Holderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche

The Struggle with the Daemon

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy
Cover of the book Holderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche by Stefan Zweig, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Stefan Zweig ISBN: 9781351515405
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: July 5, 2017
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Stefan Zweig
ISBN: 9781351515405
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: July 5, 2017
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

This is the second volume in a trilogy in which Stefan Zweig builds a composite picture of the European mind through intellectual portraits selected from among its most representative and influential figures. In 'Hoelderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche', Zweig concentrates on three giants of German literature to portray the artist and thinker as a figure possessed by a powerful inner vision at odds with the materialism and scientific positivism of his time, in this case, the nineteenth century. Zweig's subjects here are respectively a lyric poet, a dramatist and writer of novellas, and a philosopher. Each led an unstable life ending in madness and/or suicide and not until the twentieth century did each make their full impact. Whereas the nineteenth-century novel is socially capacious in terms of subject and audience, the three figures treated here are prophets or forerunners of modernist ideas of alienation and exile. Hoelderlin and Kleist consciously opposed the worldly harmoniousness of Goethe's classicism in favor of a visionary inwardness and dramatisation of the subjective psyche. Nietzsche set himself as a destroyer and rebuilder of philosophy and critic of the degradation of the German spirit through nationalism and militarism. Zweig's choice of subjects reflects a division in his own soul. The image of Goethe recurs here as the ultimate upholder of Zweig's own ideals: scientist and artist, receptive to world culture, supremely rational and prudent. Yet Zweig was aware that Hoelderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche were more daring explorers of the dangerous and destructive aspects of man that needed to be seen and comprehended in the clarifying light of poetry and philosophy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This is the second volume in a trilogy in which Stefan Zweig builds a composite picture of the European mind through intellectual portraits selected from among its most representative and influential figures. In 'Hoelderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche', Zweig concentrates on three giants of German literature to portray the artist and thinker as a figure possessed by a powerful inner vision at odds with the materialism and scientific positivism of his time, in this case, the nineteenth century. Zweig's subjects here are respectively a lyric poet, a dramatist and writer of novellas, and a philosopher. Each led an unstable life ending in madness and/or suicide and not until the twentieth century did each make their full impact. Whereas the nineteenth-century novel is socially capacious in terms of subject and audience, the three figures treated here are prophets or forerunners of modernist ideas of alienation and exile. Hoelderlin and Kleist consciously opposed the worldly harmoniousness of Goethe's classicism in favor of a visionary inwardness and dramatisation of the subjective psyche. Nietzsche set himself as a destroyer and rebuilder of philosophy and critic of the degradation of the German spirit through nationalism and militarism. Zweig's choice of subjects reflects a division in his own soul. The image of Goethe recurs here as the ultimate upholder of Zweig's own ideals: scientist and artist, receptive to world culture, supremely rational and prudent. Yet Zweig was aware that Hoelderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche were more daring explorers of the dangerous and destructive aspects of man that needed to be seen and comprehended in the clarifying light of poetry and philosophy.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book A Winter in India by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book World Yearbook of Education 2014 by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Urbanization and Contemporary Chinese Art by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Transport Economics by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Bad Therapy by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Musicology by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Islam, Democracy and Dialogue in Turkey by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Labour Relations and Political Change in Eastern Europe by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book A Companion to the Overseas Nurses Programme by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book The Public-private Health Care State by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Routledge Revivals: India and the Simon Report (1930) by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Ventriloquized Voices by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Multinationals and World Trade (Routledge Revivals) by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book The Trap by Stefan Zweig
Cover of the book Reducing Project Risk by Stefan Zweig
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy