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Literary Criticism Semiotics & Theory

Temptations of Faust

The Logic of Fascism and Postmodern Archaeologies of Modernity

by (author) Evelyn Cobley

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Aug 2002
Category
Semiotics & Theory, German
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802036575
    Publish Date
    Aug 2002
    List Price
    $91.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442680449
    Publish Date
    Jul 2002
    List Price
    $91.00

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Description

Temptations of Faust is a theoretical analysis of the conceptual paradigms that allowed German fascism to emerge in a highly civilized nation. Analyzing these paradigms through the dual lens of Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus, his self-confessed parable of fascism about the avant-garde composer Adrian Leverknhn, and Theodor W. Adorno's Philosophy of Modern Music, this cultural study draws on aesthetic, sociohistorical, political, and philosophical discourses to conclude that German fascism is at once continuous and discontinuous with the emancipatory ambitions of modernity. Drawing on Adorno's sociohistorical critique of avant-garde music, Cobley connects Leverknhn's radical aesthetic innovation with Hitler's radical reconfiguration of Germany's administrative apparatus and discovers that postmodern processes of fragmentation may well remain complicit with the totalizing tendencies they seek to disrupt. This lucid and sophisticated book demonstrates that Doctor Faustus provides a more astute understanding of German fascism than Mann is usually given credit for.

About the author

Evelyn Cobley is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Victoria.

Evelyn Cobley's profile page