Constellation
Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Benjamin in the Now-Time of History
Published on 31. December 2012
344 pages
978-0-8232-4538-3 (ISBN)
Description
Constellation is the first extended exploration of the relationship between Walter Benjamin, the Weimar-era revolutionary cultural critic, and the radical philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The affinity between these noncontemporaneous thinkers serves as a limit case manifesting the precariousness and potentials of cultural transmission in a disillusioned present.
In five chapters, Constellation presents the changing figure of Nietzsche as Benjamin encountered him: an inspiration to his student activism, an authority for his skeptical philology, a manifestation of his philosophical nihilism, a companion in his political exile, and ultimately a subversive collaborator in his efforts to think beyond the hopeless temporality-new and always the same-of the present moment in history.
In five chapters, Constellation presents the changing figure of Nietzsche as Benjamin encountered him: an inspiration to his student activism, an authority for his skeptical philology, a manifestation of his philosophical nihilism, a companion in his political exile, and ultimately a subversive collaborator in his efforts to think beyond the hopeless temporality-new and always the same-of the present moment in history.
Reviews / Votes
"Not only does McFarland evince himself as an original and compelling interpreter of Nietzsche and Benjamin. He strings key passages together in such a way that his exegetical performance fans out toward both authors, configuring them in an inexorable interface of shared interpretation and critique." -- -Henry Sussman * Yale University *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
File size
1,56 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-8232-4538-3 (9780823245383)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
11/2014
Fordham University Press
€40.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Book
12/2012
Fordham University Press
€56.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
James McFarland is Assistant Professor of German Studies at Vanderbilt University.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- A Note on Citations
- Introduction: Walter Benjamin, Friedrich Nietzsche
- The Förster House
- Affinity
- Excelsior!
- 1. Mortal Youth
- A Youthful Facies
- The Friend
- Conversation
- Heinle
- Abstand
- 2. Presentation
- Philology
- Tragedy
- Hamlet
- Socrates
- Silence
- 3. Inscription
- Pseudomenon
- Untimeliness
- Muri
- We Philologists
- Asyndeton
- 4. Collaboration
- Shadow
- Wanderer
- Correspondence
- Demon
- Caesura
- 5. Mad Maturity
- Born Posthumously
- Conspiracy
- Eternal Return
- Glück
- Now-Time
- Conclusion: Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin
- Transcendental Medicine
- The Pawnshop
- The End of All Things
- Notes
- Bibliography
