The Germanist and literary scholar Walter Muschg came from psychoanalysis and gained deep and surprisingly modern insights into the unconscious, mythical nature of literary texts. This led him to novel, often provocative, yet always convincing interpretations. His essay collection "The Destruction of German Literature" caused a stir in 1956 when he was the first to point out the "burned poets" of Expressionism after 1945. This volume brings together the most important essays from this and other works by Muschg on "his" authors Brecht, Döblin, Goethe, Hebel, Kafka, Barlach, Keller, Stifter, and many others.