Der Ptolemaer. Berliner Novelle 1947 (1947/1949)

The essay is an analysis of the theoretical background of Benn's most important novel and of his confrontation with post war Germany and its moral collapse. While most critics have always considered this novel the poet's extreme attempt to save his nihilistic poetics in the middle of the history ruins, the essay aims at demonstrating the keen and accurate deconstruction of political discourse in the peculiar reflections of the so-called "Ptolemaer".