The German Patient: Crisis and Recovery in Postwar Culture Contributor(s): Kapczynski, Jennifer M. (Author) |
|
ISBN: 0472070525 ISBN-13: 9780472070527 Publisher: University of Michigan Press OUR PRICE: $89.05 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2008 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Germany - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism - Literary Criticism | European - German |
Dewey: 306.094 |
LCCN: 2008017324 |
Series: Social History, Popular Culture, & Politics in Germany |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.2" W x 9.1" (1.01 lbs) 272 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - Germany - Chronological Period - 1950-1999 |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The German Patient takes an original look at fascist constructions of health and illness, arguing that the idea of a healthy national body---propagated by the Nazis as justification for the brutal elimination of various unwanted populations---continued to shape post-1945 discussions about the state of national culture. Through an examination of literature, film, and popular media of the era, Jennifer M. Kapczynski demonstrates the ways in which postwar German thinkers inverted the illness metaphor, portraying fascism as a national malady and the nation as a body struggling to recover. Yet, in working to heal the German wounds of war and restore national vigor through the excising of sick elements, artists and writers often betrayed a troubling affinity for the very biopolitical rhetoric they were struggling against. Through its exploration of the discourse of collective illness, The German Patient tells a larger story about ideological continuities in pre- and post-1945 German culture. Jennifer M. Kapczynski is Assistant Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the coeditor of the anthology A New History of German Cinema. Cover art: From The Murderers Are Among Us (1946). Reprinted courtesy of the Deutsche Kinemathek. A highly evocative work of meticulous scholarship, Kapczynski's deftly argued German Patient advances the current revaluation of Germany's postwar reconstruction in wholly original and even exciting ways: its insights into discussions of collective sickness and health resonate well beyond postwar Germany. The German Patient provides an important historical backdrop and a richly specific cultural context for thinking about German guilt and responsibility after Hitler. An eminently readable and engaging text. This is a polished, eloquently written, and highly informative study speaking to the most pressing debates in contemporary Germany. The German Patient will be essential reading for anyone interested in mass death, genocide, and memory. |