Die Autoren und Bücher des literarischen Expressionismus: Ein bibliographisches Handbuch

by Paul Raabe, Ingrid Hannich-Bode

German

Genres: Art

1024 pages, Hardcover

First published April 29, 1974

Reviews

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a valuable collection of essays that are all reminiscences of the Expressionist period before and after the War. It's focused especially on a) publishing, journals, and the printing of ideas and b) hanging out in cafés. Both are very interesting.

A few things emerge especially – and these have to do with Raabe's ideas about Expressionism – to wit: Expressionism was, for many years, a kind of unformed or vague idea rather than a school or a group of thinkers. Even more importantly, Expressionism was about individuality and individual expression and so collectivity and even politics had to come to Expressionism (the form) much later. As for politics... well, most of the contributors here disavow that Expressionism had a politics. What most seems to drive the essayists collected here is a belief in humanity, in the great human family, an idea of a European collective, and an absolute refusal of the war machine.

[Nick Reeves]

I haven't really finished it. It was always going to be a dipper in the bath. It's good stuff - not enough pictures lol. Lots of cool, tiny and detailed anecdotes about young creatives sitting around, chatting shit, painting, writing, thinking, dreaming, from the past; many of whom died in the First World War.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This proved a valuable resource and I returned to it often int he mid-90s