Geist and Zeitgeist: The Spirit in an Unspiritual Age [Hardcover]

Hermann Broch (Author), John Hargraves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2003

From one of the giants of European literature, six essays never before published in English. Hermann Broch achieved international recognition for his brilliant use of innovative literary techniques to present the entire range of human experience, from the biological to the metaphysical. Concerned with the problem of ethical responsibility in a world with no unified system of values, he turned to literature as the appropriate form for considering those human problems not subject to rational treatment.Late in life, Broch began questioning his artistic pursuits and turned from literature to devote himself to political theory. While he is well known and highly regarded throughout the world as a novelist, he was equally accomplished as an essayist. These six essays give us a fascinating glimpse into the mind of one of the twentieth century's most original thinkers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though best known to American scholars as an unsung master novelist (The Death of Virgil; The Sleepwalkers), Austrian-born Broch (1886-1951) also penned challenging, provocative essays. The six collected here, among the few to have been translated into English, represent the dominant themes in Broch's writings. For most of his life, the author concerned himself with the role of art in an era he felt was undergoing a "dissolution of values." Indeed, all but one of these essays are based on Broch's belief that Western culture had lost its unifying value-set, and was thus floundering, ethically and esthetically, as it waited for the emergence of another prevalent set of values. Not surprisingly, he champions art that represents universal human experience; he repeatedly cites James Joyce's Ulysses as being uniquely of its time, even as it revived the principles of Homeric myth. In "Evil in the Value-System of Art," Broch argues that kitsch, because it is imitative rather than original and seeks beauty rather than truth, is "the evil in art." Broch's ideas and ideals are nothing if not rarified, but the rigor of his thought and the strength of his belief in art's ability-duty, even-to restore a culture's universal mythic knowledge is striking.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Broch is the greatest novelist European literature has provided since Joyce." -- George Steiner

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; export ed edition (January 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158243168X
• ISBN-13: 978-1582431680
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.