The concept of Heimat with its seemingly pre- or anti-modern connotations of rootedness in a place of origin is central to a critical understanding of German history and culture. Over the course of the past fifteen years, scholars across a range of disciplines have found new ways to examine the changing notions of Heimat - its multifaceted cultural, literary, and visual history, its gendered connotations, and its national and ideological appropriations. This anthology is the first to examine cultural manifestations of Heimat by giving special consideration to issues of memory and space. The contributions to this volume challenge static notions of place often associated with Heimat. Instead, they explore the social and cultural production of places of belonging as they emerge in literary and visual narratives ranging from 1800 to 2000 and beyond. Although the anthology includes historical perspectives on Heimat, its overall objective is not to trace its cultural or literary history, but to place this complex term into new conceptual contexts. Drawing attention to manifestations of Heimat within German literary and cultural studies provides a rich ground for exploring the transformation of locality in trans/national contexts.

Explores how contemporary novels dealing with flight and expulsion after the Second World War unsettle traditional notions of Heimat without abandoning place-based notions of belonging. At the end of the Second World War, millions of Germans and Poles fled or were expelled from the border regions of what had been their countries. This monograph examines how, in Cold War and post-Cold War Europe since the 1970s, writers have responded to memories or postmemories of this traumatic displacement. Friederike Eigler engages with important currents in scholarship -- on "Heimat," the much-debated German concept of "homeland"; on the spatial turnin literary studies; and on German-Polish relations -- arguing for a transnational approach to the legacies of flight and expulsion and for a spatial approach to Heimat. She explores notions of belonging in selected postwar and contemporary German novels, with a comparative look at a Polish novel, Olga Tokarczuk's House of Day, House of Night (1998). Eigler finds dynamic manifestations of place in Tokarczuk's novel, in Horst Bienek's 1972-82 Gleiwitz tetralogy about the historical border region of Upper Silesia, and in contemporary novels by Reinhard Jirgl, Christoph Hein, Kathrin Schmidt, Tanja Duckers, Olaf Muller, and Sabrina Janesch. In a decisive departure from earlierapproaches, Eigler explores how these novels foster an awareness of the regions' multiethnic and multinational histories, unsettling traditional notions of Heimat without altogether abandoning place-based notions of belonging. Friederike Eigler is Professor of German at Georgetown University.

Today, a multiplicity of feminist approaches has become an integral part of the fields of German literary and cultural studies. This comprehensive reference provides a much needed synthesis of the contribution women have made to German literature and culture. In entries for more than 500 topics, the volume surveys literary periods, epochs, and genres; critical approaches and theories; important authors and works; female stereotypes; laws and historical developments; literary concepts and themes; and organizations and archives relevant to women and women's studies. Each entry offers a concise identification of the term, a discussion of its significance, and a bibliography of works for further reading. Today, a multiplicity of feminist approaches has become an integral part of the fields of German literary and cultural studies. While biographical works on women writers exist, this is the first reference to synthesize the wealth of feminist scholarship in German studies. While existing reference works focus exclusively on women authors, this volume contains numerous topical entries and covers the role of women in German literature and culture from the Middle Ages to the present day. Included are alphabetically arranged entries on more than 500 topics. While some entries are provided for important women writers and other individuals, the bulk of the volume provides information on literary periods, epochs, and genres; critical approaches and theories; female stereotypes; laws and historical developments; literary concepts and themes; and organizations and archives relevant to women and women's studies. Each entry includes a brief identification of the subject, a discussion of feminist thought on the topic, and a brief bibliography. Entries are written by numerous contributors and reflect a range of critical/theoretical approaches.

Der Band enthalt die Beitrage von drei Sektionen des Warschauer IVG-Kongresses. Die Beitrage der Sektion Post/Nationale Vorstellungen von 'Heimat' in deutschen, europaischen und globalen Kontexten (betreut und bearbeitet von Friederike Eigler unter Mithilfe von Neeti Badwe und Wolfgang Emmerich) greifen die Fragen nach lokalen Formen von Identitat und Bildung eines modernen Heimatbegriffes vor dem Hintergrund von Globalisierungsprozessen und der zunehmenden Bedeutung von transnationalen Diskursen auf. Die Beitrage der Sektion Nationale Erinnerungskulturen im Zeitalter der Globalisierung (betreut und bearbeitet von Janusz Golec, Maria Klanska und Irmela von der Luhe) sind verschiedenen Auspragungen des kulturellen Gedachtnisses gewidmet. Fokussiert werden vor allem Erinnerungstraumata (Krieg, Shoah, Grenzverschiebungen, erzwungene Umsiedlungen und Migrationsbewegungen) des letzten Jahrhunderts in Mittel- und Osteuropa und ihre literarischen Verarbeitungen. Die Beitrage der Sektion Deutsch-polnische Erinnerungsorte (betreut und bearbeitet von Leszek Zylinski, Sabine Doering und Elzbieta Dzikowska) sind deutsch-polnischen Erinnerungsorten (Landschaften, Stadte, Denkmaler u.a.) als Formen der Erinnerung, aber auch des Vergessens und der Verdrangung gewidmet, in denen sich die wechselvolle Geschichte der Beziehung zwischen Deutschen und Polen widerspiegelt.