The Fate of the Self - by Stanley Corngold (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Much recent critical theory has dismissed or failed to take seriously the question of the self. French theorists--such as Derrida, Barthes, Benveniste, Foucault, Lacan, and Levi-Strauss--have in various ways proclaimed the death of the subject, often turning to German intellectual tradition to authorize their views. Stanley Corngold's heralded book, The Fate of the Self, published for the first time in paperback with a spirited new preface, appears at a time when the relationship between the self and literature is a matter of renewed concern. Originally published in 1986 (Columbia University Press), the book examines the poetic self of German intellectual tradition in light of recent French and American critical theory. Focusing on seven major German writers--Holderlin, Dilthey, Nietzsche, Mann, Kafka, Freud, and Heidegger--Corngold shows that their work does not support the desire to discredit the self as an origin of meaning and value but reconstructs the allegedly fragmented poetic self through effects of position and style. Offering new and subtle models of selfhood, The Fate of the Self is a source of rich insight into the work of these authors, refracted through poststructuralist critical perspectives.

From the Back Cover

"An impressive tour de force. . . . "The Fate of the Self" is precisely the kind of book one will want to read closely, learn from appreciatively, and engage in strenuous debate."--Dominick LaCapra, Cornell University

Review Quotes

"The Fate of the Self is a daring and independent work--daring in the scope of its inclusions, independent in its attitude toward received ideas in literary theory. It brings intellectual history and literary criticism together, without slighting either."--Allan Megill, University of Virginia

"An impressive tour de force. . . . The Fate of the Self is precisely the kind of book one will want to read closely, learn from appreciatively, and engage in strenuous debate."--Dominick LaCapra, Cornell University

""The Fate of the Self" is a daring and independent work--daring in the scope of its inclusions, independent in its attitude toward received ideas in literary theory. It brings intellectual history and literary criticism together, without slighting either."--Allan Megill, University of Virginia

"The question of the self has not gone away, and Corngold is one of the first critics in the U. S. to have taken it up again in the wake of the poststructuralist polemical proclamation of the death of the subject."--Mihai I. Spariosu, University of Georgia

"A breathtaking panorama of German literature . . . [and] a series of brilliant and provactive essays. . . . Both for the impressive scope of its subject and the probing, imaginative intelligence with which it is written, this book constitutes a major contribution to contemporary German studies and critical theory."
--Mark Anderson, "The Germanic Review"

About the Author

Stanley Corngold, Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature at Princeton University, is the author of several books, including Franz Kafka: The Necessity of Form.