The discourse of Heimat, meaning homeland or roots, has been a medium of debate on German identity between region and nation for at least a century. Four phases parallel Germany's discontinuous history: Heimat literature as a response to modernization and to regional tensions before the First World War; the inter-war period when Heimat divided into racist ideology, left-wing opposition, and inner resistance to the Third Reich; a post-war dialectic between escapist 1950s Heimat films and right-wing claims to the lost lands in the East to which anti-Heimat theatre and films in the 1960s and 1970s were a response, with the urban Heimat in GDR films adding a socialist twist; regionalism and green politics in the 1980s and German identity beyond Cold War divisions. A key point of reference in current debates on German history, Heimat looks likely to continue in postmodern and multicultural mode.

About the Author
Elizabeth Boa is Professor of German, University of Nottingham and author of Kafka: Gender, Class, Race in the Letters and Fictions (OUP, 1996) Rachel Palfreyman is Professor of German, University of Nottingham

Reviews
Boa and Palfreyman supply a rich and varied fare ... handsomely produced, with good illustrations. * Modern Language Review *
What this study achieves, above all else, is to underscore the constant yearning of the German psyche for a potent and cohesive identity, compelling us to ponder not only the cultural accomplishments this has inspired, but also the afflictions it has, in no small part, brought upon the nation * Forum for Modern Language Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198159230
Author Elizabeth Boa
Format Paperback
Page Count 242
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 138mm * 14mm