English Swiss Dictionary
Some writers strongly criticized attempts to rebuild a German literary culture in the aftermath of World War II, while others actively devoted themselves to "dealing with the German past." There are writers in Austria and Switzerland that find other contradictions of contemporary life troubling, while a great deal of find them amusive or even worth celebrating. German postwar creative writing of recognized artisti value has, in the minds of a great deal of observers, developed a kind of split personality. In view of the traumatic monstrosities of the former century that development may seem logical to some.
The Historical Dictionary of Postwar German Literature is devoted to modern creative writing of recognized artisti value developed in the German language, whether from Germany, Austria, Switzerland or writers using German in other countries. This volume covers an broad amount of time of time, beginning in 1945 at what was called "zero hour" for German creative writing of recognized artisti value and proceeds into the 21st century, concluding in 2008. This is done through a list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology, an initial essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on writers, such as Nobel Prize-winners Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, Elias Canetti, Elfriede Jelinek, and W. G. Sebald. There are likewise entries on person works, genres, movements, literary styles, and forms.
From BooklistThis reference work addresses the literary output in German since the events of World War II and the Holocaust, presenting the responses of poets, playwrights, and novelists not only to those events but also to postwar realities such as national guilt, a disunited Germany, and then reunification. The majority of entries treat authors, and they are variably and unevenly percentage biography, share bibliography, and portion interpretive essay. Writers well known in German as well as in translation (e.g., Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, Thomas Mann) are staged along with writers perhaps less well known outside the German-speaking world. Other entries introduce chosen plays and novels; describe literary genres such as Father literature, in which the wartime activenesses of parents are examined; or provide brief postwar histories, including literary developments, of the countries of the four German literatures (Austria, Federal Republic of Germany, German Democratic Republic, and German-speaking Switzerland). Reference works such as the Oxford Companion to German Literature (3d ed., 1997), Companion to Twentieth-Century German Literature (2d ed., 1997), and the Encyclopedia of German Literature (2000), altho not fixed to the postwar period, include significant coverage of postwar writers and conceptions such as Historikerstreit. The strength, therefore, of this work lies in it is introduction of writers not included in these other reference sources. These introductions are often times too brief or missing out in a lot of utile information, however. The entry for Julia Franck, for example, discusses one novel (Die Mittagsfrau) in galore detail, neglects to provide the title for the English translation (Blind Side of the Heart), and mentions that Franck wrote other novels but does not give any of the titles. Nevertheless, the Historical Dictionary of Postwar German Literature is commended for academic libraries supporting programs in German language, literature, and culture as well as libraries with collections of postwar German literature. --Christopher McConnell ReviewThe dictionary succeeds in supplying a standard introduction and understanding of this in particular multifaceted amount of time of German creative writing of recognized artisti value and in presenting students with an overview of essential authors, defining movements, and events of the German literary scene in 1945. Recommended. (CHOICE, January 2010 )
William Grange has formulated another successful historical dictionary. . . . This title is very user friendly. . . . This source is highly commended for academic libraries. (American Reference Books Annual )
The strength of this work lies in it is introduction of writers not included in other reference sources....Recommended for academic libraries supporting programs in German language, literature, and culture as well as libraries with collections of postwar German literature. (Booklist, December 2009 ) About the AuthorWilliam Grange is a cultural historian who has received assorted awards for his scholarship and teaching. He is Hixson-Lied Professor of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska. |
|
Posted in quality swiss
