Important essays from one of the giants of literary criticism,
including a dozen published here in English for the first time
Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), best known for his classic literary study
Mimesis, is celebrated today as a founder of comparative literature, a
forerunner of secular criticism, and a prophet of global literary
studies. Yet the true depth of Auerbach's thinking and writing remains
unplumbed. Time, History, and Literature presents a wide selection of
Auerbach's essays, many of which are little known outside the
German-speaking world. Of the twenty essays culled for this volume from
the full length of his career, twelve have never appeared in English
before, and one is being published for the first time.
Foregrounded in this major new collection are Auerbach's complex
relationship to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, his philosophy of time
and history, and his theory of human ethics and responsible action.
Auerbach effectively charts out the difficult discovery, in the wake of
Christianity, of the sensuous, the earthly, and the human and social
worlds. A number of the essays reflect Auerbach's responses to an
increasingly hostile National Socialist environment. These writings
offer a challenging model of intellectual engagement, one that remains
as compelling today as it was in Auerbach's own time.