This paper explores three aspects of the philosophical thought of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger present in the novels and essays of the Argentinean writer Abel Posse. The Heideggerian ...elements to be discussed are: pilgrimage as a path of questionioning, the question concerning technology and The Open. It then articulates how the Argentine writer utilizes these concepts in order to formulate a critique of Western modernity while at the same time exploring questions concerning Latin American identity from a situated perspective.
This article interprets Posse's novel as an interrogation of notions of progress associated with the European project of modernity and the Argentine program of post-independence nation formation. ...References to Mann, Rilke, and Rimbaud elucidate Posse's portrayal of death and disease as barriers to the realization of social improvement, and his vision of modernity's repressive strategies. In addition, the paper examines Posse's treatment of the civilization/barbarism dichotomy through the lens of Kusch's work. The barbarism of the gaucho undermines the liberal vision of the nation. The article concludes that the novel renders the idea of modernity as progress problematic. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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