The book reasserts a traditional genetic approach to critical understanding. An account of the creative “processes” of real authors is illustrated by thirteen case studies, from single poems to epic and dramatic works, from the genesis of new genres to the pattern of a whole career. The selection ranges from antiquity (Homer and the Bible), to Early Modern (Montaigne, Shakespeare) Goethe (three chapters, on “Faust”, the lyrical poetry, and two novels), and finally 19th and 20th century German (Büchner, Thoams Mann, Kafka, Brecht, Paul Celan and Christa Wolf). All texts are quoted in English translation, the crucial ones (poems especially) in the original as well.
