David Auerbach’s Books of the Year 2020
Waggish 2020-12-22
In this chaotic, surreal, and trying year, books as always provided a source of steadiness and continuity, when there was enough time and space to give them full attention.
My two books of the year are both superior anthologies suffused with the editor/translators’ love and reverence for their authors–inspiring feats in themselves. The third volume of Musil translated by Genese Grill and published by Contra Mundum is a massive and masterful anthology of Musil’s plays and theater writings, the most substantial new Musil volume in years, expertly rendered and annotated. Hannes Bajohr, Florian Fuchs, and Joe Paul Kroll collectively perform an even greater feat in drawing together Blumenberg’s essays across the breadth of his career and finally producing an approachable entry point to his work in English. The introductions to both volumes are superb. The works are old, but Grill, Bajohr, Fuchs, and Kroll are their animating spirits today.
The same goes for Steve G. Lofts’s new translation of Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, a massive undertaking of an underappreciated work by an underappreciated philosopher, the third Davos participant who saw more widely than Carnap and more humanely than Heidegger. A more affordable edition is warranted. And the long-awaited reissue of Klibansky, Panofsky, and Saxl’s Saturn and Melancholy, done with immense care and comprehensiveness, is a model example of cultural history at a level of depth and intimacy that has always been rare, and is perhaps becoming rarer.
Fantagraphics’s reissues of Alberto Breccia’s stunning work also deserve more attention. I read part of Perramus when Fantagraphics issued it 30 years ago and was blown away by Breccia’s singular style; its’ good to have the whole thing finally. His version of The Eternaut is also remarkable.
I hesitate to mention too many other books for fear of neglecting the others, but I will say that of the science and technology books, several deal with subjects that are currently inundated with popularizations. In my eye, those below are notably superior to the rest of their crowd, though the marketplace of ideas has apparently and frustratingly failed to raise these books above their brethren. To a lesser extent, the same applies to history and politics.
Jacob Burckhardt said that the 20th century would be the age of oversimplification. The 21st has so far been the age of increasingly desperate and defensive oversimplification, across all domains of knowledge. Here’s to the fight against it.
(Final note: for an anthology of short plague-related stories, please check out my little project The Enneadecameron, featuring worthy tales by John Crowley, Irina Dumitrescu, Genese Grill, Alta Ifland, and many more.)
BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Theater Symptoms: Plays and Writings on Drama Musil, Robert (Author), Grill, Genese (Translator), Grill, Genese (Introduction) Contra Mundum Press
History, Metaphors, Fables: A Hans Blumenberg Reader (signale|TRANSFER: German Thought in Translation) Blumenberg, Hans (Author), Bajohr, Hannes (Translator), Fuchs, Florian (Translator), Kroll, Joe Paul (Translator) Cornell University Press
LITERATURE
Eros, Unbroken Kim, Annie (Author) Word Works
The Long White Cloud of Unknowing Samuels, Lisa (Author) Chax Press
The Bern Book: A Record of a Voyage of the Mind (American Literature) Carter, Vincent O. (Author), McCarthy, Jesse (Introduction) Dalkey Archive Press
Peach Blossom Paradise Fei, Ge (Author), Morse, Canaan (Translator) NYRB Classics
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk: Selected Stories of Nikolai Leskov (New York Review Books Classics) Leskov, Nikolai (Author), Chandler, Robert (Translator), Rayfield, Donald (Translator), Edgerton, William (Translator), Rayfield, Donald (Introduction) NYRB Classics
Impostures (Library of Arabic Literature, 65) al-Ḥarīrī (Author), Cooperson, Michael (Translator), Kilito, Abdelfattah (Foreword) NYU Press
Rogomelec (The Envelope-silence) Fini, Leonor (Author), Skwersky, Serena Shanken (Translator), Kulik, William T. (Translator), Eburne, Jonathan P. (Introduction) Wakefield Press
Meaning a Life: an Autobiography Oppen, Mary (Author), Yang, Jeffrey (Introduction) New Directions
The Lost Writings Kafka, Franz (Author), Stach, Reiner (Editor), Hofmann, Michael (Translator) New Directions
Collected Stories Hazzard, Shirley (Author), Olubas, Brigitta (Editor), Heller, Zoë (Foreword) Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Surviving: Stories, Essays, Interviews (New York Review Books Classics) Green, Henry (Author), Yorke, Matthew (Editor), Updike, John (Introduction), Yorke, Sebastian (Afterword) NYRB Classics
The Homeric Hymn to Hermes (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries (Series Number 62)) Thomas, Oliver (Editor) Cambridge University Press
Lame Fate | Ugly Swans (Rediscovered Classics) Strugatsky, Arkady (Author), Strugatsky, Boris (Author), Strugatsky, Boris (Author), Vinokour, Maya (Author) Chicago Review Press
