The Paradoxes of Posterity

Benjamin Hoffmann explores the complex relationship between literary creation and the human desire for symbolic immortality in The Paradoxes of Posterity, Volume 1. This scholarly work examines why authors write to transcend mortality through their intellectual legacy. By integrating digital humanities and book history, Hoffmann defines posterity as an evolving network of interconnected memories. The text investigates how writers address a collective audience that is inherently unstable and nonexistent at the moment of composition.

This academic study in literature and philosophy focuses on the three great paradoxes of belief, identity, and mediation. Through the analysis of key figures such as Denis Diderot and Jean-Paul Sartre, the book addresses the fundamental problem of transmitting texts to future generations. The Paradoxes of Posterity, Volume 1 serves as a significant resource for specialists in eighteenth-century French literature, philosophy, and the psychological aspects of authorship.