Escape from the Nineteenth: An Intellectual Portrait

A sociology-philosophical-literary study focusing on the consequences the downfall of Positivist philosophy and weltanschaung brought to the Western hemisphere. All in all an unprecedented crisis of consciousness. The Positivist era, based on unlimited scientific optimism, at the turn of the century failed to keep up with its promises. History proved it wrong: the contradiction of the industrial revolution reveals that evolution not always is synonymous of progress.The unleashing of vulgar imperialism confirms that the romantic nationalism easily turns to be a violent colonialism guilty of forgetting the liberal premises through which should have happened man's liberation. An evident shame blows over European consciousness for having betrayed bourgeois ideals and for having misread history. Science seems to be guilty. The bracket 1890-1930 stretches to a death point while suggesting that the origin of everything is placed in an irrational dimension, a vague and opaque zone which is unreachable unless through an epiphany. Western civilization is at loss, shaped by an unprecedented cultural crisis. The dawn of a new age or the end of history?

Autorentext

Alberto Castelli, 35, ist Romanautor und Akademiker. Nachdem er mehr als zehn Jahre lang gereist war, ließ er sich vorübergehend in China nieder und beschäftigte sich mit einer vergleichenden Studie zwischen westlicher und chinesischer Moderne. Zu seinen Veröffentlichungen gehören "China: A Quest for Identity" und "May Fourth: Historical Misunderstanding?