Synopses & Reviews
"Even the most enthusiastic readers of Erich Auerbach's
Mimesis will be surprised by the extent to which this collection of essays changes the appreciation of Auerbach's work. Shifting from the New Critical fluency of his historical readings, these selections pay closer attention to the relation between forms of language and the transformation of the world through human thought and behavior. This revelatory book presents a new view of Auerbach, whose work gains in philosophical pertinence and complexity."
--Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Stanford University"At last, a book that exposes the audacity of Auerbach's philosophical anthropology. Thanks to her deep understanding of the nuances of German, Jane Newman skillfully captures the intricate rhythms and verbal creativity of Auerbach's prose. James Porter, meanwhile, shows us the hidden genius of Auerbach as a thinker who reveals the beauty and terror of history and the people who make it."--Stephen G. Nichols, James M. Beall Professor Emeritus of French and Humanities, Johns Hopkins University
"The brilliant, innovative, and eminently sophisticated essays in this vitally important and long-overdue book demonstrate not only the breadth of Auerbach's erudition, but also the continued relevance of his work for literary scholars today. A stunning achievement."--John Hamilton, Harvard University
Review
"The 20 essays collected here--many of them translated from the German for the first time--bear out editor Porter's contention that Auerbach (1892-1957), best known for his literary study Mimesis, was one of the 20th century's great literary critics. . . . Those well-versed in comparative literature will find his insights stimulating."--Publishers Weekly
Review
"Editor Porter purposefully organizes Auerbach's writings . . . in order to sketch a historical panorama of erudite language to predictions for future literary invention. He skillfully accomplishes these goals by drawing out examples of Auerbach's writing focused on humans and their language as earthly (irdisch) artifacts, each created with a historical perspective, not just as poetic language steeped in spiritual motifs alone. . . . [S]uited for literary theorists writing from disparate paradigms and for most scholars from the humanities engaged in granularly close readings pursuing the understanding of writing as one of many human creations."--Library Journal
Review
"For scholar and non-academic alike, this work is of extreme importance, especially given the relatively scanty number of works available on such a key figure to the development of the study of comparative literature."--Lois Henderson, BookPleasures.com
Review
"This collection will be invaluable to anyone studying literary theory, historiography, or cultural studies."--Choice
Review
"The publication of Time, History, and Literature: Selected Essays of Erich Auerbach provides an excellent opportunity to witness a master philologist at work."--Joseph Epstein, Weekly Standard
Review
"[A] career-spanning collection that includes several essays which are appearing in English for the first time. . . . [E]xcellent introduction. . . . One of the most valuable aspects of this volume is that these essays set out . . . the extent of Auerbach's intellectual debt to Vico, whom he credits as the first methodical theorist of history. . . . The densely written, subtle essays towards the end of Time, Literature, and History . . . are models of careful scholarly contextualization and analysis."--James Ley, Sydney Review of Books
Synopsis
Important essays from one of the giants of literary criticism, including a dozen published here in English for the first time
Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), best known for his classic literary study Mimesis, is celebrated today as a founder of comparative literature, a forerunner of secular criticism, and a prophet of global literary studies. Yet the true depth of Auerbach's thinking and writing remains unplumbed. Time, History, and Literature presents a wide selection of Auerbach's essays, many of which are little known outside the German-speaking world. Of the twenty essays culled for this volume from the full length of his career, twelve have never appeared in English before, and one is being published for the first time.
Foregrounded in this major new collection are Auerbach's complex relationship to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, his philosophy of time and history, and his theory of human ethics and responsible action. Auerbach effectively charts out the difficult discovery, in the wake of Christianity, of the sensuous, the earthly, and the human and social worlds. A number of the essays reflect Auerbach's responses to an increasingly hostile National Socialist environment. These writings offer a challenging model of intellectual engagement, one that remains as compelling today as it was in Auerbach's own time.
-- "Library Journal"
Synopsis
Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), best known for his classic literary study
Mimesis, is celebrated today as a founder of comparative literature, a forerunner of secular criticism, and a prophet of global literary studies. Yet the true depth of Auerbach's thinking and writing remains unplumbed.
Time, History, and Literature presents a wide selection of Auerbach's essays, many of which are little known outside the German-speaking world. Of the twenty essays culled for this volume from the full length of his career, twelve have never appeared in English before, and one is being published for the first time.
Foregrounded in this major new collection are Auerbach's complex relationship to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, his philosophy of time and history, and his theory of human ethics and responsible action. Auerbach effectively charts out the difficult discovery, in the wake of Christianity, of the sensuous, the earthly, and the human and social worlds. A number of the essays reflect Auerbach's responses to an increasingly hostile National Socialist environment. These writings offer a challenging model of intellectual engagement, one that remains as compelling today as it was in Auerbach's own time.
Synopsis
"The brilliant, innovative, and eminently sophisticated essays in this vitally important and long-overdue book demonstrate not only the breadth of Auerbach's erudition, but also the continued relevance of his work for literary scholars today. A stunning achievement."--John Hamilton, Harvard University
About the Author
James I. Porter is professor of classics and comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine. His books include Nietzsche and the Philology of the Future and The Origins of Aesthetic Thought in Ancient Greece. Jane O. Newman is professor of comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine. Her books include The Intervention of Philology and Benjamin's Library.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments James I. Porter vii
Introduction James I. Porter ix
Translator's Note Jane O. Newman xlvii
Part I. History and the Philosophy of History: Vico, Herder, and Hegel
1. Vico's Contribution to Literary Criticism (1958) 3
2. Vico and Herder (1932) 11
3. Giambattista Vico and the Idea of Philology (1936) 24
4. Vico and Aesthetic Historism (1948) 36
5. Vico and the National Spirit (1955) 46
6. The Idea of the National Spirit as the Source of the Modern Humanities (ca. 1955) 56
Part II. Time and Temporality in Literature
7. Figura (1938) 65
8. Typological Symbolism in Medieval Literature (1952) 114
9. On the Anniversary Celebration of Dante (1921) 121
10. Dante and Vergil (1931) 124
11. The Discovery of Dante by Romanticism (1929) 134
12. Romanticism and Realism (1933) 144
13. Marcel Proust and the Novel of Lost Time (1927) 157
Part III. Passionate Subjects, from the Bible to Secular Modernity
14. Passio as Passion (1941) 165
15. The Three Traits of Dante's Poetry (1948) 188
16. Montaigne the Writer (1932) 200
17. On Pascal's Political Theory (1941) 215
18. Racine and the Passions (1927) 236
19. On Rousseau's Place in History (1932) 246
20. The Philology of World Literature (1952) 253
Appendix: Sources for Translated Citations Jane O. Newman 267
Bibliographical Overview James I. Porter 271
Index 277