Review of Peter Carravetta, The Elusive Hermes: Method, Discourse, Interpreting. Aurora, Colorado

Patrick Renaud

Before I dive into the details of this short reportage, there is certainly one thing that cannot be denied: Peter Carravetta, by publishing The Elusive Hermes: Method, Discourse, Interpreting, shows an uncommon and rare amount of ambition. This book is indeed the first element of a tetralogy that presents itself as an interpretation of what the author calls⎯rightly or not⎯‘postmodern culture’. The project will also touch upon multiple themes and questions including contemporary Italian culture, “the meaning of humanism, the emergence of European hegemony, and the idea of a perfect society from Dante to Marx” (xvii). A heavy and ambitious program indeed. A program that will need, to find its proper expression, to rely on a vertiginous erudition⎯an erudition definitely possessed by the author. This ambition and this erudition commands the admiration of the reader, and his/her attention.