Peter Demetz Books

A first-ever paperback edition. A rich and highly readable analysis of the literary scene in the German-speaking countries by an outstanding American scholar. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book.

In the 1920s and 1930s, photography became an immense phenomenon across Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, and Poland. Through magazines and books, in advertisements and at exhibitions, from amateur clubs to avant-garde schools, photographs emerged as a key vehicle of modern consciousness.This book presents the work of approximately one hundred individuals whose creations exemplify the potential of photography in Central Europe between the two World Wars. Foto brings together for the first time works by recognized masters such as the Russian El Lissitzky, the Hungarian László Moholy-Nagy, and the German Hannah Hóch—all of whom developed their photographic ideas in Germany—with contemporaries like Karel Teige and Jaromír Funke (Czechoslovakia), Kazimierz Podsadecki (Poland), Károly Escher (Hungary), and Trude Fleischmann (Austria), who are less well known today.Organized thematically, the book explores topics from photomontage and war to gender identity, modern living, and the spread of Surrealism. It shows the shared experience of modernity in the region, whereby recently founded nations and dismantled empires alike sought their place within the new world order established in the aftermath of World War I.The illustrations, drawn from more than seventy collections in America and abroad, include several previously unpublished works as well as many others never before available in high-quality reproductions.

"Demetz expertly interweaves a superb account of the German authorities' diplomatic, financial, and military machinations with a brilliant description of Prague's evolving resistance and underground opposition. Along with his private experiences, he offers the heretofore untold history of an effervescent, unstoppable Prague whose urbane heart went on beating despite the deportations, murders, cruelties, and violence - a Prague that kept its German - and Czech - language theaters open, its fabled film studios functioning, its young people in school and at work, and its newspapers on press. This complex, continually surprising book is filled with rare human detail and warmth, the gripping story of a great city meeting the dual challenges of occupation and of war."--BOOK JACKET.

Lessing was a playwright, scholar, poet, archeologist, philosopher, and critic. His genius is evident in the works collected in this volume, which includes the comedy Minna von Barnhelm, the tragedy Emilia, Galotti, Nathan the Wise, The Jews (and related correspondence), Ernst and Falk: Conversations for the Freemasons, and selections from philosophical and theological writings

" ... Demetz begins with the intriguing myths about Prague's origins--told and retold by generations of artists--contrasting them with confirmed archaeological truths about the site's pre-Roman settlements. He weaves together the colorful strands of Prague's literary traditions (Latin, Czech, German, and Jewish) with the story of its scintillating political and cultural advances, and focuses on key moments in its multicultural life: under King Charles, when it was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire; in the turbulent years of the Hussite rebellion; under Emperor Rudolf II, during the Renaissance, when it was home to Europe's best rationalists and most famous occultists; in the time of Mozart; and in the ages of revolutionary nationalism and of T.G. Masaryk, heroic first president of Czechoslovakia. Throughout, Demetz shows how Czechs, Germans, Italians, and Jews hve lived and worked together in Prague for a thousand years ..."--Jacket.

Liebe und Hass zu Prag liegen für Peter Demetz nah beieinander. 1948 musste der heute in den USA lebende Wanderer zwischen den Sprachen unter lebensgefährlichen Umständen seine Stadt verlassen. Böhmen - seiner Heimat - widmet er nun seinen neuen Essayband. Inwieweit lässt das Nebeneinander verschiedener Sprachen und Ethnien ein tschechisches Nationalitätsbewusstsein zu? Welche Rolle spielt Literatur? Und wie wird damit während eines politischen Ausnahmezustandes umgegangen? In zehn Variationen geht Demetz den Zusammenhängen zwischen Politik und Literatur auf den Grund. Lehrreich und erhellend, ohne jemals belehrend zu sein.

In einer Altpapiersammelstelle versammelt Hrabal Bücher, die vergessen oder zensiert sind. Er zeigt, dass die Wahrheit nur in der Kunst zu finden ist und kombiniert Komik mit melancholischer Skepsis. Der Text ist eine Hommage an Franz Kafka und reflektiert Hrabal's einzigartigen Erzählstil.