1
of
1
Literature and Politics
Selected Writings
Series: Critical Century
Brief Description
Politics is will and not truth. A very primitive formulation, but rich in consequences. Robert Musil was keenly aware of literature's vulnerability to what he called "the over-reach and encroachment of politics", but he was also an acute observer of the ways in which literature and...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$5699
Unit price
/
Unavailable
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER
Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks
Found a better price? Request a price match
Literature and Politics
$5699
Unit price
/
Unavailable
A Collection of Robert Musil's essays, addresses, aphorisms, and unpublished notes on current events. Introduced and contextualised by Genese Grill and Klaus Amann.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
Politics is will and not truth. A very primitive formulation, but rich in consequences.
Robert Musil was keenly aware of literature's vulnerability to what he called "the over-reach and encroachment of politics", but he was also an acute observer of the ways in which literature and politics interact. Literature and Politics presents Musil's writings on the relationship between literature and politics from World War I through World War II and elucidates his personal struggle to bear witness during the Age of Totalitarianism.
In essays, addresses, aphorisms, and unpublished notes on current events, Musil charted the increasing dangers posed to artists and intellectuals by projects of ideological conscription, as well as the broader threats posed by nationalism and other extreme forms of collectivism. His political thinking was unfailingly supple and nuanced, but at its heart was a passionate belief in the rich and irreducible nature of individual creative work as the bulwark of a free, ethical, and pluralistic society.
The main texts are translated by Genese Grill and Klaus Amann provides an invaluable introduction to Musil's political thought, while Philip Payne introduces Musil's "On Stupidity" (which he has also translated into English).
Series: Critical Century
View all-
Marginalia On Casanova
A philosopher in the guise of a rake. In this wild, dazzling work of literary reinvention, Hungarian modernist Miklós Szentkuthy uses Casanova's memoirs as a springboard for something far stranger: a swirling meditation on eros, memory, disguise, vanity, and the metaphysics of seduction. Blending fiction, philosophy, and improvisation, Marginalia on Casanova is less a commentary than an ecstatic interruption —...Paperback$9000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Literature and Politics
Politics is will and not truth. A very primitive formulation, but rich in consequences. Robert Musil was keenly aware of literature's vulnerability to what he called "the over-reach and encroachment of politics", but he was also an acute observer of the ways in which literature and politics interact. Literature and Politics presents Musil's writings on the relationship between literature and...Paperback$5699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Paris Spleen
Paris Spleen is one of the first modern books—formally experimental, morally ambivalent, and relentlessly urban. Written in the 1850s, these fifty prose poems roam through the streets of Paris with unsparing detail and a deeply ambivalent gaze. Baudelaire captures daily life as something both intoxicating and absurd, filled with strange encounters, sudden violence, fleeting beauty, and constant noise. This is...Paperback$3399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The Divine Mimesis
In The Divine Mimesis, Pasolini reimagines Dante's descent into Hell not as allegory but as lived, historical reality—urban, political, and deeply personal. Written in the final years of his life, this unfinished and fiercely experimental work leads us through the wreckage of modern Italy: housing projects, consumer culture, political betrayal, the spiritual void left in the wake of fascism and...Paperback$3399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The Stroller of Paris
A masterwork of poetic urban observation, The Stroller of Paris is Léon-Paul Fargue's luminous love letter to the city he wandered, savored, and immortalised in prose. Long unavailable in English, this book opens the door to a Paris now spectral and half-forgotten—where the boulevards echoed with café banter, jazz and politics collided in salons, and the ghosts of Baudelaire and...Paperback$3399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The Greek Music Drama
The real obstacle to the development of modern art forms is erudition, conscious knowledge, and an excess of knowledge: all growth and development in the realm of art has to take place in the dead of night. The Greek Music Drama marks a significant moment in the development of Nietzsche's thought. Delivered as a lecture in 1870, it was the...Paperback$3399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Phrases
Phrases presents the spoken language from six films by Jean-Luc Godard: Germany Nine Zero, The Kids Play Russian, JLG / JLG, 2 x 50 Years of French Cinema, For Ever Mozart, and In Praise of Love. Completed between 1991 and 2001, during what has been called Godard's "years of memory", these films and videos were made alongside and in the...Paperback$4599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Writings on Art and Poetical Theory
Sincerity is the one great artistic crime. Insincerity is the second greatest. In addition to his literary and fictional works, Fernando Pessoa wrote a multiplicity of theoretical texts concerning literature and aesthetics. In Writings on Art and Poetical Theory, we see Pessoa exploring, under the guise of various heteronyms, general theories on poetics, the poetry produced by his other heteronyms,...Paperback$4599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
I Killed and I Bled
Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961) was already a comet in European letters when the First World War shattered his body and reordered his art. He enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in 1914, fought at the Somme and the Marne, and on 28 September 1915 lost the lower half of his right arm—his writing hand. From this unthinkable fact he forged a...Paperback$6200Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781916809611
Publisher: ERIS
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 02 July 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: ERIS
Edition: New Edition
Contributors:
- Translated by Genese Grill
- Edited by Philip Payne
- Edited by Klaus Amann
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 132.0mm
Height: 231.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 564
About the Author
Robert Musil (1880–1942) was a novelist, dramatist, and philosopher. He was the author of the widely celebrated novel The Man Without Qualities.
