In German literature and philosophy of the 1930s and 1940s we encounter recurrent images and modes of thought of an ahistoric existence. There were attempts to turn away from modern rationalism and re-think "Man" as a being not determined by intellect, history, or nature. The present study is the first to reconstruct this discourse. In doing so, it opens up new windows on the development of the history of German literature and thought from the end of the Weimar Republic until the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany and on the works produced during this time.

Gregor Streim, Freie Universität Berlin.