Erwin Panofsky and the Renascence of the Renaissance
Carl Landauer
It has long been understood that historians, literary critics, and art historians who write about past cultures use those for present purposes, whether by turning Periclean Athens into an ideal present-day America or the fall of Roman empire ominous signal modern empires. German humanists sought refuge from Nazi Germany had, however, special reasons to their cultural studies as a strategy escape. Erich Auerbach in exile Istanbul Ernst Robert Curtius “inner exile” Bonn provided narratives European history minimized contribution native culture, so reworking narrative Western literature, they were able reshape own identities. Their reconstructions can thus be read attempts at self-reconstruction. Ultimately, attempt such scholars distance themselves culture often faltered on very Germanness reconstructions.
Renaissance Quarterly