Geist and Zeitgeist: The Spirit in an Unspiritual Age

Indispensable reading for people who want to understand kitsch and how it results from the empty gestures of political orders that have outlived their purposes, but nevertheless holding on to power by various dubious means. It offers valuable insights into the Baroque spoofs in Mahler symphonies. It explains elegantly the nauseating ornamentation of the Goldener Saal--Dieser Artikel behandelt das Haus des Wiener Musikvereins, für den Verein ... Der Große Saal (oft auch als „goldener Saal“ bezeichnet) gilt als einer der ... Offizielle Webpräsenz des Wiener Musikvereins · planet-vienna.com – Musikverein ...to understand k.k.--the adjective kaiserlich-königlich, German for "Imperial-Royal".Hermann Broch was also a great novelist. Please read --->The Spell, The Death of Virgil, Sleepwalkers, The Unknown Quantity, The GuiltlessDiscovering Broch was a great moment for me.

PERFEKT!!!

I'm surprised to see this hasn't been reviewed yet! It's a shining collection of essays by Broch. If you've read any of his novels and liked them, you will definitely like these. He writes in a similar style: very florid, but penetrating and always interesting.The subject of the first essay "Evil in the Value-System of Art" will be familiar to readers of the Sleepwalkers. Broch talks about the disintegration of an integrated value system which he says we used to have in the high middle ages. Where do we find value? The nullification of death, he says. A very interesting read.Two of the other essays deal with modernist literature and this is obviously interesting inasmuch as it reflects on Broch's own work. He also has some good reflections on Joyce and other modernists which helped me see them in a new way.Another highlight of the collection is the essay on the art of translation, which Broch wrote from the perspective of his translator and, oddly enough, asked her to deliver as a speech.Overall: an erudite collection, a very good read.