Phantoms of War in Contemporary German Literature, Films and Discourse: The Politics of Memory

Phantoms of War in Contemporary German Literature, Films and Discourse offers an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of fundamental shifts in German cultural memory. This paperback edition includes a new preface. Fifteen years after unification contemporary German discourse is witnessing an upsurge of family stories about the long afterlife of the National Socialist era. Exploring this rediscovery of family origins and traditions, Anne Fuchs examines and tests the fashionable concepts of generation and genealogy, developing an original theory of family narratives. Asking why the disturbance of tradition remains an agitated topic, she offers in-depth interpretations of major works by established and newer authors. Offering a provocative contribution to German identity debates, these literary explorations are set in dialogue with films and museum discourse.