Also by Robert Musil
View all-
Precision and Soul
"We do not have too much intellect and too little soul, but too little precision in matters of the soul."—Robert Musil Best known as the author of the novel The Man without Qualities, Robert Musil wrote these essays in Vienna and Berlin between 1911 and 1937. Offering a perspective on modern society and intellectual life, they are concerned with the...Paperback$7099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
More from Arts & Culture
View all-
Dylan's PickBold Types
A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...Hardback$5999Elsewhere:$7000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseDisney Moana: The Official Cookbook
Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...Hardback$4499Elsewhere:$5299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
This Angry Pen of Mine
This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...Hardback$7299Elsewhere:$8999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
They Bloom Because of You
Bestselling author and Instagram sensation Jessica Urlichs returns with a new collection of beautifully observed poems about the ever-evolving journey of motherhood - the hard, the magic and the fleeting. ‘A raw and honest read that makes you feel seen and understood in a way that will bring you to tears.’ - Hilary Swank ‘A book to keep close and...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Leaves of Grass
A collectible new Penguin Classics series offers beautiful, slim, clothbound editions of ten favourite poets. In 1855, Walt Whitman published his first collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass. The volume received great praise from leading Transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. This encouragement led to what would become a lifelong project, as Whitman expanded and rewrote the volume until his death...Hardback$2200Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Great Writers and the Cats who Owned Them
Throughout history, cats and writers have bonded together in a magical combination of comfort, companionship and inspiration. The famous authors featured here range from Samuel Johnson, whose cat Hodge dined on oysters, and Edward Lear, whose charismatic cat Foss was missing half his tail, to Margaret Mitchell, L. M. Montgomery and Dorothy L. Sayers, who rescued her kitten Blitz from...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Beautiful Chaos
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller Selected poems from bestselling author and Instagram poet, Jessica Urlichs. 'These words awaken the magic of life by celebrating the ordinary.' - Giovanna Fletcher Motherhood is messy and beautiful, and hard and humbling. We adore our children and sometimes we miss ourselves. Beautiful Chaos is a collection of raw, honest poems about motherhood, capturing everything...Paperback$2900Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
The Odyssey
Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travellers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative....Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3599Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips late August -
Wreck This Journal: Now in Colour
The creative journey continues with Wreck This Journal: Now in Colour by Keri Smith, the latest and most vibrant edition of the groundbreaking series that redefined journaling. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this edition brings the playful destructiveness of the original to life in dazzling full colour, adding a dynamic new dimension to the beloved prompts. Whether you're a seasoned Wreck-er,...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$2800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Did I Ever Tell You This?
In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his...Paperback$3799Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips early September -
A Thousand Feasts
THE INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER From award-winning writer Nigel Slater, comes a new and exquisitely written collection of notes, memoir, stories and small moments of joy. 'Nigel Slater’s prose is the rarest delicacy of all: exquisite yet effortless, filled with heart, tenderness, yearning and humour' ELIZABETH DAY For years, Nigel Slater has kept notebooks of curiosities and wonderings, penned...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Deliver Me from Nowhere (Movie Tie-In)
An updated movie tie-in edition of the fascinating story behind the making of Bruce Springsteen's most surprising album, Nebraska, and its pivotal role in the rock legend's career. The inspiration for the major motion picture starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong. The fascinating story behind the making of Bruce Springsteen's most surprising album, Nebraska, revealing its pivotal role in...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
