For distinguished philosopher Hans Blumenberg, lions were a life-long obsession. Lions, translated by Kári Driscoll, collects thirty-two of Blumenberg?squo;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?dash;or, in many cases, absence?dash;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?squo;s knowledge and intellectual curiosity is on full display. Lions has much to offer readers, both those already familiar with Blumenberg?squo;s oeuvre and newcomers looking for an introduction to the thought of one of Germany?squo;s most important postwar philosophers.
