Sarah McGaughey, Elisa Risi, Daniel Weidner, Doren Wohlleben (ed./eds.)
Massenwahntheorie und Friedenspoetik
Hermann Broch und die bedrohte Demokratie des 20. Jahrhunderts
[The Theory of Mass Delusion and the Poetics of Peace. Hermann Broch and the Threatened Democracy of the 20th Century]
De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2023, 282 pages
ISBN 978-3-1112-1921-9 (Print); 978-3-1112-2239-4 (PDF)
The Jewish author and intellectual Hermann Broch (1886–1951), who had emigrated to the USA, was interested in the radical rupture in civilization, the future and defense of democracy, the struggle against totalitarianism and mass delusion, the commitment to human rights, as well as the utopian potential of literature. This volume explores the actuality of his thinking in the context of interdisciplinary peace and democracy research.
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“This volume examines Hermann Broch’s unpublished papers, his correspondences, as well as his major works of fiction in terms of his political and international peace programs and his mass hysteria theory. Its goals are clearly stated, the research is accurate and thorough, and the volume is impressive in terms of the scholarly strength of the fourteen contributors, who represent many of the twenty-first century’s leading scholars on Broch’s émigré years.”
Donald L. Wallace, Austrian History Yearbook (2025)