The Dear Purchase
A Theme in German Modernism
Part of Cambridge Studies in German
- Author: J. P. Stern, University College London
- Date Published: February 1995
- availability: Available
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521433303
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This book studies individual works by twelve major writers of German modernism, including Thomas Mann, Musil, Brecht and Rilke, in relation to the history of the twentieth century. It explores the theme of the 'dear purchase', an ideal of moral strenuousness and sacrifice seen as characteristic of Germany after Nietzsche, and reveals the underlying flaw in this notion as a self-justifying value. In this context, it considers the renaissance of German poetry after 1900, the impact of the War of 1914, its aftermath in uncertainty and relativism, and attitudes to the Hitler period, and finally juxtaposes Mann's Felix Krull and Kafka's story Josephine as a deliverance from the value-system of the title. The Introduction, partly autobiographical, traces J. P. Stern's preoccupation with this interpretation of his material in many of the books he published (especially those concerned with Nietzsche and Hitler), and pays tribute to Wittgenstein's influence on his thinking.
Read more- This book is the culmination of J. P. Stern's life of study, the summation of his thoughts on a theme that had long preoccupied him
- It contains detailed studies of many of the most important works of German modernism, by writers including Musil, Mann and Brecht
- It constantly relates literature to its historical and philosophical contexts, especially Nietzsche and Hitler
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'… [a] matchless analysis of German Modernism.' The Times
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×Product details
- Date Published: February 1995
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521433303
- length: 468 pages
- dimensions: 222 x 144 x 29 mm
- weight: 0.663kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Foreword by Nicholas Boyle
Editor's preface
Introduction
1. The theme
2. Reality
3. Relativity
4. The Great War
5. The purchase of poetry
6. Rendering account
7. A deliverance of sorts
8. Postscript: the divided self
Notes
Index.
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