Primitive Thinking: Figuring Alterity in German Modernity

Nicola Gess

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2022

Primitive Thinking

Figuring Alterity in German Modernity

Nicola Gess
Translated by: Erik Butler and Susan Solomon

Volume 13 in the series Paradigms

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110695090

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book examines the discourse on ‘primitive thinking’ in early twentieth century Germany. It explores texts from the social sciences, writings on art and language and – most centrally – literary works by Robert Musil, Walter Benjamin, Gottfried Benn and Robert Müller, focusing on three figurations of alterity prominent in European primitivism: indigenous cultures, children, and the mentally ill.

Author / Editor information

Nicola Gess, Universität Basel, Switzerland.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Chapter 1 The Presence of the ‘Primitive’: An Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
Part One: Figures of ‘Primitive Thinking’
Chapter 2 The Ethnological Paradigm of the ‘Primitive’ Open Access Download PDF	33
Chapter 3 The Child as ‘Primitive’ Open Access Download PDF	75
Chapter 4 Psychopathology in the Paradigm of the ‘Primitive’ Open Access Download PDF	110
Part Two: Art, Language, and ‘Primitive Thinking’
Chapter 5 The Origins of Art Open Access Download PDF	143
Chapter 6 ‘Primitive Language’ – Theories of Metaphor Open Access Download PDF	176
Part Three: ‘Primitive Thinking’ in German Literary Modernism
Chapter 7 The “Tropological Nature” of the Poet in Müller and Benn Open Access Download PDF	205
Chapter 8 A Sister in Madness: Figures of ‘Primitive Thinking’ in Robert Musil Open Access Download PDF	236
Chapter 9 The Dialectical Turn of ‘Primitive Thinking’: The Child and Gesture in Walter Benjamin Open Access Download PDF	303
Epilogue Open Access Download PDF	358
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	361
Index Open Access Download PDF	391

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of Literary and Cultural Studies
Pages
- Front matter: 7
- Main content: 396
Keywords: Primitivism; literature; modernism; Walter Benjamin; Robert Musil; anthropology

eBook

Published: September 6, 2022
ISBN: 9783110695090

Hardcover

Published: September 6, 2022
ISBN: 9783110694680