My Animals & Flowers

Lessons from the Natural World

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

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Translated into English for the first time, My Animals and Flowers bring forth Theodor Lessing’s visionary philosophy of need in an idiosyncratic series of musings on the natural world, which range from light-hearted to darkly shadowed. Full of imagination, wit, and insight into the nature and history of living species, they demonstrate Lessing’s brilliant ability to combine biological observation with social, psychological, political, historical, educational, and above all, philosophical thoughts.Grimly pessimistic about human society, Lessing found both a mirror and a refuge in the world of animals and flowers. In observing nature and attributing all type of human characteristics to animals and plants, he exposes the fusing of nature and culture, and – in dialogue with the natural world – confronts a whole cluster of political questions from the question of equality for women and marital fidelity to the pollution of cities and man’s destruction of the environment. Much of this work, sketching out the implications of an atomic age for example, has proved uncannily prophetic.To read this book is to enter into a curious and deeply sensitive world, in which to peer down at a colony of ants is to be reminded of ‘giant nations, each in conflict with the others’, and to catch a glimpse of bright poppies in a cornfield is to be submerged in a chain of thoughts from St Augustine to David Hume. Amongst the autobiographical reflections, Lessing weaves in critical observations of Western civilization, and critique of human culture as a destructive and disfiguring influence in the natural world. Ultimately, his philosophy of need shows how civilization comes at the expense of nature, ringing true with the climate of our times.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-01-22
Mått154 x 236 x 24 mm
Vikt640 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor336
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN9781350526785
ÖversättarePeter C. Appelbaum

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Theodor Lessing (1872-1933) was a German Jewish philosopher known for opposing the rise of Hindenburg as president of the Weimar Republic and for his book on Jewish self-hatred.Peter Appelbaum (translator) is Emeritus Professor of Pathology at Pennsylvania State University, USA. During his retirement years he has published fourteen books and translations about Jews in Central Europe during World War I and thereafter. He was awarded the (London) Times Literary Supplement - Risa Domb Porjes Prize in 2019 for his translation of Avigdor Hameiri’s Hell on Earth. He has published two previous translations of Theodor Lessing’s works: Jewish Self-Hate (2021), and Enemy in the Country: Satires and Novellas (2022).Benton Arnovitz is director at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, USA. He is also an editor, literary agent, and retired publishing director.

Theodor Lessing and His Philosophy of Need, Herman SimissenTranslator’s IntroductionPart I: My Animals1. Rabbits and Cats2. Sparrows and Swallows3. White Mice4. Tristan and Isolde – Sparrows5. Dogs and Cats6. Our Beloved Crows7. Jays8. Hyenas9. Ants10. The Chicken Coop11. Dormice, or The Demise of the Aristocracy 12. Turkeys13. Silver Bill and Amarant14. The Bird of Loyalty15. Spiders and Flies16. The Horse17. The Dove18. Bees and Wasps or Bourgeoisie and Romanticism19. Wolves and Dogs20. The Wild Donkey and the Tame Donkey21. German TreesAppendix 1. NanekoboAppendix 2. FrogsAppendix 3. The FleaAppendix 4. Worms and InsectsAppendix 5. The BarbelAppendix 6. Big Cats and ChauffeursPart II: Flowers1. Snowdrops2. Roses 3. Northern Morning 4. Busy Lizzies 5. Birches on the Heath 6. Poppies in the Cornfield 7. Love and Hate Among Flowers 8. Favorite Flowers 9. Bleeding Trees 10. Moravian Soil11. The Color of Flowers12. A Great Hindu 13. Faces of Flowers 14. Garden Happiness 15. Laurel and Ivy 16. Wheat and Grapes 17. Frost Flowers on the Window 18. Asteriscus 19. The Miracle of Flowers 20. Butterflies at Play21. Passiflora 22. Sunflowers 23. Stones