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Baader-Meinhof Returns: History and Cultural Memory of German Left-Wing Terrorism
This volume is dedicated to the study of artistic and historical documents that recall German left-wing terrorism in the 1970s. It is intended to contribute to a better understanding of this violent epoch in Germany’s recent past and the many ways it is remembered.
The cultural memory of the RAF past is a useful device to disentangle the complex relationship between terror and the arts. This bond has become a particularly pressing matter in an era of a new, so-called global terrorism when the culture industry is obviously fascinated with terror.
Fourteen scholars of visual cultures and contemporary literature offer in-depth investigations into the artistic process of engaging with West Germany’s era of political violence in the 1970s. The assessments are framed by two essays from one looks back at the previously ignored anti-Semitic context of 1970s terrorism, the other offers a thought-provoking epilogue on the extension of the so-called Stammheim syndrome to the debate on the treatment of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. The contributions on cultural memory argue that any future memory of German left-wing terrorism will need to acknowledge the inseparable bond between terror and the artistic response it produces.
The cultural memory of the RAF past is a useful device to disentangle the complex relationship between terror and the arts. This bond has become a particularly pressing matter in an era of a new, so-called global terrorism when the culture industry is obviously fascinated with terror.
Fourteen scholars of visual cultures and contemporary literature offer in-depth investigations into the artistic process of engaging with West Germany’s era of political violence in the 1970s. The assessments are framed by two essays from one looks back at the previously ignored anti-Semitic context of 1970s terrorism, the other offers a thought-provoking epilogue on the extension of the so-called Stammheim syndrome to the debate on the treatment of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. The contributions on cultural memory argue that any future memory of German left-wing terrorism will need to acknowledge the inseparable bond between terror and the artistic response it produces.
345 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2008
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February 20, 2010
I thought I'd like this book more as it is a more contemporary look at the German left-wing insurgencies (see my review on Hitler's Children). Alas, its main line of thought - connecting violence to some artistic aesthetic - somewhat evades me, and I am left unconvinced in its substantiation. The evidence the papers bring to back their claims is too feeble. Plus, the pieces I read were not particularly engaging or well written either, with the exception of Sabine von Dirke's 'The RAF as trauma and pop icon in literature since 1980s'.
Anyway, there are some redeeming features to this book, like the reference to the art of Gerhard Richter in Gerd Koenen's article, for example, who produced some very controversial political pieces in the 1980s, and about whom I knew nothing till now. So I am going to give B-M Returns a few more chances before I put it in the 'abandoned work' section.
Anyway, there are some redeeming features to this book, like the reference to the art of Gerhard Richter in Gerd Koenen's article, for example, who produced some very controversial political pieces in the 1980s, and about whom I knew nothing till now. So I am going to give B-M Returns a few more chances before I put it in the 'abandoned work' section.
Displaying 1 of 1 review