Promotional Information

Elegantly written and thoroughly researched, Passions of the Sign is a study of the philosophical and literary response to moments of foundational crisis in works by Kant, Goethe, and Kleist. It combines, in a sort of seamless perfection that is really quite rare, delicate textual analysis with an awareness of broader theoretical concerns. It treats figures of staggering importance and it addresses issues of pressing significance to the humanities. This study is the fruit of a remarkably thorough meditation, and makes for an enriching and enjoyable reading even for the non-expert. -- David E. Wellbery, University of Chicago Gailus has chosen a specific moment in history-the French Revolution-to explore a general and systematic subject matter: How does crisis-a fundamental crisis of the social, cultural, and symbolic order-function as thematic object and as structural element, as destructive and constitutional moment in linguistic representation? Well written and solidly thought through, this book offers a cutting-edge argument for why literature and philosophy from the 'Goethe period' matters today: it is the exemplary case of a cultural system to understand crisis-to think crisis, develop form from crisis, and, first of all, let crisis have a place to happen. -- Rudiger Campe, The Johns Hopkins University

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction: Energetic Signs: Autonomy and Novelty in the Age of Revolution
1. Revealing Freedom: Crisis and Enthusiasm in Kant's Philosophy of History
2. The Poetics of Containment: Goethe's Conversations of German Refugees and the Crisis of Communication
3. Border Narratives: Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas
Conclusion: The Big Either
Notes
References
Index

About the Author

Andreas Gailus is an associate professor of German at the University of Minnesota.

Reviews

Offers original insights into these well-known works... A sound contribution to the critical literature. Choice This book is far too short for the large and complex topics Andreas Gailus engages with so boldly and skillfully. -- Arnd Bohm Seminar: Journal of Germanic Studies Gailus' book provides a needful reminder that the concept of history is theoretical and the meaning of theory historical. -- Anthony Adler German Studies Review The great virtue of this book is that its author is an attentive reader who reads important texts and writes well about what he reads. -- Clayton Koelb Monatshefte