Frank Thomas Grub - Böcker

The story of Narcissus, who falls in love with his own image in a spring, has fascinated writers and thinkers ever since Ovid first gave poetical form to the myth in his Metamorphoses. This study systematically investigates the elaborations of the theme at the turn of the century around 1900. It argues that a sense of crisis in the modern foundation of selfhood explains the heightened interest in Narcissus during this period.The book investigates three different aspects of the theme: as a symbol of a poetic apotheosis of the self in French Symbolism; as a narrative of a dissolving self in English, Austrian and French decadent literature; and as the concept of narcissism in sexology and psychoanalysis, where self-love provides an instinctual foundation of the self.

The question of what a manuscript cookery book is or can be is still far from settled. Based on detailed archival research, this book establishes a basic typology of manuscript cookery books, with a focus on the function they served in the life of their owners: memory aid, manual of practical instruction, book in its own right, and showpiece. The author also investigates the work situation of women through an analysis of the educational role of the manuscript cookery book and its function as a tool for the professional cook. It represents a substantial contribution towards closing gaps in knowledge and material relating to reading and writing in eighteenth-century Austria.

This study examines a series of self-representations from the 19th century (by Goethe, Sand, Nietzsche) that obstruct a confessional and psychologizing mode by diminishing the significance of the self. The theoretical inspiration is drawn from thinkers like Emmanuel Levinas, Hannah Arendt, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and others, who give priority to the individual’s close attachment to a multifaceted world. This approach will lead us to themes and concepts like "participation," "perception," "togetherness," "otherness," "corporeality," "collectivism," "publicness," and "sociality." Vanishing Selves displays different forms of attachment to the world and identifies the ethical and existential potential in the affirmation of a world.