BURNS:GERMAN CULTURAL STUDIES. AN INTRODUCTION PAPER: An Introduction

by Burns

Major changes have been taking place in the context of German Studies in both secondary and higher education, with the focus shifting to a broader range of cultural forms. Based on the view that cultures are the products of class, place, gender, and race, German Cultural Studies takes account of these changes and adopts an interdisciplinary approach in its wide-ranging study of German culture and society since 1871. Emphasizing recent and contemporary developments, the book features chronological sections on Imperial Germany, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the German Democratic Republic, and the Federal Republic. The contributors chart the growth of modernization and the culture industry in Germany, and examine the extent to which culture in any given period functions as an instrument of ideological manipulation or critical enlightenment. Throughout, the emphasis is on the interactions of culture, society and ideology, and the role of culture in both public and private
consciousnesses. Copiously illustrated, and with a comprehensive bibliography, the volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in modern and contemporary German society and its culture.

391 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 1995

Reviews

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edited collection, put together by Rob Burns in the 90s, seems torn between being an overview of German cultural developments (cultural being defined here as way-of-life) and being a more pointed attack on the Frankfurt School, Adorno and Horkheimer in particular.

In terms of the later, the argument followed in most of the essays is that the commercialized culture industry actually opened up new spaces where dissent could operate and non-manipulative forms could be practiced. In terms of the former, the most valuable take away concerns the (at the time) new insights into East German culture and cinema in particular.

My favourite chapter was Chapter 2, 'Weimar Culture: The Birth of Modernism', by Stephen Lamb and Anthony Phelan, which portrays the Weimar period as one of transition, holding out a promise 'which National Socialism interrupted and our own postmodernity has yet to fulfil' (54).

I do feel that the differences between East and West German culture presented in this book were vastly exaggerated. The 'wall in the mind' was real to an extent, but its greatest obstacles seem to have been mostly surmounted, as of 2018.