The Dear Purchase
The Dear Purchase
Completed shortly before Professor Stern's death in 1991, this book studies 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. Finally, it juxtaposes Mann's Felix Krull and Kafka's story "Josephine" as a deliverance from the value-system of the title.
- 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
Reviews & endorsements
"Stern is a brave traveller, and--on the subject of literature as distinct from the events of history--a magnanimous observer, more disposed to understand than to accuse." D.J. Enright, German Literature
"This book has historical value, documenting a critical as well as loving reception of twentieth-century German literature by one who was deeply affected by the upheavals of this century caused by Germans. It engages the reader when Stern, though basically conservative, transcends so many shopworn conventions. The reader is enriched by it, even when he or she disagrees." Herbert Lehnert, Journal of English and Germanic Philology
Product details
February 2011Adobe eBook Reader
9780511882227
0 pages
0kg
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
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.
