The mature works of Hans Blumenberg were preceded by several works in which his project was gestating a metaphorology, about the legitimacy of metaphors in philosophical language. This initial phase belong lectures and essays devoted to literature, including articles published in the journal Hochland during the decade of the fifties. These texts, neglected by specialists, however had a decisive role in the formation of some of the most recurrent arguments of his thought. They predate the founding in 1963 of Poetics and Hermeneutics, and justify Blumenberg's interest in participating in this research group formed by prominent theorists filólogosy of literature.
The writings gathered for the first time in this volume explore issues such as nihilism in literature, the possibility of the novel or the ambiguity of the aesthetic object. But also they offer a stimulating and penetrating reading some of the greatest contemporary novelists and poets: Franz Kafka, Evelyn Waugh, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas S. Eliot and William Faulkner. On the other hand, shed light on postwar European culture and Blumenberg conspicuously silent regarding their own time. Precisely in these trials some of the referenciasy few allusions to make the philosopher political and topical issues are.