Cult of the Will
Nervousness and German Modernity
Description:... Cult of the Will is the first comprehensive study of modernity&’s preoccupation with willpower. From Nietzsche&’s &“will to power&” to the fantasy of a &“triumph of the will&” under Nazism, the will&—its pathologies and potential cures&—was a topic of urgent debates in European modernity. In this study, Michael Cowan examines the emergence of &“will therapy&” and its impact on arts and culture in Germany after 1900. The book&’s five chapters lead readers through cross sections of modern German cultural history, including not only literature and aesthetics but also medicine, economics, body culture, and pedagogy. Modernity&’s fixation on willpower helped prepare the way for fascism, but this trajectory is not Cowan&’s main concern. His focus falls rather on more widespread &“technologies of the self&” and their role in the effort to reimagine agency for a modern subject caught up in increasingly complex systemic networks.
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