{"title":"Literary Criticism--European--German","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-master-of-contradictions-thomas-mann-and-the-making-of-the-magic-mountain","title":"The Master of Contradictions: Thomas Mann and the Making of the Magic Mountain","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe arresting story of how Thomas Mann wrote \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e as a defeated Germany descended into political chaos\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A lavish work of historical analysis that doubles as a kind of psychological thriller. Mann's magnum opus is not just a novel, Jensen suggests, but a thinly veiled spiritual autobiography.\"--Anna Ballan, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Criterion\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLike many writers of his generation, Thomas Mann (1875-1955) welcomed the outbreak of the First World War. He viewed it as a spiritual necessity, a chance to reassert German cultural dominance over Western ideas of democracy and enlightenment. Then, in 1924, he published \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, a massive novel that culminates in the slaughter of war and foreshadows the Nazi terror to come. One of the central achievements of modernism, \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e bears testimony to its author's dramatic political reorientation as a defender of democracy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis poignant book is a biography of Mann's great novel--its evolution from a short story into a two-volume masterpiece and one of the bestselling novels of the Weimar era. Deftly weaving together elements of biography, history, and literary criticism, Morten H i Jensen reveals how writing \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e against a backdrop of world war, revolution, hyperinflation, and rising right-wing terror moved Mann to embrace the democratic and humanistic ideas he once scorned. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne hundred years after \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e was first published, at a time when democratic ideas are again under threat, Jensen reveals the universality and timeliness of Mann's great novel--its still-resonant debates over democracy and tyranny, time and place, illness and death.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0300233744\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780300233742\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Jensen, Morten Høi, N\/A, N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Yale University Press","offers":[{"title":"HardCover (Oct 2025)","offer_id":45657867387077,"sku":"9780300233742","price":36.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780300233742.jpg?v=1768895431"},{"product_id":"masochism","title":"Masochism","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his stunning essay \u003ci\u003eColdness and Cruelty\u003c\/i\u003e Gilles Deleuze provides a rigorous and informed philosophical examination of the work of late nineteenth-century German novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Deleuze's essay, certainly the most profound study yet produced on the relations between sadism and masochism, seeks to develop and explain Masoch's \"peculiar way of 'desexualizing' love while at the same time sexualizing the entire history of humanity.\" He shows that masochism is something far more subtle and complex than the enjoyment of pain, that masochism has nothing to do with sadism: their worlds do not communicate, just as the genius of those who created them -- Masoch and Sade -- lie stylistically, philosophically, and politically poles apart. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eVenus in Furs\u003c\/i\u003e, the most famous of Masoch's novels, belongs to an unfinished cycle of works that Masoch entitled \u003ci\u003eThe Heritage of Cain\u003c\/i\u003e. The cycle was to treat a series of themes, including love, war, and death. The present work is about love. Although the entire constellation of symbols that has come to characterize the masochistic syndrome can be found here -- fetishes, whips, disguises, fur-clad women, contracts, humiliations, punishment, and always the volatile presence of a terrible coldness -- these received associations do not eclipse the truly singular and surprising power of Masoch's eroticism.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0942299558\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780942299557\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Sacher-Masoch, Leopold Von, Deleuze, Gilles, McNeil, Jean\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Zone Books\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Zone Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Aug 1991)","offer_id":45658005078213,"sku":"9780942299557","price":36.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780942299557.jpg?v=1768896859"},{"product_id":"illuminations-essays-and-reflections","title":"Illuminations: Essays and Reflections","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eA selection of works from one of the most original cultural critics of the twentieth century--as selected by Hannah Arendt and including a classic essay of her own about Walter Benjamin's life and philosophy.  \"There has been no more original, no more serious critic and reader in our time.\"--George Steiner\u003c\/strong\u003e   An icon of criticism, Walter Benjamin was renowned for his insights on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and on Brecht's epic theater. \u003cem\u003eIlluminations\u003c\/em\u003e includes two of Benjamin's best-known, deeply enlightening essays, \"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction\" and \"Theses on the Philosophy of History,\" as well as Hannah Arendt's own essay about her subject's life as a German-born Jew during a dark era.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 1328470237\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9781328470232\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Benjamin, Walter\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Mariner Books Classics\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Mariner Books Classics","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Jan 2019)","offer_id":46080004522181,"sku":"9781328470232","price":24.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9781328470232.jpg?v=1776033533"},{"product_id":"on-the-natural-history-of-destruction","title":"On the Natural History of Destruction","description":"During World War Two, 131 German cities and towns were targeted by Allied bombs, a good number almost entirely flattened. Six hundred thousand German civilians died--a figure twice that of all American war casualties. Seven and a half million Germans were left homeless. Given the astonishing scope of the devastation, W. G. Sebald asks, why does the subject occupy so little space in Germany's cultural memory? \u003cb\u003eOn the Natural History of Destruction\u003c\/b\u003e probes deeply into this ominous silence.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0375756574\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780375756573\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Sebald, W. G., Bell, Anthea\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Penguin Random House LLC (No Starch)\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House LLC (No Starch)","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Feb 2004)","offer_id":46080114852037,"sku":"9780375756573","price":27.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780375756573.jpg?v=1776034577"},{"product_id":"independent-people","title":"Independent People","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author: a magnificent novel that recalls Iceland's medieval epics and classics, set in the early twentieth century starring an ordinary sheep farmer and his heroic determination to achieve independence. - \"A strange story, vibrant and alive.... There is a rare beauty in its telling.