German Literature: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) - Softcover

Boyle, Nicholas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199206597 ISBN 13: 9780199206599

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2008

Synopsis

German writers, from Luther and Goethe to Heine, Brecht, and Günter Grass, have had a profound influence on the modern world.

This Very Short Introduction presents an engrossing tour of the course of German literature from the late Middle Ages to the present, focussing especially on the last 250 years. Emphasizing the economic and religious context of many masterpieces of German literature, it highlights how they can be interpreted as responses to social and political changes within an often violent and tragic history. The result is a new and clear perspective which illuminates the power of German literature and the German intellectual tradition, and its impact on the wider cultural world.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

About this title

Review

Boyle has a sure touch and an obvious authority...this is a balanced and lively introduction to German literature. (Ben Hutchinson, TLS)

highly impressive... Professor Boyle concentrates on creating a lucid, wide-ranging historical background against which each of the five periods is brought to life, with a challenging choice of examples (Forum for Modern Language Studies)

About the Author

Nicholas Boyle is the Schröder Professor of German and President of Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge. He was also Head of the University's Department of German from1996 to 2001. He has so far published two volumes of his prizewinnning biography, Goethe: the Poet and the Age, and his most recent book is Sacred and Secular Scriptures: a Catholic approach to literature published in 2004, based on the Erasmus Lectures which he delivered at Notre Dame University. Professor Boyle is a Fellow of the British Academy, holds an honorary degree from Georgetown University in Washington DC, and was awarded the Goethe Medal of the Goethe Institut in 2000.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0199206597
• ISBN 13: 9780199206599
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 171