Im Fuhrpark der Literatur

Blankets, Brands, Mobility – a Clever Cultural History of the Car. Today's taken-for-granted automotive culture is being challenged by the climate crisis and the emerging traffic transformation, as well as by digitalization. Starting from this cultural historical turning point, the authors explore cultural imaginations of the car, oscillating between nostalgic glorification and an auratic promise of the future. The focus is on various forms of automobility and their limits, which become particularly visible in literary and cinematic portrayals of accidents. By examining different types of vehicles, the paths of the car into and out of modernity can be traced. A comparison between Germany and the USA reveals cultural and national differences in the relationship with the car. Through literary and cinematic examples, it is shown how the interior of the car can become a place of social significance and media and technical reflection. Contents include: Stephan Kraft: Franz Werfel's Jacobowsky and the Colonel, Franziska Thun-Hohenstein: Comfortably Navigating Russian Roadlessness, Moritz Bassler: Women Behind the Wheel in the 1950s, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht: Cars in German and American Culture, Rüdiger Campe: The Hero and His Car in The Big Sleep, Jürgen Fohrmann: An Essay on Fargo, Season Two, Barbara Vinken/Anselm Haverkamp: Un Homme et une femme.