The bourgeois as hero
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The bourgeois as hero
Polity, 1989
- Other Title
-
Der Bürger als Held : sozialgeschichtliche Auflösungen literarischer Widersprüche
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Note
Originally published: Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp, 1973
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Analyzing how the bourgeoisie created themselves as the heroes of the literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, this is a systematic study of bourgeois literature which clearly shows the integral relationship between a social class and the ideals projected in its literary works. The idea of the bourgeois as hero is pursued through a reading of some of the major texts of classical German literature. The author focuses on opposing literary forms: epic and novel in Jean Paul's "Titan"; poetry and prose in Goethe's "Brautigam"; tragedy and comedy in Lessing's "Minna von Barnhelm". Shlaffer links these forms to the bourgeois preoccupations with love, work, honour and money to show how class origins underpin and subvert the idealistic literary ambitions of the bourgeoisie.
Table of Contents
- Epic and novel. Action and consciousness. Jean Paul's "Titan"
- poetry and prose
- love and labour
- Goethe's "Bridegroom Barnhelm"
- tragedy and comedy
- honour and money
- Lessing's "Minna von Barnhelm"
- conclusion and methodology
- pre-bourgeois heroism in bourgeois society
- problems of socio-historical interpretation.
by "Nielsen BookData"