Baader-Meinhof and the Novel: Narratives of the Nation / Fantasies of the Revolution, 1970-2010 (Studies in European Culture and History)

Julian Preece

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0230341071 ISBN 13: 9780230341074

Publisher: AIAA, 2012

The Red Army Faction or Baader-Meinhof Group (1970-98) has been the subject of a very large number of German novels, from serious literary fiction to best-selling thrillers. Through an analysis of plot lines, recurrent character types, narrative disavowals and omissions, and adaptations of national classics, this study reveals an unease at the heart of the democratic settlement in the Federal Republic. Julian Preece sheds new light on the emotional character of postwar Germany, its uneasy relationship with its own past and the authority of the state. This book is the first to examine this rich literary corpus, treating it as a political unconscious which expresses submerged anxieties and moral blind-spots in Europe's most powerful country.

Review:

'Required reading for scholars and students interested in German history, literature, and cultural memory. It offers new insights into the complex link between German mentality and trauma and makes a compelling case for the enduring emotional, social, and manipulative power of literature.' - Ingo Cornils, senior lecturer in German, University of Leeds

'Preece has written a fascinating account of Germany's past and present struggle to narrativize Baader-Meinhof: is this history or myth, an inspiration or a warning, a story of victims or perpetrators? From a non-German perspective, are Germany's terrorists the only 'good Germans?' From Katharina Blum to the contemporary Krimi, Preece engages with contradictory fictions in their historical context, giving us a history of the Baader-Meinhof novel that is simultaneously an insight into post-'68 Germany.' - Sarah Colvin, Director of the Institute for German Studies, University of Birmingham

'This book is both compelling and illuminating as it revisits the complex multilayered narratives of Germany's trauma. Most importantly it presents a new theoretical reading of how intellectual violence becomes real.' - Andrew Hussey, Dean, University of London Institute in Paris
 
'Preece is shrewd in his assessment of the political and intellectual vacuum at the heart of Baader-Meinhof.' - Ian Brunskill, Times Literary Supplement
 

Book Description:

The Baader-Meinhof Group have provided material for many novels by leading writers and for the first time this book examines this rich literary corpus