German Literature In The United States 1945 1960

The ongoing discussions about globalization, American hegemony and September 11 and its aftermath have moved the debate about the export of American culture and cultural anti-Americanism to center stage of world politics. At such a time, it is crucial to understand the process of culture transfer and its effects on local societies and their attitudes toward the United States. This volume presents Germany as a case study of the impact of American culture throughout a period characterized by a totalitarian system, two unusually destructive wars, massive ethnic cleansing, and economic disaster. Drawing on examples from history, culture studies, film, radio, and the arts, the authors explore the political and cultural parameters of Americanization and anti-Americanism, as reflected in the reception and rejection of American popular culture and, more generally, in European-American relations in the "American Century." Alexander Stephan is Professor of German, Ohio Eminent Scholar, and Senior Fellow of the Mershon Center for the Study of International Security and Public Policy at Ohio State University, where he directs a project on American culture and anti-Americanism in Europe and the world.

Although “entanglement” has become a keyword in recent German history scholarship, entangled studies of the postwar era have largely limited their scope to politics and economics across the two Germanys while giving short shrift to social and cultural phenomena like gender. At the same time, historians of gender in Germany have tended to treat East and West Germany in isolation, with little attention paid to intersections and interrelationships between the two countries. This groundbreaking collection synthesizes the perspectives of entangled history and gender studies, bringing together established as well as upcoming scholars to investigate the ways in which East and West German gender relations were culturally, socially, and politically intertwined.

This fourth volume continues a series emerging from the Penn State Project on Anglo-German and American-German Literary and Cultural Relations. All articles contained in the volume focus on the theme of the Project and reflect the wealth of scholarly resources to be found in the Allison-Shelley Collection, located in the Pattee Library of The Pennsylvania State University. Contents: Goethe in the American Annuals and Gift-Books, Philip Allison Shelley; John Quincy Adams and Alexander Hill Everett: Pathfinders of German Studies in America, Walter J. Morris; Alexander Hill Everett: Early Advocate of American Interest in German Literature and Culture, Kenneth B. Hunsaker and Maureen C. Devine; Henry Edwin Dwight: Evocator of American Interest in Germany, Kenneth B. Hunsaker; Thomas Medwin: Intermediary of German Literature and Culture, Heimy Taylor; The German Experience of William and Mary Howitt, William Stupp; James Lorimer Graham: Fosterer of American-German Literary Rela Andrew M. Kovalecs; Adolf Strodtmann's Letters to Bayard Taylor: A Further Fostering of German-American Relations, Edward J. Danis; Publications of Philip Allison Shelley, Edward J. Danis; Index