The Cambridge companion to the literature of Berlin

This collection of essays by international specialists in the literature of Berlin provides a lively and stimulating account of writing in and about the city in the modern period. The first eight chapters chart key chronological developments from 1750 to the present day, while subsequent chapters focus on Berlin drama and poetry in the twentieth century and explore a set of key identity questions: ethnicity/migration, gender (writing by women), and sexuality (queer writing). Each chapter provides an informative overview along with closer readings of exemplary texts. The volume is designed to be accessible for readers seeking an introduction to the literature of Berlin, while also providing new perspectives for those already familiar with the topic. With a particular focus on the turbulent twentieth century, the account of Berlin's literary production is set against broader cultural and political developments in one of the most fascinating of global cities. Includes an article titled Queer writing which offers a brief history of queer literature in Berlin from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries. The first section reconstructs the effect of the German sodomy law on queer writing and publishing in Berlin, and the subsequent parts outline the history of queer literature in Berlin according to the main eras of modern German history: German Empire, Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, postwar Germany and Germany after the fall of the Wall.