The Literary Absolute: The Theory of Literature in German Romanticism

Albany: State University of New York Press. Very Good. 1st printing. Softcover. [surface rubbing/scuffing along bottom edge of front cover, slight ripple in text block, previous owner's name in ink at top of front endpaper but no markings in text]. (Intersections: Philosophy and Critical Theory) Series Trade PB Originally published in France in 1978, this is "the first authoritative study of the emergence of the modern concept of literature in German romanticism. [It] situates the Jena romantics' 'fragmentary' model of literature -- a model of literature as the production of its own theory -- in relation to the development of a post-Kantian conception of philosophy as the total and reflective auto-production of the thinking subject. Analyzing key texts of the period, the authors articulate the characteristics of romantic thought and at the same time show historical and systematic connections with modern literary theory. Thus, [the book] renews contemporary scholarship, showing the romantic origins of some of the leading issues in current critical theory." (Or: Why I Got the Hell Out of Academia.) .