Wounds of memory : the politics of war in Germany / Maja Zehfuss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zehfuss, Maja, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

German fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

German fiction.

World War, 1939-1945--Germany--Literature and the war.

World War, 1939-1945.

Memory in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 294 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

German memories of the Second World War are controversial, and they are used to justify different positions on the use of military force. In this book, Maja Zehfuss studies the articulation of memories in novels in order to discuss and challenge arguments deployed in political and public debate. She explores memories that have generated considerable controversy, such as the flight and expulsion of Germans from the East, the bombing of German cities and the 'liberation' of Germany in 1945. She shows how memory retrospectively produces a past while claiming merely to invoke it, drawing attention to the complexities and contradictions within how truth, ethics, emotion, subjectivity and time are conceptualised. Zehfuss argues that the tensions and uncertainties revealed raise political questions that must be confronted, beyond the safety net of knowledge. This is a compelling book which pursues an original approach in exploring the politics of invocations of memory.

Contents:

Speaking of war and memory

Forgetting to remember?

Wounds of memory

The truth of memory

Times of memory

Memory, uncertainty, responsibility.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-284) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-18114-3

1-281-98228-8

9786611982287

0-511-46410-X

0-511-55110-X

0-511-46484-3

0-511-46252-2

0-511-46177-1

0-511-46331-6

OCLC:

476232584