Download or read book Redeeming Words and the Promise of Happiness written by David Kleinberg-Levin and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012-08-31 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a philosophical reflection on the nature of language by reading some exemplary works of literature. Drawing on the thought of philosophers—especially Plato, Kant, Hegel, Emerson, Benjamin, Adorno, Heidegger and Wittgenstein, the author argues that language is the bearer of a utopian or messianic promise of happiness, and that by redeeming the revelatory power of words, the two writers in this study are contributing to the redemption of the promise of happiness in a world of reconciled antagonisms and contradictions.