CSSN-The Age of the Crisis of Man: Thought and Fiction in America, 1933

The Age of the Crisis of Man: Thought and Fiction in America, 1933–1973

Author : Source : Princeton University Press 2015-01-23

Princeton University Press published a new book The Age of the Crisis of Man: Thought and Fiction in America, 1933–1973 written by Mark Greif, assistant professor of literary studies at the New School.

In a midcentury American cultural episode forgotten today, intellectuals of all schools shared a belief that human nature was under threat. The immediate result was a glut of dense, abstract books on the “nature of man.” But the dawning “age of the crisis of man,” as Mark Greif calls it, was far more than a historical curiosity. In this ambitious intellectual and literary history, Greif recovers this lost line of thought to show how it influenced society, politics, and culture before, during, and long after World War II.

The Age of the Crisis of Man works to uncover a major discourse in American letters, a largely postwar dialogue about the human (or posthuman) condition. It's a formidable project on Greif's part, one that could change the story we tell about intellectual politics in the 20th century.

Editor: Du Mei