This text - a cultural portrait of Berlin - reveals the spirit of Berlin by focusing on the culture it produced from its medieval beginnings to the reunification of 1990. The book surveys the literature, philosophy, music, theatre and visual and decorative arts that emerged from and were expresssive of the evolving social patterns of the city. Ronald Taylor brings to life the cultural activities of each age, putting these in the context of the politics and social life of the era. In relation to the medieval period, for example, he describes the "red brick" Gothic style, Gothic art in general and early printed books. For later periods, as the arts develop, he highlights the architecture, contemporary painting and sculpture, music, literature, furniture and interior decoration. Great names inseperable from the life of the city - Lessing, Hegel, Schinkel, Mendelssohn, Menzel and Fontane - appear prominently in the narrative. But Taylor also discusses lesser figures who, absorbed by their time and place, often tell us more about their era than do their greater contemporaries. From a series of cultural cameos, including the Cold War years when it was divided by the Wall into East and West, Taylor assembles a picture of Berlin, giving insights into its corporate personality. The result is not only a perspective on the city but also a framework within which to view the reunited Germany of today and the cultural paths it is pursuing.
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What is the culture of a city? Is it the corporate personality, the politics of the founders, the undertaking of its artists and visionaries? Berlin and Its Culture surveys all these arenas, paying particular attention to the writers, philosophers, actors, and later, interior designers and filmmakers. In relating the lives and accomplishments of its inhabitants, Ronald Taylor maps the social patterns of the city in fascinating detail.
Taylor takes care to include accounts of life in both East and West Berlin, and while he does provide some coverage of Nazi culture, he does not perform an in-depth analysis. Rather, with his focus on the periods of artistic proliferation, he writes at length on the Romanticism of Berlin's early years and the flourishing of literature during the Weimar period.
The book itself is a weighty, glossy endeavor. The reader can not turn a page or two without encountering an illustration, painting reproduction (often in color), or elaborate map of the changing face of the city. Berlin and Its Culture is a visual, visceral treat and an appealing survey of one of the world's most complex locales.
From Kirkus Reviews
An ambitious--and successful--attempt to grapple with a problematic city. Few cities in Europe can compete with Berlin in laying a claim to history. Taylor (emeritus professor of German at the University of Sussex, England) has written biographies of Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Kurt Weill, as well as histories of medieval and modern Germany. Here, a lifetime of study is distilled. The book--like the city itself--makes demands, but the reader will be rewarded for perseverance. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the author takes us to 1990 and the formal dissolution of the East German state. As Taylor readily admits, he begins with a conventional conception of what constitutes ``culture'' (literature, philosophy, painting and sculpture, theater, music, and the decorative arts). Some may criticize the lack of attention paid to popular culture, although most scholars would now recognize that the division we draw today between ``high'' and ``low'' (or more properly ``popular'') culture was blurred for most of European history. To his credit, Taylor recognizes that contemporary cultural history overlaps with traditional intellectual history and the more modern forms of social history. Of particular interest are the last three chapters on Weimar, Nazi, and postwar Berlin: Otto Dix and George Grosz shockingly revealed the decay behind a glittering, bourgeois Berlin in the 1920s; the bombast and false heroism of the Nazi regime is contrasted with the quiet dignity and poignant literature of the ``inner emigration''; and postwar Berlin is divided between a commitment to socialist realism and the attraction of artistic freedom found in the West. Taylor's postscript touches on the problem of a unified Berlin in a unified country: He is cautiously optimistic. Beautifully produced and profusely illustrated (the color reproductions are particularly good), a look at a city whose long history has much to teach us. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive, well-written, interesting,
This review is from: Berlin and Its Culture: A Historical Portrait (Hardcover)
This book may seem a bit daunting at first, given the density of text (even though there are a lot of photographs), but if you know anything about either German culture or Berlin, you will find a foothold in the book and learn a great deal as you continue reading it. A particularly cheering feature is the amount of time the author spends on Berlin from its foundation to the 1840s, a period that many other authors either rush over or treat poorly. Moreover, in limiting himself to the most significant and representative works or artists in each period, Taylor leaves a lasting impression at the end of every chapter--there's a lot of information here, but it's organized so as not to be overwhelming, and particularly the repeated pattern of literature, music, art, architecture, is helpful. Also, the illustrations are beautiful and well chosen.
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