The book is comprised of essays that utilize Shakespeare as a productive window into topics of contemporary social and political relevance. Its interdisciplinary qualities make the book relevant for students of political studies, literature, philosophy, cultural studies, and history.

The first book of its kind, German Aesthetics assembles a who's who of German studies to explore 200 years of intellectual history, spanning literature, philosophy, politics, and culture.

Although Kierkegaard's writings have not exerted an essential influence on canonical trends in literary criticism and theory, his work has supplied subtle and important inspiration for numerous eminent literary critics and theorists. Kierkegaard's influence transcends many polemics in literary theory—a claim justified by the fact that literary critics who draw significant examples and authority from Kierkegaard support varied and sometimes greatly conflicting philosophical and moral positions. This chapter argues that literary‐critical topics invested in Kierkegaard's texts and ideas can be grouped (...) loosely under three thematic banners: irony, repetition, and silence. These themes are often pursued with reference to Kierkegaard's On the Concept of Irony, Repetition, and Fear and Trembling, respectively. The chapter discusses key examples from each of the three common themes, and indicates some of the important exceptions to this typology. (shrink)

Along with providing a translation into English of the last text Immanuel Kant published during his lifetime, Nachschrift eines Freundes, this essay provides a historical account of the context surrounding the writing and publishing of this postscript as well as the German-Lithuanian and Lithuanian-German dictionary that contains it. In addition, this essay discusses the intellectual-historical significance of Kants essay as a political intervention in the name of Lithuanians, their language, and their culture. Nachschrift eines Freundes demonstrates Kant practicing some of (...) the theoretical Enlightenment tenets that his philosophy espouses. (shrink)