The gigantic explosion that laid waste to large parts of the Siberian Tunguska region on 30 June 1908 is one of the most devastating natural disasters of the 20th century. It's destructive power, however, cannot be expressed in numbers. Rather, the catastrophic potential of the Tunguska event lies more in its persistent mysteriousness. The lack of a cogent explanation shakes the modern production of knowledge to its very foundations. Solvejg Nitzke's analysis of the Tunguska discourse, which comprises academic, para-academic, and literary texts, does not just reveal the limits of the central conceptions of the modern era, but also opens up new possibilities for cultural studies research.
