‘Phantoms of War in Contemporary German Literature, Films and Disclosure’ by Prof Anne Fuchs has been selected as an outstanding academic title for 2008 by Choice, the official publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries. The accolade was awarded in recognition of the book’s excellent scholarship and presentation, the significance of its contribution to its academic field, and its value as an important treatment of a subject area.
Anne Fuchs is Professor of Modern German Literature and Culture at the UCD School of Languages and Literatures. She was one of the Principal Investigators of the PRTLI cycle 3 funded research programme on Memory and Meaning in the 21st Century conducted by UCD’s Humanities Institute.
The book explores the politics of memory since German unification in 1990. Since then, according to Prof Fuchs, a new discourse has emerged about familial origins, legacies and issues of generational identity, which also readdresses important questions of historical agency, choice and responsibility from the perspective of unification.
In this new study, Fuchs offers in-depth interpretations of major works by established and newer authors as well as a range of films and recent historical debates. By exploring the rediscovery of family origins and traditions, and examining the fashionable concepts of generation and genealogy, the author develops an original theory of family narratives, a category situated at the intersection of public and private discourses.
In the final analysis Fuchs argues that the books, films and public debates under discussion “demonstrate that this quest for a viable tradition in unified Germany remains ambivalent and, ultimately, strongly contested.”
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