Lions

For distinguished philosopher Hans Blumenberg, lions were a life-long obsession. Lions, translated by Kári Driscoll, collects thirty-two of Blumenberg’s philosophical vignettes to reveal that the figure of the lion unites two of his other great preoccupations: metaphors and anecdotes as non-philosophical forms of knowledge.

Each of these short texts, sparkling with erudition and humor, is devoted to a peculiar leonine presence or, in many cases, absence in literature, art, philosophy, religion, and politics. From Ecclesiastes to the New Testament Apocrypha, Dürer to Henri Rousseau, Aesop and La Fontaine to Rilke and Thomas Mann, the extraordinary breadth of Blumenberg’s knowledge and intellectual curiosity is on full display. Lions has much to offer readers, both those already familiar with Blumenberg’s oeuvre and newcomers looking for an introduction to the thought of one of Germany’s most important postwar philosophers.

About the Author

Hans Blumenberg (1920-96) was a German philosopher and intellectual historian. During his lifetime he was a member of the Senate of the German Research Foundation, a professor at several universities in Germany, and cofounder of the research group Poetics and Hermeneutics.

About the Translator

Kari Driscoll is lecturer in comparative literature at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In 2011 he was awarded the inaugural Gutekunst Prize for Young Translators.