Our Nazis : representations of fascism in contemporary literature and film / Petra Rau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rau, Petra, 1969- author.

Series:

Edinburgh critical studies in war and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National socialism in literature.

National socialism in motion pictures.

Nazis in motion pictures.

National socialism in art.

Physical Description:

vii, 214 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2013.

Summary:

A valuable critical analysis of the resurgence of representations of Nazism in contemporary literature and film, In the post-war imaginary of the West, 'the Nazis' became a cultural trope that served as a justification for defending democracy through military intervention. But in films and in fiction, 'the Nazis' were also camped up, laughed at, eroticised and demonised as evil monsters. In fact, the representational rules of engagement with historical fascism have always been remarkably uncertain. Why has the fascination with fascism re-emerged once more after the Cold War? What is its cultural function now, in a global era of commemoration? How can any representation avoid the impasse of either re-evoking fascism's original seduction or merely recycling previous fictional and cinematic clichés? This original study examines a range of genres and topics: alternative history (Robert Harris's Fatherland and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds), the noir thrillers of Philip Kerr, perpetration (Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones) and resistance (Justin Cartwright's The Song Before It Is Sung and Bryan Singer's Valkyrie). Crucially, it asks how contemporary culture has instrumentalised the Nazi trope for its own agendas. How have 'the Nazis' become 'our Nazis', and what are the risks and responsibilities of such appropriations? Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Nazi Noir: Hardboiled Masculinity and Fascist Sensibility from Ambler and Greene to Philip Kerr 43

2 The Fascist Corpus in the Age of Holocaust Remembrance: Robert Harris's Fatherland and Ian McEwan's Black Dogs 70

3 'Fascism' as Excess and Abjection: Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones 93

4 The Good German: The Stauffenberg Plot and its Discontents 125

5 'Operation Kino': Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds as Meta-cinematic Farce 158.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780748668649

0748668640

0748668659

9780748668656

OCLC:

827267070