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From: "O'Connor, Breffni - Oxford" <[log in to unmask]>
New Book Announcement
'Modern German Literature' by Michael Minden
http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745629193
This accessible and fresh account of German writing since 1750 is a
case study of literature as a cultural and spiritual resource in modern
societies.
Beginning with the emergence of German language literature on the
international stage in the mid-eighteenth century, the book plays down
conventional labels and periodisation of German literary history in
favour of the explanatory force of international cultural impact. It
explains, for instance, how specifically German and Austrian conditions
shaped major contributions to European literary culture such as
Romanticism and the 'language scepticism' of the early twentieth
century.
From the First World War until reunification in 1990, Germany's
defining experiences have been ones of catastrophe. The book provides a
compelling overview of the different ways in which German literature
responded to historical disaster. They are, first, Modernism (the
'Literature of Negation'), second, the literature of totalitarian
regimes (Third Reich and German Democratic Republic), and third the
various creative strategies and evasions of the capitalist democratic
multi-medial cultures of the Weimar and Federal Republics.
The volume achieves a balance between textual analysis and cultural
theory that gives it value as an introductory reference source and as
an original study and as such will be essential reading for students
and scholars alike.
Breffni O'Connor
Polity Marketing: UK, Europe and Rest of World outside the US
9600 Garsington Rd
OXFORD OX4 2DQ UK
telephone + 44(0)1865 476711
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