Product Description

Existentialism, 2/e, offers an exceptional and accessible introduction to the richness and diversity of existentialist thought. Retaining the focus of the highly successful first edition, the second edition provides extensive material on the "big four" existentialists--Kierkegaard, Nietzsche,
Heidegger, and Sartre--while also including selections from twenty-four other authors. Giving readers a sense of the variety of existentialist thought around the world, this edition also adds new readings by such figures as Luis Borges, Viktor Frankl, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Keiji Nishitani, and
Rainer Maria Rilke.

Existentialism, 2/e, also features:
* New translations of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Buber
* More extensive selections from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre
* New selections by Hazel E. Barnes, Miguel de Unamuno, Joseph Heller, Philip Roth, and Colin Wilson
* The Grand Inquisitor (from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov)

Ideal for undergraduate courses in existentialism and Continental philosophy, Existentialism, 2/e, is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the subject.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188885 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-02
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author
Robert C. Solomon is at University of Texas, Austin.

Customer Reviews

A Great Overview
I must admit I bought this for a class, but I really enjoyed it alot. Typically I dislike books that are simply excerpts from philosophical texts and sell them as soon as the class I need the book for is over, but Solomon provides a nice, concise overview of the most prominant of the existential thinkers as well as some exisential plays and novels.

Dreadfully good selection
Solomon selects 26 authors, that give a flavor of the attitude of existentialism (up through 1974). The selections from the novelists such as Dostoevsky, Hesse, Camus, Becket and Saul Bellow capture the tone best for me. Although the more philosophical writings of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre are all fairly readable, the selections from Heidegger and Jaspers were rough going. Each author is introduced with a brief background that presents the author in context.

Solomon does not define existentialism nor offer a single dogma to the herd. This is a good thing! Solomon allows the authors to speak for themselves, and nothing more should be expected of this most individualistic of philosophies. Contrasted to Nietzsche's "God is Dead", Existentialism is not necessarily atheistic, as the inclusion of Kierkegaard, Marcel, Dostoevsky, Buber, and Tillich illustrate. Existentialism is nothing if it doesn't emphasize individual existence, so make the choice to stop reading this review, and read the book and write your own review!

good, cheap existential dread, fits in your pocket
This is a diverse and engaging collection of excerpts from a range of works, many of which I have never seen collected in "existentialist" compilations. A good cheap overview of the major writers. I believe these are still first edition paperbacks, and as far as I know, only Amazon.com still has them. So if you want it, you'd better get it now. And if you just want a single volume, inexpensive intro. to Existentialism, then this is what you want.