Nicholas Saul is professor of German and head of department at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of Poetry and History in Novalis and in the Tradition of the German Enlightenment (1984) and Literature and Pulpit Oratory in the German Romantic Age (1999). He is a contributor to the Cambridge History of German Literature. He has also edited volumes on literature and science, and the body in German literature.

• Acknowledgments; Introduction: German literature and philosophy Nicholas Saul; 1. Critique and experience: philosophy and literature in the German Enlightenment John A. McCarthy; 2. The pursuit of the subject: Literature as critic and perfecter of philosophy 1790–1830 Nicholas Saul; 3. Two realisms: German literature and philosophy 1830–90 John Walker; 4. Modernism and the self 1890–1924 Ritchie Robertson; 5. The subjects of community: aspiration, memory resistance 1918–45 Russell A. Berman; 6. Coming to terms with the past in postwar literature and philosophy Robert C. Holub; Bibliography.

Review of the hardback: '… a coherent account of the importance of philosophy for German-speaking countries emerges from these six chronologically arranged chapters … for anyone embarking on a course of study of modern German thought or who is looking for a point of orientation, it can be recommended, not least because it has few competitors.' Modern Language Review