Kollektivpoetik: Zu einer Literatur der offenen Gesellschaft in der Moderne mit Studien zu Goethe, Emerson, Whitman und Thomas Mann

Following a trajectory that begins with Goethe and extends through Emerson, Whitman, and Mann, this study reconstructs a neglected facet of modernity: the effort to create a “collective poetics.” The work examines both aspects of literary form and ways of thinking about society and politics. The collective poetics of “E pluribus unum” represents the literary manifestation of the guiding principle of the US and of liberal democracy in general.