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.