ABSTRACT
This introduction engages with the distinctive qualities of the term ‘Stimmung,’ considering its etymological roots and conceptual history in the German-speaking aesthetic and existentialist tradition. It explores the place of Stimmung in the age of modernity, shedding light on the foundational discussion of the concept of Heidegger’s philosophy in particular. The existentialist conception of Stimmung is then brought into dialogue with the study of mood in literature and the works of the three authors considered in this study: Dostoevsky, Beckett and Bernhard.
