The Emprise of Poetry

"A work of literary and cultural criticism, this books enhances our understanding of present-day Germany through the prism of one of its most acclaimed cultural figures: Dresden native Durs Grèunbein (1962-) - the most widely translated and globally honored contemporary German poet, and the only one to have been hailed as the Berlin Republic's "national poet." More specifically, this book traces the persisting inability of German high culture (not to mention its 'popular' and fringe avatars), as epitomized by Grèunbein, to purge itself of ideological toxins that leach into the mainstream from centuries-old prejudices and antagonisms revolving around Germany's love-hate bond with America as well as its ostensibly enduring suspicion and antipathy toward Jews"--