Germany's other modernism : the Jena paradigm, 1900-1914 / Meike G. Werner ; translated by Stephen D. Dowden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Werner, Meike, author.

Contributor:

Dowden, Stephen D., translator.

Series:

Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture ; v. 234.

Studies in German literature linguistics and culture ; [234]

Standardized Title:

Moderne in der Provinz. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Jena (Germany)--Intellectual life.

Jena (Germany).

Jena (Germany)--Social life and customs.

Eugen Diederichs Verlag.

Germany--Intellectual life--20th century.

Germany.

Intellectual life.

Manners and customs.

Germany--Jena.

Physical Description:

x, 333 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Rochester, New York : Camden House, 2023.

Summary:

"Demonstrates, contrary to conventional wisdom, that European modernism developed not only in the great metropolitan centers, but also in provincial cities such as Jena. The conventional wisdom is that the cultural sea change that was European modernism arose in urban centers like Berlin, Paris, Munich, and Vienna. Meike G. Werner's book, now in English translation, is a study of modernism in the provinces. Taking the small provincial city of Jena as a paradigmatic case, it re-creates the very different social and intellectual framework in which modernist experimentation occurred beyond the metropolitan centers. Invented traditions, social and spatial "liminality," and new ideas of social and aesthetic transformation combined in Jena to create a unique moment of cultural innovation. In the years leading up to the First World War, the Jena publisher Eugen Diederichs envisioned and guided the development of this alternative modernism. Taken up by young writers including Diederichs's wife Helene Voigt-Diederichs, numerous intellectual outsiders from across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and members of the Free Student movement and of Jena's Sera Circle, this "other" modernism was above all a youth movement, full of energy and bold optimism. Figures such as Rudolf Carnap, Wilhelm Flitner, Hans Freyer, Karl Korsch, and Elisabeth Busse-Wilson emerged from this Jena paradigm. Werner pieces together the story of Jena's modernism in its full richness, complexity, and inner contradictions"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

List of abbreviations

Prologue

The stage, or: Genius loci

The publisher as founder of a cultural empire: Eugen Diederichs in Jena

"Away from Berlin" and literature in Jena: Helene Voigt-Diederichs

Dancing on the Volcano: "Young Jena"

Epilogue: What they wanted, what they became

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Series numbering from publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Werner, Meike. Germany's other modernism

ISBN:

9781640141391

1640141391

OCLC:

1349275114