The Age of the Crisis of Man

Thought and Fiction in America, 1933–1973

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American, Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy
Cover of the book The Age of the Crisis of Man by Mark Greif, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mark Greif ISBN: 9781400852109
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: January 18, 2015
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Mark Greif
ISBN: 9781400852109
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: January 18, 2015
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

In a midcentury American cultural episode forgotten today, intellectuals of all schools shared a belief that human nature was under threat. The immediate result was a glut of dense, abstract books on the "nature of man." But the dawning "age of the crisis of man," as Mark Greif calls it, was far more than a historical curiosity. In this ambitious intellectual and literary history, Greif recovers this lost line of thought to show how it influenced society, politics, and culture before, during, and long after World War II.

During the 1930s and 1940s, fears of the barbarization of humanity energized New York intellectuals, Chicago protoconservatives, European Jewish émigrés, and native-born bohemians to seek "re-enlightenment," a new philosophical account of human nature and history. After the war this effort diffused, leading to a rebirth of modern human rights and a new power for the literary arts.

Critics' predictions of a "death of the novel" challenged writers to invest bloodless questions of human nature with flesh and detail. Hemingway, Faulkner, and Richard Wright wrote flawed novels of abstract man. Succeeding them, Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Flannery O'Connor, and Thomas Pynchon constituted a new guard who tested philosophical questions against social realities—race, religious faith, and the rise of technology—that kept difference and diversity alive.

By the 1960s, the idea of "universal man" gave way to moral antihumanism, as new sensibilities and social movements transformed what had come before. Greif's reframing of a foundational debate takes us beyond old antagonisms into a new future, and gives a prehistory to the fractures of our own era.

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

In a midcentury American cultural episode forgotten today, intellectuals of all schools shared a belief that human nature was under threat. The immediate result was a glut of dense, abstract books on the "nature of man." But the dawning "age of the crisis of man," as Mark Greif calls it, was far more than a historical curiosity. In this ambitious intellectual and literary history, Greif recovers this lost line of thought to show how it influenced society, politics, and culture before, during, and long after World War II.

During the 1930s and 1940s, fears of the barbarization of humanity energized New York intellectuals, Chicago protoconservatives, European Jewish émigrés, and native-born bohemians to seek "re-enlightenment," a new philosophical account of human nature and history. After the war this effort diffused, leading to a rebirth of modern human rights and a new power for the literary arts.

Critics' predictions of a "death of the novel" challenged writers to invest bloodless questions of human nature with flesh and detail. Hemingway, Faulkner, and Richard Wright wrote flawed novels of abstract man. Succeeding them, Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Flannery O'Connor, and Thomas Pynchon constituted a new guard who tested philosophical questions against social realities—race, religious faith, and the rise of technology—that kept difference and diversity alive.

By the 1960s, the idea of "universal man" gave way to moral antihumanism, as new sensibilities and social movements transformed what had come before. Greif's reframing of a foundational debate takes us beyond old antagonisms into a new future, and gives a prehistory to the fractures of our own era.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Edward Elgar and His World by Mark Greif
Cover of the book On the Muslim Question by Mark Greif
Cover of the book Unrivalled Influence by Mark Greif
Cover of the book Power Lines by Mark Greif
Cover of the book Founding Gods, Inventing Nations by Mark Greif
Cover of the book Unequal Democracy by Mark Greif
Cover of the book An Essay on Man by Mark Greif
Cover of the book A History of Modern French Literature by Mark Greif
Cover of the book A Written Republic by Mark Greif
Cover of the book Early Modern Jewry by Mark Greif
Cover of the book The Promise of American Life by Mark Greif
Cover of the book When All Else Fails by Mark Greif
Cover of the book The Substance of Representation by Mark Greif
Cover of the book A Cultural History of Causality by Mark Greif
Cover of the book The First Modern Jew by Mark Greif
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