Terror and The Arts. Artistic, Literary, and Political Interpretations of Violence from Dostoyevsky to Abu Ghraib

HYVÄRINEN, Matti et Lisa MUSZYNSKI (dir.), Terror and The Arts. Artistic, Literary, and Political Interpretations of Violence from Dostoyevsky to Abu Ghraib, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, 272 p.
ISBN 0-230-60671-7

RÉSUMÉ

Terror, dread, and violence against civilian populations constitute a true predicament of our contemporary political world. Authoritarian governments develop methods to capitalize on the arts in support of terror, where violence and trauma provoke more of the same in a vicious circle. This book argues that the arts—from film and literature to painting and comics—offers qualitatively different readings of terror and trauma, readings that endeavor to resist the exploitation and perpetuation of violence. The contributors suggest that political inquiry into the phenomenon of terror may benefit profoundly by developing non-reductive ways of reading the arts.

BIOGRAPHIE

Matti Hyvärinen is an Academy of Finland Research Fellow, Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Tampere

Lisa Muszynski is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Social Science History, University of Helsinki.