere, reacting to new challenges posed by globalization, communication technology, and intra- and international conflicts. However, the role of culture and aesthetics in the formation of the public sphere has received insufficient analytical attention. The essays in this volume explore different strategies for enriching the ongoing debates on this issue, ranging from historical case studies to theoretical examinations of cultural interdependencies and the aesthetic potential of literature and art. The contributions implicitly challenge Jürgen Habermas' assumption that the public discourse about art and literature should be seen as a mere precursor to the emergence of the public sphere in the eighteenth century, which, from his point of view, is best discussed in the terminology of political theory. Topics range from the French Revolution's exclusive social metaphors to Herder's anticipation of virtual publics, from the distortions of public communication to revolutionary potentials of popular taste, and from postcolonial feuilletons to the global bio-political imaginaries evoked by mobile communication. The essays are intended for scholars and students in political theory and philosophy as well as in German, Latin American, and Modern Hebrew literature and culture. -- Provided by Publisher