Intellectual Currents Subject Overview
This section focusses on the historical, sociological, philosophical, economic, political, and scientific context of modernism. Entries cover individuals, coteries, movements, and events. The primary criterion…
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Frobenius, Leo (1873–1938)
Leo Viktor Frobenius, a German ethnologist and philosopher of culture with a particular interest in African cultures, was a central figure in the German discipline…
Garvey, Marcus (1887 – 1940)
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr, was a Jamaican political leader and a prominent figure in promoting Pan-Africanism. His work as a public speaker, publisher and entrepreneur…
Jaspers, Karl (1883−1969)
Karl Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and existential philosopher. After graduating from medical school in 1908, Jaspers took up a research position in a psychiatric…
Lukács, György (1885–1971)
György Lukács was a Hungarian philosopher and literary critic. Born into a wealthy Jewish family, he spent his youth in Berlin and Vienna studying German…
Niebuhr, Reinhold (1892–1971)
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an influential pastor and theologian in America. His thought initially centered on liberal pacifism, but it later turned to the…
November Revolution (German History)
Over the course of November 1918, Germany’s political system changed from a constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary republic. The November Revolution was a consequence of…
Orage, A. R. (1873–1934)
Born in Dacre, Yorkshire, England, Alfred Richard Orage was a British intellectual and writer and the editor of The New Age magazine. The son of…
Progressivism
Progressivism was a political and socioeconomic movement central to American national politics from the Gilded Age (1890s) to the end of the Roaring Twenties. At…
Sandler, Irving (1925– )
Irving Harry Sandler, an American art historian, critic and administrator, was born in New York City and brought up and educated in Philadelphia. He received…
Scholem, Gershom (1897–1982)
Gershom Scholem was born in Berlin to Arthur and Betty Hirsch Scholem. Though raised in an assimilated Jewish and German nationalist household, Gerhard Scholem grew…
Shakespeare and Company
Shakespeare and Company is the legendary English-language lending library and bookstore in Paris, which was founded in 1919 by Sylvia Beach (1887–1962). The shop opened…
Sorel, Georges (1847–1922)
Georges Sorel was a French social thinker and political theorist. An engineer of modest bourgeois extraction, he was a state employee for twenty-five years. He…
Spengler, Oswald (1880–1936)
Oswald Spengler was a prominent historian in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933). From 1908 to 1911, he worked as a high school teacher in Hamburg. Thereafter…
Stephen, Leslie (1832–1904)
Leslie Stephen was an English author and editor who contributed significantly to the science-religion debate in the latter part of the Victorian period. Father of…
Trotsky, Leon (1879–1940)
Leon Trotsky, born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, is one of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century history. Along with Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924), he played a decisive…
Veblen, Thorstein (1857–1929)
Thorstein Veblen was an American economist, sociologist and social critic. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1884. After a six-year stint on his family’s…
Volksgemeinschaft
The German term Volksgemeinschaft, normally translated as ‘national community’ or ‘people’s community’, expresses an ideal image of a harmonious and united society. The term draws…
Walden, Herwarth (1878–1941)
Herwarth Walden was the force behind Der Sturm, an avant-garde journal, gallery, performance venue, bookstore and theater school in Berlin (1910–1932). Walden’s first wife, the…
Weaver, Harriet Shaw (1876–1961)
Harriet Shaw Weaver was a political activist and magazine editor best remembered for her literary and financial support of the modernist writer James Joyce (1882–1941).…
Weininger, Otto (1880–1903)
Otto Weininger was an Austrian philosopher and racial theorist. Born in Vienna to Jewish parents, he committed suicide five months after the publication of Sex…
Blanchot, Maurice (1907–2003)
Maurice Blanchot was one of Europe’s most influential essayists, theorists and experimental fiction writers. Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel…
Durkheim, Émile (1858–1917)
David Émile Durkheim was a founding figure of sociology in France. His conceptual development of the “division of labour” (1893) remains key to a sociological…
Einstein, Albert (1879–1955)
Born in Ulm, Württemberg (now Germany), Einstein was a theoretical physicist who initiated a scientific revolution with his theory of general relativity. Challenging classical mechanics…
Fin de siècle
Referring to the end of the 19th century, Fin de siècle not only represents a specific historical moment but also a part of the sensibility…