Suchergebnisse

God created Americans much like other people. But in the beginning all was good. America, being entirely new (at least to the white race), was especially good. Somehow Americans, simply because they were here and no longer there, considered themselves good people. They regarded themselves as being virtuous in the group because it, if not everyone in it, represented a new start for the weary sin-laden human race. The first moral aspiration of the Puritans was to be Israel reconstituted, a kingdom that rested on a covenant with God, its capital the holy city on the hill.

Criticism in a mass society mediates between the work of art & the public. Few good critics set out deliberately to enlighten someone else. They write to place their own ideas in order, to possess as a critic, through the integral force of intelligence the work of art created by someone else. At its best true literary criticism may actually suggest new subjects & can enliven the imagination. Its greatest single attribute is its force, its passionate declaration of the true nature of man & what his proper destiny must be. It is the kind of criticism that sums up the spirit of the age in which man lives & asks him to transcend it which enables him to see things in the grand perspective - in the way of Marx on Greek philosophy, Kierkegaard on Mozart, Nietzche on the birth of tragedy, Shaw on Ibsen & Lawrence on Amer literature. The critic who sees himself setting standards for his age may stimulate new works of art by helping to create the climate for discussion & by revealing the hidden issues that give a writer a hint of new subjects. V. D. Sanua.

The trouble with magazine writers just now is that we are put so quickly in touch with a large public, we have so obviously the power to influence, to arouse, to change the thinking of people, that, instead of admitting that an article may be only a small step forward in our thinking, we become pompous, always seek to make a point or contradict one, & become pundits in every piece of work. The spirit of occasion, the tone of conversation, & the modesty of the passing moment are most needed. J. A. Fishman.

Intro -- Titel -- Widmung -- Inhalt -- Im Spiegel Lessings oder Eine Republik der Freunde -- Einleitung -- Gedanken zu Lessing -- Von der Menschlichkeit in finsteren Zeiten -- Abschied von Hannah (1907-1975) -- »You will fetch me.« -- Freundschaft mit Hannah Arendt -- »Sie war meine Lehrerin.« - Hannah Arendt -- »… ich kann nicht ohne Verstehen leben.« -- Begegnungen mit Hannah Arendt -- Ein Gespräch mit Matthias Bormuth -- Editorische Angaben und Dank -- Impressum.