Description
Book SynopsisThe writings in this volume previously unpublished in English include the essay 'On Seeing in Nature', his doctoral dissertation 'Idea and Individual', a response to Karl Mannheim's famous paper on cultural competition, and a number of short stories contributed to a newspaper. Other essays collected together here concern primitive art, the sociology of German anti-Semitism, kitsch style and the age of kitsch, and the expulsion of the Huguenots from France. This edition includes as an appendix a draft outline of Elias' Habilitation thesis begun under Alfred Weber. "Early Writings" have been translated from the German edition, Fruschriften, published by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt/Main as volume 1 of the Norbert Elias Gesammelte Schriften, 2002.
Trade Review"As always we are glad to see Irish publishers recognising and catering for the rest of the world. In this case the typography and binding (full cloth, with acetate jacket, silk bands and ribbon) would make any publisher proud." Books Ireland, Feb 2006 "The enterprise of publishing the collected works of Norbert Elias under the editorship of Richard Kilminster and Stephen Mennell by University College Dublin Press is an extremely important contribution to the contemporary intellectual and academic scene. Norbert Elias was one of the most original minds in the human and social sciences in the 20th century - his work covers not only a very broad range of sociological topics starting with his classical The Civilising Process and later The Court Society, but also many topics ranging from sociology of knowledge to sociology of sport and analysis of historical processes; the broad philosophical problems, such as the idea of the place of the progress of symbolic dimensions in social life. This is really a monumental enterprise, very worthwhile and very constructive, presenting a great challenge to the contemporary intellectual and academic scene - and UCD Press should be congratulated in undertaking this enterprise." S. N. Eisenstadt Jerusalem, 24 July 2008 "Too easily the editors and readers of Books Ireland take it as given that Irish publishers' books are mostly about Ireland or by Irish writers. We wish it were not so because we think our publishers are of world class, and a shining exception and exemplar is this series of eighteen volumes of the life's work in English - some of his work was written in German - of Elias (1897-1990) whose major theme was the theory of civilising processes - Norbert is very interesting on the subject as well as on the dynamics of sports, social (and especially male) bonding, violence and football hooliganism. These books are in the very best tradition of design, with acid-free paper, sewn bindings, cloth boards, coloured endpapers, spine labels and acetate jackets." Books Ireland Nov 08
Table of ContentsNorbert Elias: biographical note; Note on the text; Three-day excursion to the Riesengebirge (1914); On seeing in nature (1921); Idea and individual: A critical investigation of the concept of history (1924); Idea and individual: A contribution to the philosophy of history (1924); Anecdotes (1924); Contribution to the debate on Karl Mannheim: The importance of competition in the intellectual field (1929); On primitive art (1929); The sociology of German anti-Semitism (1929); The kitsch style and the age of kitsch (1935). The expulsion of the Huguenots from France (1935); Appendix: The emergence of the modern natural sciences (c. 1925-6); Bibliography; Index.