The Third Walpurgis Night: The Complete Text (The Margellos World Republic of Letters) Kraus, Karl (Author), Bridgham, Fred (Translator), Timms, Edward (Translator), Perloff, Marjorie (Foreword) Yale University Press
Death in Her Hands: A Novel Moshfegh, Ottessa (Author) Penguin Press
I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters) Can Xue (Author), Gernant, Karen (Translator), Chen, Zeping (Translator) Yale University Press
Other Moons: Vietnamese Short Stories of the American War and Its Aftermath Ha, Quan Manh (Translator), Babcock, Joseph (Translator) Columbia University Press
Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow (Russian Library) Radishchev, Alexander (Author), Reyfman, Irina (Translator), Kahn, Andrew (Translator) Columbia University Press
A Lover's Discourse Guo, Xiaolu (Author), Guo, Xiaolu (Author), Guo, Xiaolu (Author) Grove Press
The Selected Poems of Tu Fu: Expanded and Newly Translated by David Hinton Fu, Tu (Author), Hinton, David (Translator) New Directions
Instantiation Egan, Greg (Author) Greg Egan
The Evidence Priest, Christopher (Author) Gollancz
Piranesi Clarke, Susanna (Author) Bloomsbury Publishing
Dispersion Greg Egan (Author) Subterranean
Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas: A Novel de Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado (Author), Costa, Margaret Jull (Translator), Patterson, Robin (Translator) Liveright
HUMANITIES
Saturn and Melancholy: Studies in the History of Natural Philosophy, Religion, and Art Klibansky, Raymond (Author), Panofsky, Erwin (Author), Saxl, Fritz (Author), Despoix, Philippe (Editor), Leroux, Georges (Editor) McGill-Queen's University Press
Michelangelo’s Design Principles, Particularly in Relation to Those of Raphael Panofsky, Erwin (Author), Panofsky-Soergel, Gerda (Editor), Spooner, Joseph (Translator), Panofsky-Soergel, Gerda (Introduction) Princeton University Press
The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume 1: Language Cassirer, Ernst (Author), Gordon, Peter E. (Foreword) Routledge
The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume 2: Mythical Thinking Cassirer, Ernst (Author), Gordon, Peter E. (Foreword) Routledge
The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume 3: Phenomenology of Cognition Cassirer, Ernst (Author), Gordon, Peter E. (Foreword) Routledge
Inky Fingers: The Making of Books in Early Modern Europe Grafton, Anthony (Author) Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
Hittite Texts and Greek Religion: Contact, Interaction, and Comparison Rutherford, Ian (Author) OUP Oxford
A Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Music (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) Lynch, Tosca A. C. (Editor), Rocconi, Eleonora (Editor) Wiley-Blackwell
Wisdom as a Way of Life: Theravāda Buddhism Reimagined Collins, Steven (Author), McDaniel, Justin (Editor), Hallisey, Charles (Introduction) Columbia University Press
Time in Ancient Stories of Origin Walter, Anke (Author) OUP Oxford
Anger: The Conflicted History of an Emotion (Vices and Virtues) Rosenwein, Barbara H. (Author) Yale University Press
Who Needs a World View? Geuss, Raymond (Author) Harvard University Press
Civilization and the Culture of Science: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1795-1935 Gaukroger, Stephen (Author) Oxford University Press
How to Think like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education (Skills for Scholars) Newstok, Scott (Author) Princeton University Press
Comparing the Literatures: Literary Studies in a Global Age Damrosch, David (Author) Princeton University Press
Classical Indian Philosophy: A history of philosophy without any gaps, Volume 5 Adamson, Peter (Author), Ganeri, Jonardon (Author) Oxford University Press
The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World: An Interpretation of Western Civilization Stewart, Jon (Author) Oxford University Press
Have A Bleedin Guess: The Story of Hex Enduction Hour Hanley, Paul (Author) Route
Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers Misak, Cheryl (Author) Oxford University Press
Early Modern German Philosophy (1690-1750) Dyck, Corey W. (Author) Oxford University Press
Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture Harvey, Eleanor Jones (Author), Sues, Hans-Dieter (Preface) Princeton University Press
The Enlightenment that Failed: Ideas, Revolution, and Democratic Defeat, 1748-1830 Israel, Jonathan I. (Author) Oxford University Press
Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition El Shamsy, Ahmed (Author) Princeton University Press
The Origins of Philosophy in Ancient Greece and Ancient India: A Historical Comparison Seaford, Richard (Author) Cambridge University Press
SCIENCE & TECH
The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science Falk, Seb (Author) W. W. Norton & Company
Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing Brayne, Sarah (Author) Oxford University Press
How the Brain Makes Decisions Boraud, Thomas (Author) Oxford University Press
Every Life Is on Fire: How Thermodynamics Explains the Origins of Living Things England, Jeremy (Author) Basic Books
