The Skin of the System

On Germany's Socialist Modernity

Nonfiction, History, Germany
Cover of the book The Skin of the System by Benjamin Robinson, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Benjamin Robinson ISBN: 9780804772488
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: September 28, 2009
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Benjamin Robinson
ISBN: 9780804772488
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: September 28, 2009
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

The Skin of the System objects to the idea that there is only one modernity—that of liberal capitalism. Starting from the simple conviction that whatever else East German socialism was, it was real, this book focuses on what made historical socialism different from social systems in the West. In this way, the study elicits the general question: what must we think in order to think an other system at all?

To approach this question, Robinson turns to the remarkable writer Franz Fühmann, the East German who most single-mindedly dedicated himself to understanding what it means to transform from fascism to socialism. Fühmann's own serial loyalties to Hitler and Stalin inform his existential meditations on change and difference. By placing Fühmann's politically alert and intensely personal literary inventions in the context of an inquiry into radical social rupture, The Skin of the System wrests the brutal materiality of twentieth-century socialism from attempts to provincialize both its desires and its failures as antimodern ideological follies.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Skin of the System objects to the idea that there is only one modernity—that of liberal capitalism. Starting from the simple conviction that whatever else East German socialism was, it was real, this book focuses on what made historical socialism different from social systems in the West. In this way, the study elicits the general question: what must we think in order to think an other system at all?

To approach this question, Robinson turns to the remarkable writer Franz Fühmann, the East German who most single-mindedly dedicated himself to understanding what it means to transform from fascism to socialism. Fühmann's own serial loyalties to Hitler and Stalin inform his existential meditations on change and difference. By placing Fühmann's politically alert and intensely personal literary inventions in the context of an inquiry into radical social rupture, The Skin of the System wrests the brutal materiality of twentieth-century socialism from attempts to provincialize both its desires and its failures as antimodern ideological follies.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book Fatal Love by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Law Mart by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Rethinking Japanese Public Opinion and Security by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Elusive Lives by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Archaeology of Babel by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Circuits of Faith by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book The Art of Revolt by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Secret Intelligence in the European States System, 1918-1989 by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book The Strategic Career by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Race and Classification by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Robinson Jeffers and the American Sublime by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book All I Want Is a Job! by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Testaments of Toluca by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book Forging the Sword by Benjamin Robinson
Cover of the book The Mystery of Evil by Benjamin Robinson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy