Myths determine the way cultures understand themselves. The papers in this volume examine culturally specific myths in Britain and the German-speaking world, and compare approaches to the theory of myth, together with the ways in which mythological formations operate in literature, aesthetics and politicsa ' with a focus on the period around 1800. They enquire into the consequences of myth-oriented discourses for the way in which these two cultures understand each other, and in this way make a significant contribution to a more profound approach to intercultural research.

The writer Felix Hartlaub died in obscurity at just 31, vanishing from Berlin in 1945. He left behind a small oeuvre of private writings from the Second World War: fragments and observations of life from the midst of catastrophe that, with their evocative power and precision, would make a permanent place for him in German letters. Posted to Paris in 1940 to conduct archival research, Hartlaub recorded his impressions of the unfamiliar city in notebooks that document with unparalleled immediacy the daily realities of occupation. With a painter's eye for detail, Hartlaub writes of the bustle of civilians and soldiers in cafes, of half-seen trysts during blackout hours and the sublime light of Paris in spring. Appearing in English for the first time, Clouds Over Paris is a unique testament to the persistence of ordinary life through disaster.

The Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) achieved world fame with his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes. In this detailed biography, Rudiger Goerner masterfully depicts the multifaceted artist's life and long career. He traces Kokoschka's path from being the bugbear of the bourgeoisie and a 'hunger artist' to becoming a wealthy and cosmopolitan political and critical artist who went on to shape the European art scene of the 20th century and beyond. The great painter's works as a playwright, essayist and poet bear witness to his remarkable literary quality. Music played a central role in his work, and his passion for teaching led him to establish in 1953 the School of Seeing, an unconventional art school conceived by Kokoschka as an attempt to revive humanist ideals in the horrific aftermath of war. The life and work of Oskar Kokoschka are a reaction against the monochrome monotony of existence; Goerner's biography portrays the artist in all his fascinating and contradictory complexity.

Diese Studie untersucht die politikasthetische Dimension des Foderalismus in der deutschen Tradition unter Berucksichtigung der mythischen und pragmatischen Seiten dieses zentralen Sinn- und Strukturelements der politischen Kultur in Deutschland. Daruber hinaus fragt sie nach der Bedeutung des Foderalismus fur die regionale und europaische Identitat in der gegenwartigen Phase der Renationalisierung des politischen Bewusstseins. Ausgehend von der Foderalismus-Konzeption von Constantin Frantz werden die Themen Souveranitat und Foderalismus, foderale Aspekte der Verfassungsdiskussion sowie die Bedeutung, die der Foderalismus fur deutsche Intellektuelle (gehabt) hat, erortert."

In Leben und Werk Wolfgang Hildesheimers kommt England der Status eines Kulturtopos zu, der in bestimmten Lebensphasen prominent, in anderen verschleiert in Erscheinung trat. Der Einfluss englischsprachiger Autoren pragte Hildesheimers Schaffen - von Shakespeare, Shaw, Joyce, T. S. Eliot uber Barnes und Beckett - und die englische Sprache durchzieht Werk und Briefe. Wie lasst sich die englische Topografie in Hildesheimers Werk vermessen? Wie das Geopoetische in seinen England-Bezugen werten? Auf welches 'England' bezog sich Hildesheimer? War es jenes Shakespeares, Shaws, T.S. Eliots, Becketts oder die Welt des James Joyce? Was am Englischen ausserte sich stilbildend, sprachpragend in seinem Werk? Dieser Band dokumentiert erstmals thematisch zusammenhangend die Lebensspuren Hildesheimers im englischen Kulturraum und die Spuren des Englischen in seinem literarischen und bildkunstlerischen OEuvre. Er prasentiert die Ergebnisse der Tagung "Wolfgang Hildesheimer und England", die im September 2010 am Queen Mary College der University of London stattfand.