The papers, the appreciation and the poem that are collected in this volume were delivered at the conference, Aesthetics and Politics in Modern German Culture, which was held from 31 August to 2 September 2008 at the University of Wales Conference Centre, Gregynog Hall, in honour of Professor Rhys W. Williams upon his retirement from the Chair of German at Swansea University. The contributions focus on broad themes in modern German culture, all of which reflect Rhys Williams' research interests: Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit; Representing/Resisting National Socialism; West German Writing; GDR Spaces and Voices; Exploring Masculinities in Fiction; Performing Politics, Performing Humour; Intertexts and Difference; and Lives and Letters.

This book is intended both as an introduction for the general reader and as a resource for the specialist. It contains a tribute to Jurek Becker specially written for this volume by his friend and colleague Peter Schneider, together with a revealing interview and a tabular biographical outline. The contributions on varying aspects of Becker's work are complemented by the fullest bibliography to date of both primary and secondary works. Jurek Becker was a rare figure in German literature in more than one way. As an Auschwitz survivor of Jewish origins he was one of the few German writers able to take a victim's perspective on the Holocaust, most famously in his first novel Jakob der Lugner, a world-wide success. As a GDR writer who came into conflict with the authorities despite a life-long commitment to socialism he was in the peculiar position of being allowed to live in the West while retaining his GDR visa. His work remains as a landmark of that state, with novels such as Bronsteins Kinder treating the problem of post-war Jewish identity and the legacy of National Socialism within a GDR setting. As a novelist Becker achieved the unusual feat of both critical and commercial success, but it was as a writer of television screenplays that he achieved his greatest fame. Series like Liebling Kreuzberg and Wir sind auch nur ein Volk were not only watched by millions but also, in the latter case, encapsulated the problems Germany faces in reconciling itself to the consequences of unification. Jurek Becker's untimely death in March 1997 deprived German literature of an irreplaceable figure who belongs, as Peter Schneider asserts in this volume, to one of only a small number of German writers of his generation who will be remembered a century hence.

Peter Schneider is a seminal figure in contemporary German writing. Initially prominent for his involvement in the student movement, he has consistently focused on problems at the heart of German national and cultural identity: the legacy of Auschwitz, the student revolt, neo-Nazi violence, the Green movement, and, above all, the division and subsequent unification of Germany. From the influential "Lenz"""(1973) to the challenging yet accessible "Paarungen "(1992), Schneider's fiction and essays bring meticulous intellectual analysis to what he himself describes as a neglected 'deutsche Tradition von Ironie, Leichtigkeit, Humor'. The first book in English or German to be devoted exclusively to Peter Schneider, this collection of essays is intended both as an introduction for the general reader and as a resource for the specialist. It contains a previously unpublished piece by Schneider, together with a revealing interview and a biographical sketch. The contributions on various aspects of the author's fiction and essays are complemented by the fullest bibliography to date of Schneider's primary works as well as a select list of secondary sources.