The Critical Introduction to Salomo Friedlaender/Mynona

The book is a compendium of select philosophical and literary writings by Salomo Friedlaender/Mynona spanning the first half of the twentieth century, from 1904 to 1946. It is the first English language edition to integrate his philosophical works, literary grotesques and select correspondences with a range of well-known contemporaries.

Salomo Friedlaender/Mynona (1871–1946) was a prominent, eccentric and influential figure in late Imperial Germany, Expressionism, Dadaism, and the Weimar Republic. He wrote and published works of philosophy, novels, parodies and satirical so-called grotesque tales, which he wrote under the pseudonym “Mynona”—the German word for anonymous, anonym, spelled backwards. Currently being rediscovered in his native language, F/M and his work are still generally unknown, and none of his philosophical texts have been translated.

The Critical Introduction to Salomo Friedlaender/Mynona: Twentieth-Century Performance Philosopher is the first English book introducing F/M’s philosophical works. The volume includes three introductory framing chapters of historical context, contemporary relevance and pertinence to the performance philosophy of F/M. The book also contains original translations of select passages from his most significant philosophical texts: Schöpferische Indifferenz/Creative Indifference, (first published in 1918), the later Das magische Ich/The Magic I (1935) and his very last essay Ideenmagie/Idea Magic (1945/46), as well as translations of select correspondence with well-known cultural personalities of the time.


Recognised as having inspired Walter Benjamin, F/M was also a forerunner of both performance philosophy and gender theory, and a major influence in the development of Gestalt therapy. Furthermore, not only did F/M belong to the first generation of avid Nietzsche readers, but he was also a lifelong tireless interpreter of Immanuel Kant and Schopenhauer. F/M’s extraordinary voice is of significant interest to Nietzsche and Kant Studies and sheds light on their respective relevance for a performance-oriented approach to philosophy.