The Fate of the Self

by Stanley Corngold

Much recent critical theory has dismissed or failed to take seriously the question of the self. French theorists - such as Derrida, Barthes, Benveniste, Foucault, Lacan, and Levi-Strauss - have in various ways proclaimed the death of the subject, often turning to German intellectual tradition to authorize their views. Stanley Corngold's heralded book, The Fate of the Self, published for the first time in paperback with a spirited new preface, appears at a time when the relationship between the self and literature is a matter of renowned concern. Originally published in 1986, the book examines the poetic self of German intellectual tradition in light of recent French and American critical theory. Focusing on seven major German writers - Holderlin, Dilthey, Nietzsche, Mann, Kafka, Freud, and Heidegger - Corngold shows that their work does not support the desire to discredit the self as an origin of meaning and value but reconstructs the allegedly fragmented poetic self through effects of position and style. Offering new and subtle models of selfhood, The Fate of the Self is a source of rich insight into the work of these authors, refracted through poststructuralist critical perspectives.

279 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 1986

About the author

Stanley Corngold is a professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at Princeton University and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His highly acclaimed translations include Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Kafka's Selected Stories. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.