Description
Book SynopsisThe book is a comparative study of the works of Józef Wittlin and Pär Lagerkvist, in their youth recognized as prominent expressionist writers, and in their later years making the ethical topic the core of their works. In search for ways of expressing ethical dilemmas, the works of Søren Kierkegaard and his concept of indirect communication turned out to be an extraordinarily powerful tool for both writers, enabling them to explore the matters of ethics and morals in a way substantially different from traditional didactic literature. In the reading of Wittlin‘s and Lagerkvist’s works undertaken in this book, the perspectives of comparative studies and the history of literature complement and make it possible to describe an important, but rarely recognized phenomenon of modern European literature: its ethical variant.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. Modern ethical literature: genealogy and definition.
Chapter 2. Ethical tasks of literature according to Lagerkvist and Wittlin
Chapter 3. The capabilities of poetry: on Ångestand Hymns
Chapter 4. The capabilities of prose: on The Salt of the Earth and The Dwarf
Chapter 5. Exiles, visitors and pilgrims: around apocryphal works
Conclusions
