Oswald Spengler

Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler, German author, philosopher, historian (1880-1936)

Petri Liukkonen wrote a to.sci.fi/spengle.htm">bio and backgrounder on Spenglerian philosophy that includes a selected bibliography.

[wikipedia] [quotes]

Spengler's influence spread quickly throughout Germany and the world. During WWII his works were banned by the Nazis. He influenced many key European and American writers and thinkers, including Thomas Mann, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, John dos Passos, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Oskar Kokoschka, R. Buckminster Fuller, and others into the 21st century.

Books

The Decline of the West (Der Untergang des Abendlandes)

Title also translated as The Downfall of the Occident. An immense work, his most famous, describing a civilization’s emergency, classical glory, and descent into decadence, decay and final destruction. If Spengler was a modern-day Gibbon, this is unquestionably the new equivalent of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. [wikipedia]

The German edition is still available in hardcover. There is a brief overview with English-language excerpts online; Spengler expert Donald O. White has published many English-language extracts from TDOTW:

• Introduction

• The Problem Of Civilization

• Introduction: The Conclusion — Imperialism

• Architecture and Divinities

• Imitation and Ornament

• The History Of Style As An Organism

• Music And Plastic: The Arts Of Form

• Popular And Esoteric Character

• Will To Power

• Impressionism

• The Morale Of Dawning Civilization

• The Great Style: The History Of Style As An Organism

• Pergamum And Bayreuth: The End Of Art

• Classical Behaviour Drama And Faustian Character Drama

• Every Culture Possesses Its Own Ethic

• Every Science Is Dependent Upon Religion

• Atheism

• Origin And Landscape: The Group Of The Higher Cultures

• Cities And Peoples

• Reformation

• Science, Puritanism

• The Second Religiousness

• The State

• Philosophy Of Politics

• Conclusion

The Hour of Decision (1934)

Banned by the Nazis, this book contains the quotation, “Socialism is nothing but the capitalism of the lower classes.”

Currently available in paperback, this book is also online, in translation, by White:

• The Hour Of Decision: Introduction

• The Hour Of Decision: Part One

• The Hour Of Decision: Part Two

• The Hour Of Decision: Part Three

• The Hour Of Decision: Part Four

Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life

The English translation is currently available in paperback.

Prussianism And Socialism

White has published a complete English translation of this book.

Selected Essays

In June 2004, White published a new English translation of these essays:

• Selected Essays: Contents

• Selected Essays: Introduction

• Pessimism?

• On The German National Character

• Nietzsche And His Century

• The Two Faces Of Russia And Germany’s Eastern Problems

• Is World Peace Possible?

Works about Spengler and TDOTW

“Oswald Spengler’s Uneven Legacy” by Donald L. Stockton is a long overview of Spengler, The Decline of the West and its legacy, placing Spengler in the historical perspective.

“Oswald Spengler: An Introduction to his Life and Ideas” by Keith Stimely discusses Spengler’s life and work, with sections on the Spenglerian concepts of “high cultures” and the “organic” development of civilizations.

For further reference