Weimar Culture Revisited (Studies in European Culture and History)

For decades after the Second World War, historians and writers depicted cultural life in Germany’s Weimar Republic (1919-1933) as an unstable mixture of avant-garde experimentation, decadence, and proto-fascist tendencies. Their limited definition of “culture” as a canon of works by elites hindered the study of everyday cultural forms. A younger generation of scholars now takes the broad view of culture as not merely the work of elite artists and intellectuals, but as constructed in everyday practice and thorough popular participation. This is the first book to offer an accessible cross-section of these “new cultural history” approaches to the Weimar Republic. The essays in this volume recover the everyday by focusing on visual and political culture, transnational currents in the mass media, and the intense popular interest in sports, health, and nature. Weimar Culture Revisited attests to the extraordinarily multi-faceted nature of democracy in interwar Germany. Coverpage......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 List of Illustrations......Page 8 Foreword......Page 10 Notes on Contributors......Page 26 I Revolution and the Weimar Avant-Garde: Contesting the Politics of Art, 1919–1924......Page 28 II Cinema, Radio, and “Mass Culture” in the Weimar Republic: Between Shared Experience and Social Division......Page 50 III Blue Angel, Brown Culture: The Politics of Film Reception in Göttingen......Page 76 IV Middle-Class Heroes: Anti-Nationalism in the Popular Adventure Films of the Weimar Republic......Page 100 V Exotic Attractions and Imperialist Fantasies in Weimar Youth Literature......Page 126 VI How Can a War Be Holy? Weimar Attitudes Toward Eastern Spirituality......Page 144 VII Visualizing the Republic: State Representation and Public Ritual in Weimar Germany......Page 166 VIII The Party Does Indeed Fight Like a Man: The Construction of a Masculine Ideal in the Weimar Communist Party......Page 188 IX Sweat Equity: Sports and the Self-Made German......Page 210 X Friends of Nature: The Culture of Working-Class Hiking......Page 226 Selected Bibliography......Page 254 Index......Page 260 Revolution And The Weimar Avant-garde : Contesting The Politics Of Art, 1919-1924 / Debbie Lewer -- Cinema, Radio, And 'mass Culture' In The Weimar Republic : Between Shared Experience And Social Division / Corey Ross -- Blue Angel, Brown Culture : The Politics Of Film Reception In Göttingen / David Imhoof -- Middle-class Heroes : Anti-nationalism In The Popular Adventure Films Of The Weimar Republic / Ofer Ashkenazi -- Exotic Attractions And Imperialist Fantasies In Weimar Youth Literature / Luke Springman -- How Can A War Be Holy? : Weimar Attitudes Toward Eastern Spirituality / Tom Neuhaus -- Visualizing The Republic : State Representation And Public Ritual In Weimar Germany / Nadine Rossol -- The Party Does Indeed Fight Like A Man : The Construction Of A Masculine Ideal In The Weimar Communist Party / Sara Ann Sewell -- Sweat Equity : Sports And The Self-made German / Erik Jensen -- Friends Of Nature : The Culture Of Working-class Hiking / John A. Williams. Edited By John Alexander Williams. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "Since the 1990s there has been a dramatic shift in the research on culture in general away from the strict focus on high arts and literature to everyday popular culture. A younger generation of scholars now takes the broad view of culture as not merely the work of elite artists and intellectuals, but as constructed in everyday practice and thorough popular participation. Weimar Culture Revisited is the first book to offer an accessible cross-section of these "new cultural history" approaches to the Weimar Republic. This collection of pieces by historians, literary and films scholars, and art historians focuses on the everyday workings of Weimar culture. It provides a variety of interdisciplinary approaches explaining the impact and meaning of culture for German's everyday lives during this fateful era."--Pub. desc Weimar Culture Revisited is the first book to offer an accessible cross-section of new cultural history approaches to the Weimar Republic. This collection uses an interdisciplinary approach and focuses on the everyday workings of Weimar culture to explain the impact and meaning of culture for German's everyday lives during this fateful era.