Ernst Bloch and His Contemporaries: Locating Utopian Messianism

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Ernst Bloch and His Contemporaries is a much needed concise yet comprehensive overview of Ernst Bloch's early and later thought. It fills an important gap in research on the history of German thought in the 20th century by reconstructing the contexts of Bloch's philosophy, while focusing on his contemporaries - Georg Lukcs, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor Adorno. Ernst Bloch's influential ideas include his theory of utopian consciousness, his resolute inclination to merge aesthetics and politics, rehabilitation of hope, and atheistic conception of Christianity. Although Bloch's major early texts, Spirit of Utopia and Traces, have recently been translated into English, and there has been renewed interest in Bloch over the last 15 years, he is still relatively unknown compared to other left German-Jewish intellectuals. Ivan Boldyrev places Bloch's often enigmatic prose within contexts more familiar to English-speaking readers, and outlines the most important messages in Bloch's legacy still relevant today to European intellectual discourse, in particular aesthetics and philosophy of history.

Reviews

Boldyrevs study will certainly contribute to a new perception of Ernst Bloch. He demonstrates convincingly that Bloch was a creative thinker, who developed his theories in constant dialogue with the most important personalities and ideas of his age. -- Christina Ujma, Paderborn University * Modern Language Review *
This book is a welcome addition to the literature ... given the lack of material in English dealing with the complexities of Bloch's early intellectual formation. Boldyrev conveys well the swirling, turbulent thought of Central European intellectuals in the early decades of the twentieth century ... He is a skilful reader of texts and has a fine eye for subtle yet important distinctions ... [A] complex and challenging piece of work, but it is well worth the effort. * Vincent Geoghegan, History of Political Thought *
This is arguably the most comprehensive English-language study of Blochs intellectual evolution and his philosophy of utopia. Boldyrevs book is wide-ranging and knowledgeable; it weighs Blochs originality and significance through sustained comparison with his distinguished contemporaries. * Galin Tihanov, George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature (Queen Mary, University of London) *
What Ivan Boldyrev has done here is to provide a fresh and accessible perspective not only on Bloch's approaches to the messianic and utopian, but to discuss those approaches in relation to so many other central philosophical figures of the 20th century. What becomes clear in this book is that Bloch's central operator of the Ontology of Not Yet Being brings into its orbit and helps to explain the ideas of Heidegger, Lukcs, Benjamin and Adorno and throws into sharp relief some of the contradictions of 20th century thought. This is an excellent little book for those who wish to understand Bloch's place within the universe of German philosophy. * Peter Thompson, Reader in German, Department of Germanic Studies, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. *
Whereas Freud examined our nightmares, Ernst Bloch focused on our daydreams, our fantasies of alternative realities as the ontological ground of the utopian imagination. In this erudite and compellingly nuanced study, Ivan Boldyrev places Bloch in conversation with his contemporaries Adorno, Benjamin, Buber, Landauer, Lukcs, Rosenzweig, and Scholem illuminating his and their poetics of messianic hope. * Paul Mendes-Flohr, Divinity School, The University of Chicago; Professor emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem *
Blochs work is so unusual as to demand dis-engagement. Boldyrevs juxtaposition with his contemporaries on times and on mysticism is helpful; but it is his extended discussion of Blochs long and fascinating relationship with Lukcs that is the centerpiece of this useful book, and casts new light on both theorists. * Fredric Jameson, William A. Lane Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies, Duke University, USA. *

Author Bio

Ivan Boldyrev is Associate Professor at Higher School of Economics, Russia and Visiting Scholar at Humboldt University, Germany.