Germany: A Nation in a Dilemma - Essays

Germany - A Nation in a Dilemma - Almost a Declaration of Love Germans seem to love their defeats like other nations love their victories. Why? This nation, which licks its history like a wound and takes pleasure in doing so, is the subject of a book that dissects the dilemma of an entire culture: "Germany - A Nation in a Dilemma - Almost a Declaration of Love." Germany - a country that has turned failure into an art form. The author of this provocative work, Hermann Selchow, dissects the German soul with the precision of a pathologist and the tenderness of a lover. The result: a literary X-ray of a nation, sometimes exaggerated, but always close to the truth. The famous German thoroughness reveals itself as systematic self-dismantling, the drive for perfection as paralysis through analysis. Coming to terms with the past becomes a denial of the present. A people that wears its neuroses like medals and forgets how to live. But this book is no cheap voyeurism of German defects. It is a diagnosis with heart, a criticism without contempt. The author, himself a member of this people, not only exposes the mechanisms of German self-sabotage but also demonstrates its productive power. For those who destroy themselves so virtuosically also master the art of renewal. German readers will feel caught out and perhaps for the first time, be able to smile at their own abysses. Foreigners will gain insight into the psychic landscape of a people who guard their traumas like relics. Sociologists and psychologists may find material for years of analysis. The book is written in the style of a loving postmortem: perceptive without coldness, ironic without cynicism. A rare balance between science and humanity. The question for the future remains: Can the Germans overcome their self-destruction? Or is it perhaps their most precious asset? The author offers no easy answers, but the right questions. "Germany - A Nation in a Dilemma" is therapy as literature, social criticism as an act of love. A book for all who want to understand Germany and for Germans who finally want to tolerate themselves.

With the sharpness of a pathologist and the tenderness of a lover, the author, himself a member of this nation, dissects the mechanisms of German self-destruction, sometimes exaggerated, but always close to the truth. The result is a bitter declaration of love to a country that has elevated its self-destruction to an art form. A book about the German abysses and the strange beauty that lies within them.

Autorentext
Hermann Selchow, Jahrgang 1956, wurde in Schleswig-Holstein geboren. Er wuchs in Schwerin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern auf. Schon in frühen Kindertagen war er vernarrt in Literatur. Vor allem hatten es ihm die klassische Literatur, aber auch Sachbücher und Philosophie angetan. Die Heldensagen und Schreiber der griechischen Antike sind ebenfalls eine alte Liebe. In seiner Jugend unternahm er erste Gehversuche in der Schreiberei und veröffentlichte einige Kurzerzählungen in einigen Magazinen. Später arbeitete er von 1986-1994 am Schweriner Staatstheater, wo er diese Liebe ausleben und zum Beruf machen konnte. Er machte sich dann einige Jahre artfremd selbstständig. Im Alter von 67 Jahren traute er sich dann wieder öffentlich, als Autor aktiv zu werden. Er lebt zur Zeit in der Nähe von Hamburg. Hermann Selchow veröffentlichte inzwischen mehrere Bücher zu aktuellen und zeitbezogenen Themen. Dabei versucht er seinen eigenen Blickwinkel auf die Geschehnisse der Gegenwart und jüngeren Vergangenheit zu finden, ohne die möglichen Ursachen aus den Augen zu verlieren oder zu verfälschen. ========== Hermann Selchow, born in 1956, was born in Schleswig-Holstein. He grew up in Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. From an early age, he was passionate about literature. He was particularly drawn to classical literature, but also non-fiction and philosophy. The heroic sagas and writers of ancient Greece are also a long-standing passion. In his youth, he took his first steps in writing and published several short stories in several magazines. Later, from 1986 to 1994, he worked at the Schwerin State Theater, where he was able to pursue this passion and turn it into a career. He then went into business for himself for a few years. At the age of 67, he dared to become a public author again. He currently lives near Hamburg. Hermann Selchow has since published several books on current and contemporary topics. In doing so, he tries to find his own perspective on the events of the present and recent past, without losing sight of or distorting the possible causes.