Fabricating pleasure

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This work explores how the German middle class developed a distinctive domestic culture that intertwined consumption with high culture through fashionable entertainment. Around the turn of the nineteenth century, entertainment, seen as a source of pleasure, significantly influenced the lifestyle and identity of the German bourgeoisie. Emerging modern cultural and consumption practices enhanced physical pleasure and fostered imaginary sensations, emphasizing desire over possession as a key aspect of cultural engagement. This shift linked products and practices to self-image, reflecting social identity in an increasingly anonymous society where modern choice led to a loss of traditional stability. The author traces the formation of this unique domestic culture, highlighting the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century bourgeoisie’s blend of consumption and high culture. Karin Wurst sheds light on the sociohistorical context, the emergence of the modern middle class, and its cultural differentiation. She analyzes the roles of Empfindsamkeit (sensibility) and a new love paradigm, revealing their impact on perceptions of pleasure and entertainment. The book also examines the interplay between print culture—using Bertuch's Journal des Luxus und der Moden as a key example—and rising social mobility. From art and music to fashion and travel, Wurst situates these popular entertainment forms within their historical contexts, linking