Dark Lens : Imaging Germany, 1945 / Françoise Meltzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meltzer, Françoise, Author.

Series:

Chicago scholarship online.

Chicago scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage--Germany.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Germany--Aerial operations, Allied.

World War, 1939-1945--Germany--Influence.

World War, 1939-1945--Germany--Psychological aspects.

World War, 1939-1945--Germany--Photography.

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

Ruins, Modern--Germany.

Ruins, Modern.

Ruins in art.

Civilians in war--Germany.

Civilians in war.

World War, 1939-1945--Moral and ethical aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The ruins of war have long held the power to stupefy and appall. Can such ruins ever be persuasively depicted and comprehended? Can images of them force us to identify with the suffering of the enemy and raise uncomfortable questions about forgiveness and revenge? Françoise Meltzer explores those questions in Dark Lens, which uses the images of war ruins in Nazi Germany to investigate problems of aestheticization, the representation of catastrophe, and the targeting of civilians in war. Through texts that give accounts of bombed-out towns in Germany in the last years of the war, painters' attempts to depict the destruction, and her own mother's photographs taken in Berlin and other cities in 1945, Meltzer asks if any medium offers a direct experience of war ruins for the viewer. Ultimately, she concludes that while the viewer cannot help reimaging the devastation through the lenses of history, aestheticization, or voyeurism, these images at least allow us to approach the reality of ruins and grasp the larger issue of targeting civilians in modern warfare for what it is. Refreshingly accessible and deeply personal, Dark Lens is a compelling look at the role images play in constructing memories of war.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

What I Remember

By Way of Beginning

1. When Words Fail

2. Ruination in Painting

3. Through a Lens, Darkly

4. Suffering and Victimization

Foregone and Other Conclusions

Appendix

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226625775

022662577X

OCLC:

1110009941