This highly original book draws on narrative and film theory, psychoanalysis, and musicology to explore the relationship between aesthetics and anti-Semitism in two controversial landmarks in German culture. David Levin argues that Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Fritz Lang's 1920s film Die Nibelungen creatively exploit contrasts between good and bad aesthetics to address the question of what is German and what is not. He shows that each work associates a villainous character, portrayed as non ...
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This highly original book draws on narrative and film theory, psychoanalysis, and musicology to explore the relationship between aesthetics and anti-Semitism in two controversial landmarks in German culture. David Levin argues that Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Fritz Lang's 1920s film Die Nibelungen creatively exploit contrasts between good and bad aesthetics to address the question of what is German and what is not. He shows that each work associates a villainous character, portrayed as non-Germanic and Jewish, with the sometimes dramatically awkward act of narration. For both Wagner and Lang, narration--or, in cinematic terms, visual presentation--possesses a typically Jewish potential for manipulation and control. Consistent with this view, Levin shows, the Germanic hero Siegfried is killed in each work by virtue of his unwitting adoption of a narrative role. Levin begins with an explanation of the book's theoretical foundations and then applies these theories to close readings of, in turn, Wagner's cycle and Lang's film. He concludes by tracing how Germans have dealt with the Nibelungen myths in the wake of the Second World War, paying special attention to Michael Verhoeven's 1989 film The Nasty Girl. His fresh and interdisciplinary approach sheds new light not only on Wagner's Ring and Lang's Die Nibelungen, but also on the ways in which aesthetics can be put to the service of aggression and hatred. The book is an important contribution to scholarship in film and music and also to the broader study of German culture and national identity.
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Add this copy of Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, & the Nibelungen: the to cart. $9.00, very good condition, Sold by Gail P Kennon Book-Comber rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from West New York, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Princeton University.
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Very Good/Very Good hard cover. 8vo, cloth, 207pp, illus. edgewear, rubbing, scratches, dust jacket. slight warping covers. a few top corners creased, clean, tight, text. music.
Add this copy of Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen to cart. $10.00, very good condition, Sold by Doss-Haus Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Redondo Beach, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Princeton University Press..
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Very Good in Very Good jacket. Book. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Hardcover 1998 edition. Text, dust jacket and boards in very good condition. Binding firm. Text free from markings. {207 pages}
Add this copy of Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen: the to cart. $15.00, like new condition, Sold by Abacus Bookshop rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Pittsford, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Princeton University Press.
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