The GDR collapsed more than thirty years ago, but the state and its legacies continues to have resonance. This interdisciplinary collection reveals patterns of subversion, border crossing and effective agency in GDR film, theatre, music, literature and more. More than a volume about the past, this book holds implications for the future.
Elizabeth Emery is a fourth-year PhD student at the University of Bristol. Her thesis explores articulations of nostalgia within popular music from the former GDR after reunification with a specific focus on the approaches of the bands Silly, Karat, and Rammstein and their reception histories.
Matthew Hines is a Teaching Associate in the German Section at the University of Cambridge. He studied Modern Languages in Oxford, Munich, and Birmingham. He is currently preparing a monograph based on his doctoral research into early GDR literature entitled Writing a New Society: Aufbau in GDR Literature 1949–1962.
Evelyn Preuss teaches at the University of Oklahoma. She is currently finishing her PhD on the politics of East German film aesthetics at Yale University. In addition, she is working on a project examining different globalizing tendencies, their relationship to the local, and their political potential. She has published on film, media aesthetics, architecture, history, and policy.