Abstract
In casting about for a symbol by means of which the early history of Books Abroad might be better understood I have hit upon Goethe's intellectually vague but poetically vivid concept of the demonic. I hasten to assure the chairman of the department of modern languages, and my colleagues on Book Abroad, that the term demonic, as here used, is not to be taken as synonymous with the infernal. As it eventually took shape in Goethe's mind the demonic seemed to be a power which might be either good or bad, either benevolent or hostile, but in any case it manifested itself in contradictions and was ultimately creative. A modern German author, Werner Bergengruen, calls the demonic arbitrary, ironical, elfinly playful; also productive, active and creative and therefore essential to the higher life of the material universe.
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