Customer Reviews

Lustmord

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fascinating book that looks at the art of Germany after World War 1 and discusses the implication of the sexually violent images that increased dramatically at that point in history. This is a sociological look at the connection between the culture of the times and the idiosyncrasies that produced such a mindset. Pat Brown/Director/Investigative Criminal Profiler/The Sexual Homicide Exchange, Inc.

This book is first and foremost of great interest to students of the arts, illustrating the social climate in which German artists between the World Wars worked and its effect on their art. Additionally, it should also interest hard core true crime buffs. There are plenty of interesting tidbits about Peter Kurten and Fritz Haarman, two of Germany's most twisted citizens, and it is fascinating to see how their crimes influenced German attitudes, reflected in the violent art that the region produced. One could draw parallels to modern American society's current attitudes towards serial killers, but that's another book entirely.

I picked this book up at a used bookstore on a whim and found it rivetting. It is an incredible read becuase the author doesn't try to sensationalize the material. She has found some incredible material and makes it relevant to what is going on today. Some of the pictures are really upsetting but I think the author wants to make a point about what we accept as art.

This is a fascinating book that deals with sex and violence during the Weimar republic in Germany (1919-1933). This is not a book for the lay person, it's an academic study. I found it extremely interesting, and at times disturbing. It's primarily an academic text, however I found it interesting and accessible even though this historical period is not one that I've studied.

I bought this book hoping that it would plunge me into the decadent, violent world of Weimar Germany but I was EXTREMELY disappointed. First of all, there's actually very little about Kurten and Haarmann, so do not buy this if you're a fan of true crime books. They are discussed only briefly before Tatar launches into a poor psychological exploration of Otto Dix and George Grosz, two of Germany's most disturbing artists of this century (or any other, for that matter). Tatar tries to draw lots of obscure parallels between the horrors of WWI and violence against women in Weimar society, seemingly forgetting that violence was affecting EVERYBODY at the time, not just women. Germany was a homicidal mess after WWI- women were not the only victims, although Tatar would have us believe so. She then turns around and seems to praise the artistic merits of Dix and Grosz. Her arguments are inconclusive and frankly, the book is about as entertaining as someone else's bath water.

The only redeeming quality (for which I gave this book two stars) is that Tatar included numerous sketches and paintings (albeit in black and white)by Dix and Grosz, whose works are not especially easy to locate. Some of these illustrations, one of which depicts a butcher selling pieces of dismembered women in his shop, are enough to disturb even the most fortified of minds. The pictures themselves give the reader at least a hint of what Weimar society must have been like; Maria Tatar's rambling text just induces sleep.