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"To describe
Mimesis as a classic is to offer something of a dismissive understatement, which conveys nothing of the excitement of this book, as fresh and direct, as untechnical, as when it first appeared. To say that it constitutes virtually a history of Western literature is to omit adding that it writes that history in a way that is still new and stimulating, with nothing of the manual about it, a synchronic kind of history with which we are only just now catching up. It is also important to stress the novel relationship Auerbach establishes between sentence or syntax and narrative form; and the world-wide democratic perspective in which he framed his work which has only become visible since globalization.
Mimesis is certainly one of the half dozen most important literary-critical works of the twentieth century."
--Fredric R. Jameson"Written in exile, from what Auerbach called with grave irony his 'incomparable historical vantage point, '
Mimesis is a magnificent achievement. For me, as for many others, this hugely ambitious, wise account of the representation of reality in Western literature, at once a celebration and a lament, is one of the essential works of literary criticism."
--Stephen Greenblatt"Every student of literature should know
Mimesis, arguably the single greatest work of 20th-century criticism. How do writers--from Homer and Dante to Stendhal and Virginia Woolf--depict the world? To explore this question, Erich Auerbach brings to bear the authority of truly encyclopedic learning and the persuasiveness of a supple, humane literary intelligence. Yes,
Mimesis is magisterial, but it is also thrilling to read, inspiring, and more relevant than ever: A masterpiece."
--Michael Dirda
List of contents
Introduction to the Fiftieth-Anniversary Edition ix 1. Odysseus' Scar 3 2. Fortunata 24 3. The Arrest of Peter Valvomeres 50 4. Sicharius and Chramnesindus 77 5. Roland Against Ganelon 96 6. The Knight Sets Forth 123 7. Adam and Eve 143 8. Farinata and Cavalcante 174 9. Frate Alberto 203 10. Madame Du Chastel 232 11. The World in Pantagruel's Mouth 262 12. L'Humaine Condition 285 13. The Weary Prince 312 14. The Enchanted Dulcinea 334 15. The Faux Devot 359 16. The Interrupted Supper 395 17. Miller the Musician 434 18. In the Hotel de la Mole 454 19. Germinie Lacerteux 493 20. The Brown Stocking 525 Epilogue 554 Appendix 559 Index 575
About the author
Erich Auerbach
Translated by Willard R. Trask
Introduction by Edward W. Said
Summary
Shows how from antiquity to the twentieth century literature progressed toward ever more naturalistic and democratic forms of representation. This title offers the optimistic view of European history now appears as a defensive - and impassioned - response to the inhumanity he saw in the Third Reich.
Additional text
"[Mimesis] offers not just an eminent reading of the Western canon, but a mighty lesson on how to write. . . . I don't think a more significant or useful book of criticism has been written in the half-century since Mimesis was published. What's more, I can't imagine that anything like it will ever be written again. . . . [In] producing such a rich, strong book on how to read, Auerbach composed a virtual manual on how to write, one I've referred back to again and again since the day, almost two decades ago, when I first happened upon it."---Jim Lewis, Slate Magazine
