Precarious Times

Anne Fuchs

Description

In Precarious Times, Anne Fuchs explores how works of German literature, film, and photography reflect on the profound temporal anxieties precipitated by contemporary experiences of atomization, displacement, and fragmentation that bring about a loss of history and of time itself and that is peculiar to our current moment.The digital age places premiums on just-in-time deliveries, continual innovation, instantaneous connectivity, and around-the-clock availability. While some celebrate this 24/7 culture, others see it as profoundly destructive to the natural rhythm of day and night-and to human happiness. Have we entered an era of a perpetual present that depletes the future and erodes our grasp of the past?Beginning its examination around 1900, when rapid modernization was accompanied by comparably intense reflection on changing temporal experience, Precarious Times provides historical depth and perspective to current debates on the "digital now." Expanding the modern discourse on time and speed, Fuchs deploys such concepts as attention, slowness and lateness to emphasize the uneven quality of time around the world.

Sujets

• Germán
• History of Europe
• History of film
• German

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501734816
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Precarious Times

Series editor: Peter Uwe Hohendahl, Cornell University

Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thoughtpublishes new Englishlanguage books in literary studies, criticism, cultural studies, and intellectual history pertaining to the Germanspeaking world, as well as translations of important Germanlanguage works.Signaleconstrues “modern” in the broadest terms: the series covers topics ranging from the early modern period to the present.Signalebooks are published under a joint imprint of Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library in electronic and print formats. Please see http://signale.cornell.edu/.

PrecariousTimes

TemporalityandHistoryin Modern German Culture

AnneFuchs

A Signale Book

CornellUniversityPressandCornellUniversityLibrary IthacaandLondon

CornellUniversityPressandCornellUniversityLibrarygratefully acknowledge the College of Arts & Sciences, Cornell University, for support of the Signale series. Copyright©2019byCornellUniversity Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Firstpublished2019byCornellUniversityPress and Cornell University Library PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData

Names: Fuchs, Anne, author. Title: Precarious times : temporality and history in modern German  culture / Anne Fuchs. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2019. | Series: Signale :  modern German letters, cultures, and thought | Includes  bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Explores how  works of German literature, film, and photography reflect on the  temporal anxieties precipitated by contemporary experiences of  atomization, displacement, and fragmentation that bring about a loss  of history and of time itself and is peculiar to our current moment”—  Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2019027737 (print) | LCCN 2019027738 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501735103 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501734816 (pdf) |  ISBN 9781501734823 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: German literature—20th century—History and criticism. |  German literature—21st century—History and criticism. | Time in  literature. | Anxiety in literature. | Time in art. | Anxiety in art. | Arts  and society—Germany—History—20th century. | Arts and society—  Germany—History—21st century. Classification: LCC PT148.T57 F83 2019 (print) | LCC PT148.T57  (ebook) | DDC 830.9/33—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027737 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027738

Inmemoryofmyparents,IlseandKlausFuchs

ListofIllustrations

Acknowledgments

ListofAbbreviations

Introduction

Contents

1.TheoreticalPerspectives:TemporalAnxietiesin the Digital Age

TimelessTime Acceleration Resonance Atomization Immediacy TheExtendedPresent TimeSpaceCompression NetworkTime PrecariousTimes

xi xiii xvii

1

23 23 26 31 38 42 45 50 55 59

vi i i Contents

2.HistoricalPerspectives:ModernismandSpeedPolitics

TemporalityandtheModernImagination TwoVisionsofLateCulture:FriedrichNietzsche and Thomas Mann Attention,Distraction,andtheModernConditions of Perception: Georg Simmel and Franz Kafka ModernManandtheTroublewithTime:Franz Kafka’sDer Proceß SpeedPoliticsinRobertWalser’sShortProse FromLatenesstoLatency:SigmundFreud Conclusion

3.ContemporaryPerspectives:PrecariousTime(s) in Photography and Film

SlowArt TheDisruptionofLinearTime:MichaelWesely’s Time Photography TheDisruptionofHistoricalTime:UlrichWüst’s PhotobookSpäter Sommer/Letzter Herbst In the Acoustic Space of the GDR: Christian Petzold’s Barbara TheLongingforTranscendence:UlrichSeidl’s Paradies: Glaube DisruptivePerformances:MarenAde’sToni Erdmann Conclusion

4.NarratingPrecariousness

Dis/connectednessinContemporaryGerman Literature AccelerationandPointTime:ClemensMeyer’s Als wir träumten EmptyTimeandtheExtendedPresent:JuliaSchoch’s Mit der Geschwindigkeit des Sommersand Karen Duve’sTaxi TheCultofImmediacyandtheSearchforResonance: Wilhelm Genazino’sDas Glück in glücksfernen Zeiten

70 70

75

82

88 95 105 109

115 115

121

134

147

156 168 181 190

190

193

204

215

Contents i x

TheSearchforTranscendence:ArnoldStadler’s Sehnsucht: Versuch über das erste MalandSalvatore PrecariousTimes,PrecariousLives:JennyErpenbeck’s Gehen, ging, gegangen Conclusion

Epilogue:PresentistDystopiasortheCasefor Environmental Humanities

Bibliography Index

231

247 273

282

289 309