Schopenhauer’s Fight for his Work

Hardly any writer has championed his work as much as Arthur Schopenhauer – and probably none stood in the way of its dissemination as much as he did. If he had not found benevolent partners in Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus and his successors Heinrich Brockhaus and finally, in the third generation with Eduard Brockhaus, who met the ever new impositions of their author with almost unwavering patience, the future of this monumental oeuvre would have been in dire straits. By researching the more than four decades of Schopenhauer’s efforts to ensure the adequate publication of his works, Alfred Estermann unearths a treasure that is as amusing as it is significant in terms of cultural history: even if the negotiations about the three versions of The World as Will and Representation are foregrounded, this book also deals extensively with the organisation of the book trade in the 19th century.