H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-German@h-net.msu.edu (February 2005)

John A. McCarthy, Walter Grünzweig and Thomas Koebner, eds. _The Many Faces
of Germany: Transformations in the Study of German Culture and History;
Festschrift for Frank Trommler_. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2004.
xx + 411 pp. Illustrations, notes, appreciations, bibliography, index.
$60.00 (cloth), ISBN 1-57181-034-X. Reviewed for H-German by Thomas W.
Gijswijt, History Department, Heidelberg University

Past Contours and Future Prospects of German Studies

This is a festschrift Frank Trommler can be proud of. It reflects the many
research interests he has pursued and his continuous quest for innovation in
German Studies. Moreover, it contains some excellent essays on the future
course of German Studies and history.

The editors have divided the twenty-eight essays in four sections:
"Dialectics of Memory," "Mining History," "Bilateral Understanding," and
"Closures-Transitions-Openings." Almost half the contributions are in
German. In the introduction, John A. McCarthy lists the ambitious goals the
editors have set for the collection: it is intended both as a "forum to
discuss issues that were raised in the twentieth century and will continue
to attract attention well beyond the year 2000" and as "an assessment of the
past contours and future prospects of bilateral understanding and of the
place of the study of things German in American academe" (pp. ix-x). Of
course--this being a festschrift--not all authors have followed these
guidelines. The majority of articles in "Mining History" and "Bilateral
Understanding," for example, are conventional case studies dealing with a
wide variety of topics, including the Walser-Bubis debate (David Bathrick),
Fritz Lang's "M" (Anton Kaes), culture wars in postwar Austrian radio
(Joseph McVeigh), Brecht (Russell A. Berman) and Wolfgang Koeppen's
_Amerikafahrt_ (Klaus R. Scherpe). Enough space is left, however, for
several thorough and necessary reflections on "the study of things German."

With "Jenseits von Verdammung und Verklärung. Plädoyer für eine
differenzierte DDR-Geschichte" Konrad H. Jarausch has written a timely and
well-argued contribution on the future of GDR history. He sets out a course
for a more balanced, less ideological and less provincial historiography.
Four areas of comparison should, in Jarausch's eyes, guide future
historians: first, the systemic comparison with other dictatorial regimes
(including, despite obvious differences, the National Socialist state);
second, the process of _Sowjetisierung_ in Central and Eastern Europe;
third, a comparison of the two German states; and, finally, the
international transformations of the post-industrial society. The last
area seems especially promising, because the GDR's self-image was to a large
extent based on being the more advanced (_fortschrittlich_) of the two
German states. In his concluding remarks, Jarausch is careful to emphasize
that moral criticism of the repressive GDR system remains legitimate. But it
should be combined with a differentiated analysis of GDR society and every
day life. Several contributors wrestle with the implications of the end of
the Cold War and the September 11 attacks for German Studies and history. In
his excellent essay, "The State of the Art in Contemporary German History,"
Michael Geyer warns of a widening rift between academic and popular
cultures. The "largely self-sustaining academic public sphere" is in danger
of operating increasingly detached from the nation as a whole (p.207). The
September 11 attacks and their disruptive aftermath, moreover, have called
into question the continued relevance and "normative role" of German history
in the United States. Geyer seeks the answer to this challenge in a
transnational history of Germany within Europe and the Western world. In his
eyes, the "provincialization of Europe" (a phrase borrowed from Dipesh
Chakrabarty) should be regarded as an opportunity for a fresh look at Europe
"from inside and out" (p. 210). In practical terms, Geyer identifies network
history (_Beziehungsgeschichte_), the history of Europe's (imperial)
encounter with the world, and new inquiries into the "invention of peace" as
the most promising areas of new research. He fails to explain, however,
where exactly the _transatlantic_ world fits in. This omission is
surprising, given his earlier emphasis on "a history that takes on both the
United States and Germany" (p. 208). But perhaps Geyer simply takes for
granted that the United States should be an integral part of any
transnational history of Germany within the Western world.

Sara Lennox and Jeffrey M. Peck both explore post-Eurocentric territory in
their respective contributions "Globalization, Alternative Modernities, and
the Future of German Studies" and "The World is Full: Changing Discourses of
Space and Place after September 11." Lennox proposes to use the idea of
alternative modernities, developed by thinkers like Arif Dirlik and Charles
Taylor, in German Studies. As she puts it: "the 'new paradigm' might...
require that not just scholars of non-Western countries, but also scholars
of Europe and North America recognize how, from the voyages of discovery
onward, impulses from the colonies and beyond have affected the so-called
First World in complex though often unacknowledged ways" (pp. 340-341).
Lennox identifies the "current attention to German heterogeneities
and singularities" (p. 345) as a step in the right direction and implores
scholars to move away from the grand narrative of a dominant Western
modernity. As a point of criticism it should be noted, however, that Lennox
does not try to move much beyond such generalities. Consequently, the
question of how the "new paradigm" should translate into a concrete research
agenda remains largely unanswered. Michael Geyer does a better job in this
respect.

Jeffrey M. Peck is also concerned with the future of German Studies in the
post-September 11 world. He uses the writings of Zygmunt Bauman to advance
our understanding of the effects of globalization. Peck argues that a
"cultural resignification" of categories like "the local and the global,
stranger and friend, home and foreign" has taken place (p. 352). In this
connection, he raises several questions about the possible consequences for
the field. Most fundamentally, Peck asks whether we need a "redefined
particularism" or a "new universalist global studies more in the
postmodernist mode that takes into consideration the shifting significations
of space, place, and time" (p. 353). He leaves it to the reader to answer
this important question.

John A. McCarthy takes a different approach in his "Goethe and Schiller
after Adorno: Using the Past to See the Future." He is worried about the
current trend in German Studies to be almost exclusively concerned with
contemporary events. This means that the "broader view and knowledge"
necessary for a real understanding of history, as opposed to a mere knowing
of facts, is lacking. McCarthy uses Adorno's concept of _Mündigkeit_,
Goethe's views on the function of the literary canon, and Schiller's and
Herder's respective philosophies of history to argue persuasively for a
return to a "focus on core material." As he puts it: "Without a clear sense
of self-identity grounded firmly in the discipline...we have nothing that
truly defines us individually or collectively. Without an authority figure
or a canonical base unique to our discipline, we cannot truly establish our
own identity" (p. 333). It is impossible to do justice to the depth of
McCarthy's argument in a few sentences. Suffice it to say here that his
essay deserves to be widely read.

In the end, what is most remarkable about _The Many Faces of Germany_ as a
whole is the large degree of transatlantic interconnectedness in German
Studies it reflects. Many of the contributors--as indeed Frank Trommler
himself--are living examples of the high level of academic integration
between the United States and Germany. The question remains, however,
whether after the global transformations of the last fifteen years German
Studies will be able to keep its privileged place in the United States.
Possibly, in thirty years time historians will regard _The Many Faces of
Germany_ as the product of a distinct generation of German-American
scholars--shaped by the Cold War, but unable to adapt to a changing world.
More plausibly, however, they will see this collection as a successful
attempt to help chart a new course for a discipline that is lucky to have
Frank Trommler as one of its preeminent scholars.

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