The Phantom Pattern Problem: The Mirage of Big Data Smith, Gary (Author), Cordes, Jay (Author) Oxford University Press
Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind Godfrey-Smith, Peter (Author) Farrar, Straus and Giroux
A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane Subramanian, Samanth (Author) W. W. Norton & Company
Darwin's Psychology: The Theatre of Agency Bradley, Ben (Author) OUP Oxford
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn Richard W. Hamming (Author), Bret Victor (Foreword) Stripe Press
HISTORY
Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy Hankins, James (Author) Harvard University Press
The Invention of China Hayton, Bill (Author) Yale University Press
China’s Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism Mitter, Rana (Author) Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe Herrin, Judith (Author) Princeton University Press
Blood Royal: Dynastic Politics in Medieval Europe (The James Lydon Lectures in Medieval History and Culture) Bartlett, Robert (Author) Cambridge University Press
Legions of Pigs in the Early Medieval West (Yale Agrarian Studies Series) Kreiner, Jamie (Author) Yale University Press
Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World Schuman, Michael (Author) PublicAffairs
Away from Chaos: The Middle East and the Challenge to the West Kepel, Gilles (Author) Columbia University Press
Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare Rid, Thomas (Author) Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Illuminating History: A Retrospective of Seven Decades Bailyn, Bernard (Author) W. W. Norton & Company
The Human Factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War Brown, Archie (Author) Oxford University Press
Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy Mahbubani, Kishore (Author) PublicAffairs
The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History Mikaberidze, Alexander (Author) Oxford University Press
SOCIAL SCIENCES
France before 1789: The Unraveling of an Absolutist Regime Elster, Jon (Author) Princeton University Press
The Blind Storyteller: How We Reason About Human Nature Berent, Iris (Author) Oxford University Press
What’s Wrong with Economics?: A Primer for the Perplexed Skidelsky, Robert (Author) Yale University Press
COMICS AND ART
The Eternaut 1969 (The Alberto Breccia Library) Oesterheld, Héctor Germán (Author), Breccia, Alberto (Author) Fantagraphics
Perramus: The City and Oblivion (The Alberto Breccia Library) Breccia, Alberto (Author), Sasturain, Juan (Author), Mena, Erica (Translator) Fantagraphics
The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud Tsurita, Kuniko (Author), Holmberg, Ryan (Translator) Drawn and Quarterly
Nymph Marzocchi, Leila (Author) Fantagraphics
Stay Trondheim, Lewis (Author), Chevillard, Hubert (Artist) Magnetic Press
Infinity 8 Vol.7: All for Nothing Trondheim, Lewis (Author), Boulet (Author), Kennedy, Mike (Editor), Boulet (Artist) Magnetic Press
Infinity 8 vol.8: Until the End Trondheim, Lewis (Author), Killoffer (Artist) Magnetic Press
Barnaby Volume Four Johnson, Crockett (Author), Nel, Philip (Author), Robbins, Trina (Introduction) Fantagraphics
Pogo The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Box Set: Volume 5 & 6: Out Of This World At Home and Clean as a Weasel (Walt Kelly's Pogo) Kelly, Walt (Author) Fantagraphics
Winter Warrior: A Vietnam Vet's Anti-War Odyssey Gilbert, Eve (Author), Camil, Scott (Author) Fantagraphics
The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1919-1921 (Krazy & Ignatz) Herriman, George (Author), Blackbeard, Bill (Introduction) Fantagraphics
The Dairy Restaurant (Jewish Encounters Series) Katchor, Ben (Author) Schocken
The Daughters of Ys Anderson, M. T. (Author), Rioux, Jo (Illustrator) First Second
Philip Guston: A Life Spent Painting Storr, Robert (Author) Laurence King Publishing
Philip Guston Now Cooper, Harry (Author), Godfrey, Mark (Author), Greene, Alison de Lima (Author), Nesin, Kate (Author), Guston, Philip (Artist), Fischli, Peter (Contributor), Hancock, Trenton Doyle (Contributor), Kentridge, William (Contributor), Dean, Tacita (Contributor), Ligon, Glenn (Contributor), Roberts, Jennifer (Contributor) D.A.P./National Gallery of Art
Year of the Rabbit Veasna, Tian (Author) Drawn and Quarterly
The Phantom Twin Brown, Lisa (Author) First Second
Solutions and Other Problems Brosh, Allie (Author) Gallery Books
Stuck Rubber Baby 25th Anniversary Edition Cruse, Howard (Author), Bechdel, Alison (Introduction) First Second
Paying the Land Sacco, Joe (Author) Metropolitan Books
Albrecht Dürer Metzger, Christof (Editor) Prestel
Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës Greenberg, Isabel (Author) Harry N. Abrams
Anselm Kiefer in Conversation with Klaus Dermutz (The German List) Kiefer, Anselm (Author), Dermutz, Klaus (Author), Lewis, Tess (Translator) Seagull Books
Exploring the Invisible: Art, Science, and the Spiritual – Revised and Expanded Edition Gamwell, Lynn (Author), Tyson, Neil deGrasse (Foreword) Princeton University Press