Alasdair King

The writings of Hans Magnus Enzensberger are a provocative commentary on the post-1945 period in Germany. Poet and essayist of international standing and frequent contributor to political and cultural debates, his work has accompanied the development of the Federal Republic from the 1950s to German unification and after. This study makes explicit the links between Enzensberger's literary imagination and the cultural and political history of Germany and offers a close reading of both Enzensberger's poetry and his seminal essays on politics and culture, proposing that they be considered as part of a single artistic project. The book argues that Enzensberger's significance lies in his sustained exploration of the relationship between literary and cultural practices and political democracy in Germany. It offers detailed analyses of Enzensberger's poetry and considers his essays on the 'consciousness industry' and on the 'constituents of a theory of the media' in the context of the political development of the Federal Republic in the half-century following 1945. Post-World War 2 essays on cinema and television, on tourism, consumption and migration, and on digital media and the future of literature are also considered and analysed. Enzensberger's work is situated as part of an ongoing critical debate between him and key intellectual figures such as Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer, Jurgen Habermas, Jean Baudrillard and Michel Foucault."

Writing, Media, Democracy

Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Alison Guenther-Pal

Antje Ascheid

Christian Rogowski

John E. Davidson

Stefan Soldovieri

Christine Haase

Lutz Koepnick

Janet McCabe

Brad Prager

Nancy P. Nenno

Robert C. Reimer

Richard W. McCormick

Tim Bergfelder

Elizabeth Mittman

Hester Baer

Light Motives undertakes a long overdue critical reassessment of German popular cinema, challenging the traditional view of German film history and offering new ways to think about popular cinema in general.

German Popular Film in Perspective

Light Motives

Alasdair King

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