Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Contents V
3. Acknowledgments VII
4. Note on Translation IX
5. Abbreviations XI
6. Introduction 1
7. PART I: Toward a New Theory of Natural History
8. Introduction 9
9. Chapter 1: Adorno and Benjamin: Against Historicity 13
10. Chapter 2: The Epistemo-Critical Prologue Reconsidered 24
11. Chapter 3: The Turn to Natural History 49
12. Chapter 4: The Aesthetics of Transience 66
13. Chapter 5: Natural and Sacred History 82
14. PART II: Of Stones, Animals, Human Beings, and Angels
15. Introduction 103
16. Chapter 6: Limits of Humanity 108
17. Chapter 7: Benjamin's Unmensch: The Politics of Real Humanism 114
18. Chapter 8: The Mythical Origins of the Law 127
19. Chapter 9: Kafka's Animals 137
20. Chapter 10: The Response to the Kreatur 150
21. Postscript 163
22. Notes 167
23. Bibliography 193
24. Index 203