Mimesis | Erich Auerbach

More than half a century after its translation into English, Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis remains a masterpiece of literary criticism. A brilliant display of erudition, wit, and wisdom, his exploration of how great European writers from Homer to Virginia Woolf depict reality has taught generations how to read Western literature.

A German Jew who was forced out of his professorship at the University of Marburg in 1935, Auerbach left for Turkey, where he taught in Istanbul. There he wrote Mimesis, publishing it in German after the war. Displaced as he was, Auerbach produced a work of great erudition that contains no footnotes, basing his arguments instead on searching, illuminating readings of key passages from his primary texts. His aim was to show how, from antiquity to modernity, literature progresses toward ever more naturalistic and democratic forms of representation. Ranging over works in Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and English, Auerbach uses his remarkable skills in philology and comparative literature to present an optimistic view of Western history and culture and to refute any narrow form of nationalism or chauvinism.

This expanded Princeton Classics edition of Mimesis includes a substantial introduction by Edward Said as well as an essay in which Auerbach responds to his critics.

About the Author

Erich Auerbach (November 9, 1892 - October 13, 1957) was a German philologist, comparative scholar, and literary critic12. He is best known for his seminal work "Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature," which is widely regarded as a classic in the study of literary realism.

Born in Berlin to a Jewish family, Auerbach received his doctorate in philology from the University of Greifswald in 192112. He initially worked as a librarian at the Prussian State Library before becoming a professor of Romance philology at the University of Marburg in 1929.

Due to the rise of Nazi Germany, Auerbach was forced to leave his position in 19351. He went into exile in Istanbul, Turkey, where he taught Western languages and literature at Istanbul University from 1936 to 19471. It was during this period that he wrote "Mimesis," completed in 1946.

In 1947, Auerbach moved to the United States, where he taught at Pennsylvania State University and the Institute for Advanced Study1. In 1950, he was appointed professor of Romance philology at Yale University, a position he held until his death in 1957 in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Auerbach's work in "Mimesis" offers a comprehensive examination of Western literature from ancient to modern times, analyzing how reality is represented in various literary works12. His approach combined close textual analysis with historical and cultural context, establishing an influential method in literary criticism.