Wounds of Memory
Subtitle: The Politics of War in Germany
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: November 19, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 310
ISBN-13: 9780521873338
Subjects: International relations; Social history; Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000; Political Science; History - General History; Politics / Current Events; Politics/International Relations; Germany; Europe - Germany; European - German; Political Science / Government / General; International Relations - General
Description: "German memories of the Second World war are controversial, and they are used to justify different positions on the use of military force. In this book, Maja Zehfuss studies the articulation of memories in novels in order to discuss and challenge arguments deployed in political and public debate. She explores memories that have generated considerable controversy, such as the flight and expulsion of Germans from the East, the bombing of German cities and the 'liberation' of Germany in 1945. She shows how memory retrospectively produces a past while claiming merely to invoke it, drawing attention to the complexities and contradictions within how truth, ethics, emotion, subjectivity and time are conceptualised, Zehfuss argues that the tensions and uncertainties revealed raise political questions that must be confronted, beyond the safety net of knowledge. This is a compelling book which pursues an original approach in exploring the politics of invocations of memory."--Jacket.