Known primarily for his dramas, Toller also published several collections of poetry. This edition contains 40 poems from three manuscript archives in Germany and represents Toller's entire unpublished poetic oeuvre. The poems cover Toller's life from 1909 to his imprisonment (1919-1924, from his involvement in the Munich Councils Republic), along with some written after his imprisonment. Earliest poems document an intense love affair from his adolescence which preoccupied him until his participation in the First World War. Another group charts his initial enthusiasm for the war, growing moral doubts, and final rejection. The brutality and degradation of life as a political prisoner in the Weimar Republic is described graphically. This collection provides unique insights into Toller's early life and his development as writer and political figure. Each poem is provided with a prose translation, making the edition accessible to non-specialists. The commentaries place the poems in context, provide explanations of specific biographical references.

In Degeneration and Revolution: Radical Cultural Politics and the Body in Weimar Germany Robert Heynen explores the impact of conceptions of degeneration, exemplified by eugenics and social hygiene, on the social, cultural, and political history of the left in Germany, 1914–33. Hygienic practices of bodily regulation were integral to the extension of modern capitalist social relations, and profoundly shaped Weimar culture. Heynen’s innovative interdisciplinary approach draws on Marxist and other critical traditions to examine the politics of degeneration and socialist, communist, and anarchist responses. Drawing on key Weimar theorists and addressing artistic and cultural movements ranging from Dada to worker-produced media, this book challenges us to rethink conventional understandings of left culture and politics, and of Weimar culture more generally.

The anonymous tract Disputatio nova contra mulieres, qua probatur eas hominess non esse (A new argument against women, in which it is demonstrated that they are not human beings), first published in 1595, rapidly grew notorious, and was reprinted many times during the 17th and 18th centuries. By selectively quoting scriptural passages, along with a few references to other works, the author attempted to prove that women have no souls, and, being little better than higher animals, will have no afterlife. Although a degree of anti-feminine spite is evident, he was less intent to denigrate women that to advance an absurd argument parallel to what he took to be the equally absurd theological propositions of the Socinian sect, that Christ was not divine. It was nevertheless inevitable that most readers would take the tract at face value. Many refutations appeared. This new edition, with complete translation, collated text, and copious quotations from many references to it, ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries, offers the first full assessment of its impact on early modern feminist thought.

In Defense of Modern Music preserves, almost by accident, a private debate between Esteban de Arteaga, philosopher of the arts, and Vincenzo Manfredini, composer, singing teacher, and champion of Italian heroic opera in the 1780s. The text comprises Manfredini's unfavorable review of Arteaga's History of Italian Opera from its Origins to the Present Day, Arteaga's tetchy response, and Manfredini's scornful reply. The Defence plays a unique role in the debate on opera that raged across Europe at the time. Formidable personalities engaged in the argument, theorists and philosophers as much as practical men of the theatre. Arteaga followed in the footsteps of Algarotti, Diderot, Rousseau, and Brown in analyzing the state of opera in the Age of Enlightenment. Their theories were tested by the composers Gluck, Jommelli, and Traetta; librettists including Calzabiti and Coltellini; two leading choreographers, Angiolini and Noverre; and designers such as the Galliari Brothers. The Defence traces the noble ideas and achievements of these significant personalities in a casual, subjective, sometimes chaotic commentary, that vividly recreates the manner of 18th-century argument - sometimes fulsomely servile, elsewhere witty and ironic, descending occasionally to insults. This, the first English translation of the text, presents a unique account of an important 18th-century controversy, while shedding light on the language and manners of the period.

The detailed introduction provides an account of the historical and linguistic aspects of the text as well as a discussion of its meaning and significance responsive to developments in the sphere of Rose criticism proper. There is a full, up-to-date bibliography, glossary, table of references from the Fiore to the canonical Dante, and specialised rhetorical and technical index."--BOOK JACKET.