In books lauded as brilliant, exhilarating & profound, Roberto Calasso has revealed the unexpected intersections of ancient & modern through topics ranging from Greek & Indian mythology to what a legendary African kingdom can tell us about the French Revolution. In this first translation of his most important essays, Calasso brings his powerful intellect & elegant prose style to bear on the essential thinkers of our time, providing a sweeping analysis of the current state of Western culture.' Forty-nine steps' refers to the Talmudic doctrine that there are forty-nine steps to meaning in every passage of the Torah. Employing this interpretative approach, Calasso offers a 'secret history' of European literature & philosophy in the wake of Nietzsche, Marx & Freud. Calasso analyses how figures ranging from Gustav Flaubert, Gottfried Benn, Karl Kraus & Martin Heidegger to Walter Benjamin, Franz Kafka, Bertolt Brecht & Theodor Adorno have contributed to, or been emblematic of, the current state of Western thought. This book's theme, writ large, is the power of the fable
- specifically, its persistence in art & literature despite its exclusion from orthodox philosophy. In its breadth & the nature of its concerns, The Forty-nine Steps is a philosophical & literary twin to the widely praised Marriage of Cadmus & Harmony. Combining erudition with engaging prose & original insights, Calasso contributes a daring new interpretation of some of the most challenging writers of the past 150 years.