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Bloch's Major Work - The "monstrous essence of his thought"Volume1: Half-title + TP + Dedication Page + [7]-477 + 1 leaf = Outline of the Work in Three Volumes; Volume 2: Half-title + TP + [5]-512 + 1 leaf = Outline of the Work in Three Volumes; Volume 3: Half-title + TP + [5]-518 + 1 leaf = Outline of the Work in Three Volumes + 1 loose leaf = Errata in Band 1 & 2; Octavo. All Three in First Edition.Published in an edition of 3,000 copies each."In 1933 Bloch left Germany, eventually reaching the United States, where he created his major work, Das Prinzip Hoffnung, a huge work that has been called 'a monstrous essence of his thought'." (EP, Volume 1, p. 321)Bloch observes that throughout history, and in all cultures, people have dreamed of a better life and constructed various kinds of utopias. Utopian dreams are present in art forms such as poetry, drama, music and painting, and in elementary form in children's dreams, fairy-tales, and popular legend. Utopian impulses can also be found in architecture, medicine, sport, dancing and circuses, as well as in specifically utopian literature and in the entire history of religion. Some utopias relate simply to immediate private ends, but the higher kind of revolutionary utopia envisages the end of human suffering. For Bloch, the positive utopia is the expectation of absolute perfection. Revolutionary utopias of past ages were seen by Bloch as reflections of humanity's desire for perfection, post-Marxist utopias were all seen by him as reactionary. Bloch insists the only two possible outcomes to history are absolute destruction and absolute perfection"Bloch's major work and one of the as-yet undigested masterpieces of twentieth century philosophy. Conceived and largely elaborated during Block's long, often impoverished exile in the Unites States where he had expected to publish it under the title Dreams of A Better Life, the work actually appeared after Bloch's return to the GDR, the first two volume receiving the National Prize upon publication, effectively recognizing Block as the GDR's leading philosopher. Soon, however, the undelimitable breadth and profound religious depths of his work led to conflict with the regime and his virtual silencing, though his work continued to appear irregularly. This great work is meant as 'an encyclopedia of hope that attempts to catalogue the surplus of utopian thought (whose unrealized meaning is the crux of the Not-Yet-Conscious) from Early Greek philosopher to the present day.' No less an expositor of that unrealized meaning than George Steiner has written that 'we have lost a characteristic elan, a metaphysic and technique of forward dreaming, of which Ernst Bloch's Das Prinzip Hoffnung is an inspired statement.'" (Wronoski, in Lame Duck. General Catalog, June 1998) original dark blue cloth with very good dust s (minor chipping to some edges). All three dust s very lightly sunned on spines. Front of volume 3 with some sun discoloration. A difficult set of books to assemble due to the place, time and political climate in which it was published. Rare in dust s. Overall, a beautiful set. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
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