\" --\u003ci\u003eAtlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e If Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to free himself is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHaving spent eighteen years in humiliating servitude, Bjartur wants nothing more than to raise his flocks unbeholden to any man. But Bjartur's spirited daughter wants to live unbeholden to \u003ci\u003ehim\u003c\/i\u003e. What ensues is a battle of wills that is by turns harsh and touching, elemental in its emotional intensity and intimate in its homely detail. Vast in scope and deeply rewarding, \u003ci\u003eIndependent People\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterpiece.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0679767924\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780679767923\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Laxness, Halldor\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Jan 1997)","offer_id":46081173651653,"sku":"9780679767923","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780679767923.jpg?v=1776043722"},{"product_id":"the-poetic-edda","title":"The Poetic Edda","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e'She sees, coming up a second time, \u003cbr\u003eEarth from the ocean, eternally green;\u003cbr\u003ethe waterfalls plunge, an eagle soars above them, \u003cbr\u003eover the mountain hunting fish.' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eAfter the terrible conflagration of Ragnarok, the earth rises serenely again from the ocean, and life is renewed. \u003cem\u003eThe Poetic Edda \u003c\/em\u003ebegins with \u003cem\u003eThe Seeress's Prophecy\u003c\/em\u003e which recounts the creation of the world, and looks forward to its destruction and rebirth. In this great collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poetry, the exploits of gods and humans are related. The one-eyed Odin, red-bearded Thor, Loki the trickster, the lovely goddesses and the giants who are their enemies walk beside the heroic Helgi, Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer, Brynhild the shield-maiden, and the implacable Gudrun. New in this revised translation are the quest-poem \u003cem\u003eThe Lay of Svipdag\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Waking\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eof Angantyr\u003c\/em\u003e, in which a girl faces down her dead father to retrieve his sword. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eComic, tragic, instructive, grandiose, witty and profound, the poems of the \u003cem\u003eEdda\u003c\/em\u003e have influenced artists from Wagner to Tolkien and a new generation of video-game and film makers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABOUT THE SERIES: \u003c\/strong\u003e For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0199675341\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780199675340\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Larrington, Carolyne\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Oxford University Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Sep 2014)","offer_id":46099765395653,"sku":"9780199675340","price":22.04,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780199675340.jpg?v=1776644568"},{"product_id":"german-existentialism","title":"German Existentialism","description":"\"On the day of German Labor, on the day of the Community of the People, the Rector of Freiburg University, Dr. Marin Heidegger, made his official entry into the National Socialist Party.\" And so begins one of the most controversial philosophical texts available today. Heidegger, a German Nationalist and proud Nazi, thoroughly examines the history, the philosophy, and the rise to power of the Nazi movement in Germany. Martin Heidegger's distinguished Italian colleague, Professor Benedetto Croce, said of his German contemporary, \"This man dishonors philosophy and that is an evil for politics too.\" Croce's severe rebuke was not singular at the time when Hitlerism was rampant over Europe. It is true that among the almost one thousand professional philosophers of Germany and Austria only very few actively opposed National Socialism. On the other hand, no one degraded his historic profession in the manner Heidegger did, by becoming a spokesman for National Socialism and attempting to mold his theories into one pattern with Hitlerism. Heidegger's contribution to the growth and development of National Socialism was immense. In this small anthology Dr. Runes endeavors to point to the utter confusion Heidegger created by drawing, for political and social application of his own existentialism metaphysics, upon the decadent and repulsive brutalization of Hitlerism. Martin Heidegger was a philosopher most known for his contributions to German phenomenological and existential thought. Heidegger was born in rural Messkirch in 1889 to Catholic parents. While studying philosophy and mathematics at Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg, Heidegger became the assistant for philosopher Edmund Husserl. Influenced by Husserl, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, Heidegger wrote extensively on the quality of Being, including his opus Being and Time. He served as professor of philosophy at Albert-Ludwig University and taught there during the war. In 1933, Heidegger joined the National Socialist German Worker's (or Nazi) Party and expressed his support for Hitler in several articles and speeches. After the war, his support for the Nazi party came under attack, and he was tried as a sympathizer. He was able to return to Albert-Ludwig University, however, and taught there until he retired. Heidegger continued to lecture and write until his death 1973.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0806530790\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780806530796\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Heidegger, Martin\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Philosophical Library\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Philosophical Library","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Jan 1965)","offer_id":46291829031109,"sku":"9780806530796","price":18.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780806530796.jpg?v=1780113145"},{"product_id":"death-in-venice-and-other-stories","title":"Death in Venice and Other Stories","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e'impossible here, absurd, depraved, ludicrous and yet sacred, still honourable, even here: \"I love you!\"'\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis volume contains a generous selection of the short fiction Thomas Mann published in the years 1897 to 1912, after which he turned to larger-scale projects. The acknowledged classic among the early shorter fiction is the novella \u003cem\u003eDeath in Venice\u003c\/em\u003e, in which Mann develops a lyrical style and a range of mythological allusions, through the forbidden love of a middle-aged man for a teenage boy, a theme with roots in Mann's own emotional experience. In many of his shorter works, Mann uses irony and humour to treat the conflict between sensitive, often artistic souls and the vital, often brutal forces of life. The stories, usually about isolated figures, convey a mixture of humour, sadness, and irony which invites ambivalent responses from readers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis new set of translations by Ritchie Robertson and Nicola Luckhurst is accompanied by explanatory notes and introduction. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0198850077\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780198850076\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Mann, Thomas, Luckhurst, Nicola, Robertson, Ritchie\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Oxford University Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Apr 2026)","offer_id":46356820000965,"sku":"9780198850076","price":15.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780198850076.jpg?v=1781310798"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.inveni.store\/collections\/literary-criticism-european-german.oembed","provider":"Inveni","version":"1.0","type":"link"}