Stefan George
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Tanning and foxing
At the crossroads of symbolism and mysticism, Stefan George stands as one of the most commanding and controversial figures in German literary history — a poet who sought nothing less than a spiritual renewal of Western civilisation through the purifying power of aesthetic form. E.K. Bennett's critical study presents a rigorous and illuminating account of George's life and work, charting the poet's evolution from his early immersion in French Symbolism under the influence of Mallarmé, through the formation of the exclusive George-Kreis (George Circle), to the crystalline severity of his later verse. Bennett details the philosophical and cultural underpinnings of George's oeuvre with scholarly precision, situating him within the broader intellectual currents of fin-de-siècle Europe. Bennett's prose is measured yet deeply engaged, bringing clarity to a poet whose deliberate obscurity and aristocratic aloofness made him both revered and misunderstood in equal measure. The study examines the central themes of beauty, elitism, and spiritual authority that pulse through George's poetry, while also confronting the troubling posthumous appropriation of his legacy by nationalist ideologues — a tension George himself never fully resolved. For readers curious about the intersection of aestheticism, Nietzschean philosophy, and the fate of European modernism, this authoritative volume raises questions that linger long after the final page.
Author: E.K. Bennett
Format: Hardback
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Tanning and foxing
At the crossroads of symbolism and mysticism, Stefan George stands as one of the most commanding and controversial figures in German literary history — a poet who sought nothing less than a spiritual renewal of Western civilisation through the purifying power of aesthetic form. E.K. Bennett's critical study presents a rigorous and illuminating account of George's life and work, charting the poet's evolution from his early immersion in French Symbolism under the influence of Mallarmé, through the formation of the exclusive George-Kreis (George Circle), to the crystalline severity of his later verse. Bennett details the philosophical and cultural underpinnings of George's oeuvre with scholarly precision, situating him within the broader intellectual currents of fin-de-siècle Europe. Bennett's prose is measured yet deeply engaged, bringing clarity to a poet whose deliberate obscurity and aristocratic aloofness made him both revered and misunderstood in equal measure. The study examines the central themes of beauty, elitism, and spiritual authority that pulse through George's poetry, while also confronting the troubling posthumous appropriation of his legacy by nationalist ideologues — a tension George himself never fully resolved. For readers curious about the intersection of aestheticism, Nietzschean philosophy, and the fate of European modernism, this authoritative volume raises questions that linger long after the final page.