Robert Eisler and the Magic of the Combinatory Mind: The Forgotten Life of a 20th-Century Austrian Polymath...

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Brian Collins

Robert Eisler and the Magic of the Combinatory Mind

The Forgotten Life of a 20th-Century Austrian Polymath

Brian Collins

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English

Springer Nature Switzerland AG
05 January 2021

Comparative religion; History of ideas; Physical anthropology & ethnography

Robert Eisler, the polymathic Jewish Austrian scholar and Holocaust survivor, faded into obscurity after his death in 1949. A contemporary and associate of Walter Benjamin, Aby Warburg, and Gershom Scholem, Eisler spent his early years in fin-de-siècle Vienna and trained as an art historian and economist. In this book, the first in English devoted to Eisler’s life and thought, Brian Collins takes us through the development of Eisler’s ideas about the philosophy of values, comparative mythology, Christianity, psychoanalysis, monetary policy, and anthropology. Collins also explores the bizarre and sometimes tragic events that defined Eisler’s life, including his arrest for art theft in 1907, his controversial reconstruction of a physical description of Jesus, and the fifteen months he spent in Dachau and Buchenwald, the inspiration for his final book, Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy.

By: Brian Collins
Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Country of Publication: Switzerland
Edition: 1st ed. 2021
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 148mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9783030612283
ISBN 10: 3030612287
Pages: 157
Publication Date: 05 January 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. Introduction: Man into Wolf.- 2. Vienna and Value Theory.- 3. The Turn to Art History: Aloïs Riegl, Giovanni Morelli, and the Udine Incident.- 4. “Ladies’ Coats and Beach Cabanas in Light of the History of Religion:” Cosmology, Gershom Scholem, and Walter Benjamin.-5. Orphism, the Afikoman, and Conflicts with Hamburg Circle.- 6. The King Who Did Not Reign: The League of Nations and the Slavonic Josephus.- 7. Negative Interest: The Dual Currency Model and the Journey to America.- 8. Dreamwork: The Fourth Gospel, Eranos, and the Turn to Psychoanalysis.- 9. Dachau and Buchenwald.- 10. Vanity of Vanities: Astrology, Ecclesiastes, and Last Days in England.- 11. Conclusion: Man into Wolf Revisited; or, The Method and the Magic of the Combinatory Mind.

Brian Collins is the Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy at Ohio University, USA.

Reviews for Robert Eisler and the Magic of the Combinatory Mind: The Forgotten Life of a 20th-Century Austrian Polymath

Collins's book is the first full-length study of the brilliant if eccentric Austrian-Jewish polymath, Robert Eisler. ... Collins has done us the service of brilliantly synthesizing an unbelievably rich textual corpus and allowing us to enjoy, even if (because?) we never fully penetrate its secrets, the 'magic of the combinatory mind.' (Bruce Rosenstock, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 47 (4), December, 2021)