Overview

The Philosophy of Parochialism is Radomir Konstantinovic's (1928-2011) most celebrated and reviled book. First published in Belgrade as Filosofija palanke in 1969, it attracted keen attention and controversy through its unsparing critique of Serbian and any other nationalism in Yugoslavia and beyond. The book was prophetic, seeming to anticipate not only the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, but also the totalitarian turn in politics across the globe in the first decades of the new century. With this translation, English-speaking audiences can at last discover one of the most original writers of eastern European late modernism, and gain an important and original perspective into contemporary politics and culture in the West and beyond. This is a book that seems to age in reverse, as its meanings become deeper and more universal with the passage of time. Konstantinovic'sbookresists easy classification, mixing classical, Montaigne-like essay, prose poetry, novel, and literary history. The word 'philosophy' in the book's title refers to the solitary activity of reflection and critical thinking, and is also paradoxical: according to the author, a defining characteristic of parochialism is precisely its intolerance toward this kind of self-reflexivity. In Konstantinovic's analysis, parochialism is not a simply a characteristic of a geographical region or a cultural, political, and historical formation-these are all just manifestations of the parochial spirit as the spirit of insularity. His book illuminates the current moment, in which insularity undergirds not only ethnic and national divisions, but also dictates the very structure of everyday life, and where individuals can easily find themselves locked in an echo chamber of social media. The Philosophy of Parochialism can help us understand better not only the dead ends of ethnic nationalism and other atavistic ideologies, but also of those cultural forces such as digital technologies that have been built on the promise of overcoming those ideologies.

Full Product Details

Author:   Radomir Konstantinovic ,  Ljiljana Nikolic ,  Branislav Jakovljevic
Publisher:   The University of Michigan Press
Imprint:   The University of Michigan Press
Edition:   Originally published as Filosofija Palanke
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 23.00cm
Weight:   0.333kg
ISBN:  

9780472132720

ISBN 10:   0472132725
Pages:   392
Publication Date:   30 October 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction by Branislav Jakovljevic: The Drone of Dialectics: On Provincialism and Deprovincialization The Philosophy of Parochialism by Radomir Konstantinovic In Lieu of an Introduction: Style, the Highest Principle of Parochialism The Ideal of Pure Poverty The Spirit of Parochialism as the Spirit of a Tribe in Agony Province, the Theater of Normativity Absence of Tragedy: Sentimentalism and Sarcasm Pamphletism against Tragedy Happiness from Unhappiness as the Primordial Cause of Determinism Atheism as the Principle of Publicness Death and the Philosophy of Parochialism Individualism as the Function of the Parochial Spirit Lasting Infantilism of the Parochial Spirit 1. Ingenious Madness 2. The End of the World 3. Infantile-Romantic Mythology of Glorious Destruction 4. Psychology, Theater of the “Youth” Realism as Tribal Sacrifice to Deified Reality Banality – The First Principle of Nothingness Sensationalism – The Second Principle of Nothingness Nihilism of The Dark Country Nihilism of the Parochial Philosophy and Language 1. Nihilism of the “Total” World 2. Nihilism of the Status Quo 3. Realistic Nihilism 4. Aristocratic Nihilism 5. Erotic Nihilism Disappointment in the Animal Autumnal Nocturno and the “Worldly Malice” of the Parochial Spirit Existence as Meaningless Work Laziness as the Work of the Closed Parochial World NaÏvetÉ of the Parochial Spirit’s Non-NaÏvetÉ Traditionalism as bad Conscience of a Non-Myth-Building Consciousness Political County Fair Staged by Boredom In Lieu of a Conclusion: No End to an End Notes I. The Ideal of Organic Culture II. Cyril the Philosopher III. Les charmes de l’horreur and the Parochial Spirit IV. From God towards Kin V. Entropy of Earth as the Entropy of the Final Response VI. Existence as “Starry Acting” VII. Experience of Poet Nastasijevic VIII. Sincerity in the Service of Hatred Towards the Genius IX. Biological Irrationalism – The Future of the Cult of Form X. “Dead Sweetheart” of the Parochial Spirit and Pornography XI. Poet Vladislav Petkovic “Dis” XII. Spirit-People against the Spirit XIII. Serbian Nazism Evil as Rejection of the Evil of Contradiction The Poetics of Serbian Nazism Serbian Nazism and Language 1. Totalitarianism and Language Reform 2. Attitude of Serbian Nazism towards Language Notes Works Cited

Reviews

A virtually unique example of indigenous Balkan discourse independent of European philosophy. . . . developed as a study of the spirit of the palanka or market-town mentality, Konstantinovic's book discerns at the margin of Enlightened Europe an oppositional rationality, the provincial mind versus Hegelian cosmopolitan reason. While the latter is open to the world with relational subjectivity, the reasoning of the provincial mind closes itself into a subjectivity that excludes the world. --Dusan I. Bjelic, from the introduction to Balkan as Metaphor: Between Globalization and Fragmentation It is hard to exaggerate the importance of this book in the intellectual life of Serbia and Yugoslavia, and even to the intellectual history of the Balkans and modern Europe in general. The translation by Nikolic and Jakovljevic is excellent. -John K. Cox, North Dakota State University

Author Information

Radomir Konstantinovic (1928-2011) was a Serbian poet and novelist.

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