Weimar Intellectuals and the Threat of Modernity [Hardcover]

... the range, power, and archival resourcefulness of Barnouws book will make it impossible for anyone working in the field to ignore this powerful and disturbing historical meditation on the societal function and responsibility of the intellecutual. The German Quarterly

... a work of real value for patient readers. American Journal of Sociology

... a forceful and compelling thesis that challenges our understanding of several seminal figures writing during the first half of the century. Monatshefte

In this challenging study of a complex period, Barnouw investigates the works of seven representative figures of the Weimar republic: Walter Rahtenau, Robert Musil, Thomas Mann, Walter Benjamin, Ernst J?nger, Hermann Broch, and Alfred D?blin.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION

Part One: Tempted by Distance: Intellectuals and the Gey Republic

Part Two: The Problem of Experience
1. The Threatened Self: Walter Rathenau and the Politics of Wholeness
2. Ulrich, a Life: Robert Musil and the Experiment of the Real
3. Placet Experiri? Thomas Mann and the Charms of Entelechy

Part Three: The Seductions of Redemption
4. Marxist Creationism: Walter Benjamin and the Authority of the Critic
5. The Magic Spaces of Terror: Ernst Junger and the Aesthetics of Authenticity
6. Redemptive Narration: Hermann Broch, Alfred Doblin, and the Metaphysics of Community

Epilogue: That Certain Grey Veil of West German Boredom

Notes
Index