The Demon of Noontide: Ennui in Western Literature

Abstract

Kierkegaard claimed that the gods created man because they were bored, and Baudelaire predicted that the delicate monster of boredom would one day swallow up the whole world in an immense yawn. Between these two statements lies the undefined expanse of ennui, whose manifestations in European literature form the fascinating subject of this book. Reinhard Kuhn's aim is to define the demon of noontide, to learn how writers through the ages have treated it, and to discover what it indicates about the nature of the creative act. Originally published in 1976. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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