“Memory Contests”, a study which addresses how post-unification Germany has been confronting its collective memory through novels, films, autobiographies, and other forms of public discourse that engage with the long-term effects of National Socialism across generations, has been included in the "outstanding academic title" list by CHOICE, the main academic titles review journal in the United States.
This intergenerational dynamic of ongoing confrontation with memory in Germany today has been captured in the peer-reviewed volume “Memory Contests” co-edited by Anne Fuchs, Professor of Modern German Literature and Culture at UCD, Mary Cosgrove, Lecturer in German at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr Georg Grote also of UCD. It attempts to answer why the concept of the generation has become such a fashionable idea in contemporary memory debates, and why it has been embraced by popular culture and academics alike.
The award was made to some 640 titles from more than seven thousand submissions and is considered to be a major achievement. To quote from the award letter, chosen works are “selected for their excellence in scholarship and presentation, the significance of their contribution to the field and their value as important - often the first - treatment of their subject. 'Outstanding Academic Titles' are truly the 'best of the best'."
"Memory Contests" is one of the outcomes of the PRTLI research programme on 'Identity, Memory and Meaning in the 21st Century', run under the auspices of UCD Humanities Institute of Ireland. Anne Fuchs is Principal Investigator of the programme "Cultural Memory and the Quest for Identity in Post-war German Discourse".
Touching on gender, generations, memory and postmemory, trauma theory, ethnicity, historiography and family narrative, the contributions provide a comprehensive picture of current German memory debates, shedding light on the struggle to construct a German identity mindful but not wholly defined by the horrors of National Socialism and the Holocaust.
The volume will appeal to readers with a wide variety of academic interests, including cultural history, gender studies, film, and contemporary German literature.
Fuchs, A., Cosgrove, M. & Grote, G. (eds). (2006) German Memory Contests: The Quest for Identity in Literature, Film and Discourse since 1990. Rochester: Camden House.
