Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature

<p>This study explores the concept of <i>Stimmung</i> in literary and philosophical texts of the modern age. Signifying both ''mood'' and ''attunement'',<i> Stimmung</i> speaks to the categories of affective experience and aesthetic design alike. The study locates itself in the nexus between discourses on modernity, existentialism and aesthetics and uncovers the pivotal role of<i> Stimmung</i> in 19th- and 20th-century European narrative fiction and continental philosophy. The study first explores the philosophical and aesthetic origins and implications of <i>Stimmung</i> to, then, discuss its role in the narrative fiction of three key authors of modern literature: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Samuel Beckett and Thomas Bernhard. These readings demonstrate a significant shift towards an aesthetic of affective intensity and immediacy, in which the experience of the reading process takes centre stage as each author develops an aesthetic philosophy of<i> Stimmung </i>in their own right. Through its focus on the concept of<i> Stimmung</i>, the study thus unearths a fundamental link between existentialist concerns and narrative practice in modern literature.</p>