Otto Weininger Books

Otto Weininger's controversial book Sex and Character, first published in Vienna in 1903, is a prime example of the conflicting discourses central to its time: antisemitism, scientific racism and biologism, misogyny, the cult and crisis of masculinity, psychological introspection versus empiricism, German idealism, the women's movement and the idea of human emancipation, the quest for sexual liberation, and the debates about homosexuality. Combining rational reasoning with irrational outbursts, in the context of today's scholarship, Sex and Character speaks to issues of gender, race, cultural identity, the roots of Nazism, and the intellectual history of modernism and modern European culture. This new translation presents, for the first time, the entire text, including Weininger's extensive appendix with amplifications of the text and bibliographical references, in a reliable English translation, together with a substantial introduction that places the book in its cultural and historical context.

Focusing on accessibility, this publication is a reproduction of a historical work presented in large print, catering specifically to individuals with impaired vision. Megali, the publishing house behind this initiative, emphasizes the importance of making classic literature more accessible to a broader audience.

Chez Weininger me fascinaient l'exagération vertigineuse, l'infini dans la négation, le refus du bon sens, l'intransigeance meurtrière, la quête d'une position absolue, la manie de conduire un raisonnement jusqu'au point où il se détruit lui-même et où il ruine l'édifice dont il fait partie. Ajoutez à cela le culte de la formule géniale et de l'excommunication arbitraire, l'assimilation de la femme au Rien et même à quelque chose de moins. Cioran