In this book, the politics and poetics of cultures in the 1960s literary works of three renowned authors are examined: Savushun, Drama der Trauer by Simin Daneshvar (Iran), La Plaça del Diamant by Rodoreda (Spain), and Der geteilte Himmel by Christa Wolf (GDR). Based on these shared stories from under the authoritarian regimes of the Shah, General Franco and the communist authorities in East Germany, Yahya Kouroshi illuminates the subject of modernity from a cross-cultural perspective and traces the diverse developments from and alternatives to this global cultural and social phenomenon.