The Tower and the Abyss: An Inquiry into the Transformation of the Individual

by Erich von Kahler

This book shows the various evolutionary forces which have converged from different directions to effect human disintegration. It discusses the evidences of disintegration in all fields of contemporary experience, from social, political and economic processes to those in learning, art and poetry.

Genres: Philosophy

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 1967

About the author

Erich von Kahler was a mid-twentieth-century European-American literary scholar, essayist, and teacher known for works such as The Tower and the Abyss: An Inquiry into the Transformation of Man (1957).

Kahler was born to a Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied philosophy, literature, history, art history, sociology, and psychology at the University of Munich, the University of Berlin, the University of Heidelberg, and the University of Freiburg before earning his doctorate at the University of Vienna in 1911. In 1912, he married his first wife, Josephine (née Sobotka). In 1933, deprived of his German citizenship by the Nazi regime, he left Germany, emigrating to the United States in 1938 after a period of residence in England. He became a U.S. citizen in 1944, where he was known as Erich Kahler.