Kaliningrad and Cultural Memory

In 1945, the Soviet Union annexed the East Prussian city of Königsberg, later renaming it Kaliningrad. Left in ruins by the war, the home of Immanuel Kant became a Russian city. This book looks at Kaliningrad's relationship to the memory of Königsberg through cultural, literary and visual representations.

Autorentext

Edward Saunders teaches literature as a member of adjunct faculty at the Center for Liberal Arts, Webster Vienna Private University. He completed his PhD in German Studies at the University of Cambridge in 2013. He has published in the areas of comparative literature, cultural memory and life-writing, with a Central and East European focus.

Inhalt

CONTENTS: Introduction: Memory, Nostalgia and Place-Writing in Eastern Europe - Königsberg as a Lapsed and Unfulfilled Site of Germany's Collective-Autobiographical Memory - Renaming Debates and Local Strategies of Collective-Autobiographical Memory in Kaliningrad - Lost 'Cultural Intimacy' and Individual Forms of Nostalgic Memory for Königsberg - Toppling a Monument: Adapting Biomyths in Satires on 'Kant and Königsberg' - 'Kant and Königsberg' and Failed Revolutions in Bertolt Brecht's Adaptation of Der Hofmeister- Countering Loss through Literature: Johannes Bobrowski's Imagined Königsberg - Joseph Brodsky in Kaliningrad: Postcards, Photographs and Reflections at the 'Earth's Border' - Ecocritical Post-Communism? Visits to Kaliningrad after Perestroika - Ruin Ethics and Aesthetics: 'Kant and Kaliningrad' in the Photography of Joachim Koester and Norbert Wiesneth - Conclusion: Writing Place and Bearing Witness.