Long recognized as one of the foremost literary critics of the twentieth century, the Hungarian-born Georg Lukacs (1885-1971) shocked many by turning to Marxism in 1918. Using his formidable knowledge of European cultural history, he revitalized Marxist theory with his book History and Class Consciousness (1923), and continued to write extensively about literature. The ultimate question posed by this book is how Lukacs in the 1930s was able to write enthusiastically about Goethe, citing him as an ideal exponent of humanism, while simultaneously accepting and even condoning Stalinism.

New resources for the critique of capitalism in culture from the late writings of Georg Lukács, one of the first authors in the tradition of Western Marxism. The Hungarian literary critic, philosopher, and Marxist social theorist Georg Lukács is best known for his 1923 History and Class Consciousness, in which he offered an influential critique of reification from the standpoint of a dialectical conception of totality. While Lukács’s early works have been central to the study of Marxist thought, his later works have often been dismissed as political accommodations to Stalinism. In this new study, Matthew Smetona argues for a revisionist interpretation of Lukács’s later writings on topics as diverse as aesthetics, politics, and ontology. Smetona demonstrates that these writings reveal a methodological unity that follows directly from History and Class Consciousness, in which realism, in both literary and extraliterary senses, becomes the basis for the critique of reification. As Lukács had demonstrated, reification is that process by which the social relations between persons seem to take on the character of a thing. Rooted in Marx’s concept of commodity fetishism, the critique of reification proved, in Lukács’s hands, to be a flexible tool capable of clarifying all manner of obfuscations that arise within the social relations that capitalism produces. To recover the later work of Lukács is to open up new horizons for Marxist cultural criticism.

First published in 1977, Georg Lukács gives an outline of Lukács’ views and explains how they are related to the relevant cultural traditions of his epoch. The author covers the whole range of Lukács’ thought, from his earliest literary criticism to the posthumous Ontology of Social Existence. Lukács’ early writings in particular are frequently obscure in style and impregnated with the language and thought of Hegel. Professor Parkinson has elucidated Lukács’ principal writings in systematic fashion, and the book includes a detailed exposition of Lukács’ influential but difficult book History and Class Consciousness. This should be an indispensable book for all those who seek a clear, comprehensible introduction to the writings of one of the most influential Marxist thinkers of our time.

Designed to provide English readers of German literature the opportunity to familiarize themselves with both the established canon and newly emerging literatures that reflect the concerns of women and ethnic minorities, the Encyclopedia of German Literature includes more than 500 entries on writers, individual work, and topics essential to an understanding of this rich literary tradition. Drawing on the expertise of an international group of experts, the essays in the encyclopedia reflect developments of the latest scholarship in German literature, culture, and history and society. In addition to the essays, author entries include biographies and works lists; and works entries provide information about first editions, selected critical editions, and English-language translations. All entries conclude with a list of further readings.

Essays on the Wilhelm Meister novels, Faust, Goethe's early plays, Schiller's Räuber and on Goethe's thought in relation to current debates on cosmopolitanism and postcoloniality. The Goethe Yearbook, first published in 1982, is a publication of the Goethe Society of North America and is dedicated to North American Goethe Scholarship. It aims above all to encourage and publish original English-language contributions to the understanding of Goethe and other authors of the Goethezeit, while also welcoming contributions from scholars around the world. This year's volume features a cluster of exceptional essays thatshed new light on Goethe's Wilhelm Meister novels and Faust, as well as fascinating articles on the early play Das Jahrmarktsfest zu Plundersweilen and the poem "Ilmenau," Schiller's Die Räuber, and anessay that places Goethe's thought in relation to current debates about cosmopolitanism and postcoloniality. Engaging reviews of recent publications in Goethe studies round out the volume. Contributors include Eric Denton, Matt Erlin, Jaimey Fisher, Ingrid Rieger, Rainer Kawa, David Barry, Stephanie Dawson, and John Pizer. Simon J. Richter is Professor of German at the University of Pennsylvania. Book review editor Martha B. Helfer is Professor of German at Rutgers University.

This major interdisciplinary collection captures the vitality and increasingly global significance of the Faust figure in literature, theatre and music. Bringing together scholars from around the world, International Faust Studies examines questions of adaptation, reception and translation centering on Faust discourse in a diversity of cultural contexts, including the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, African, Brazilian and Canadian, as well as the European, British and American. It broadens the field by including studies of lesser known or neglected Faust discourse, including the translation of Goethe's Faust recently attributed to Coleridge, in addition to the canonical.