This study examines recurring animal images in Hofmannsthal's major works and some fragments. In his early -Marchen der 672. Nacht- and in -Reitergeschichte- animals confront man with evidence of his own physicality, symbolizing what Hofmannsthal called -Die Unentrinnbarkeit des Lebens.- Hunting imagery in "Die Frau im Fenster, " the unfinished -Knabengeschichte, - and "Andreas" provides insight into problematical relationships between men and women. The analysis of animal torture in "Das kleine Welttheater, Andreas, " and "Der Turm" exposes deep-rooted conflicts between fathers and sons."

Hermann Broch (1886-1951) is remembered among English-speaking readers for his novels The Sleepwalkers and The Death of Virgil, and among German-speaking readers for his novels as well as his works on moral and political philosophy, his aesthetic theory, and his varied criticism. This study reveals Broch as a major historian as well, one who believes that true historical understanding requires the faculties of both poet and philosopher. Through an analysis of the changing thought and career of the Austrian poet, librettist, and essaist Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929), Broch attempts to define and analyze the major intellectual issues of the European fin de siècle, a period that he characterizes according to the Nietzschean concepts of the breakdown of rationality and the loss of a central value system. The result is a major examination of European thought as well as a comparative study of political systems and artistic styles.

A publication of the Goethe Society of North America, carrying Goethe criticism (and studies of his contemporaries); extensive book review section. The Goethe Yearbook is a publication of the Goethe Society of North America, which was founded in 1980 to promote the study of Goethe and his contemporaries. Originally conceived as a vehicle for Goethe criticism in Englishduring the Cold War political tensions, when the most prestigious Goethe publication, the Goethe Jahrbuch, was not available to most Western scholars, the Yearbook subsequently gained the respect of the international community, and has published articles, in both English and German, by scholars from around the world; it is unique among other periodicals devoted to the 'Goethezeit' for its extensive book review section.