Klaus Benesch Knihy

"Die Gründe für den rasanten Prestigeverlust von Buchkultur und Geisteswissenschaften sind vielfältig. Niemand weiß, wie die Zukunft des Lesens tatsächlich aussehen wird. Dennoch lassen sich einige Antworten aus den Entwicklungen seit der Jahrtausendwende extrapolieren. Um ein breites Spektrum unterschiedlicher Positionen zu Wort kommen zu lassen, nimmt Klaus Benesch das Thema nicht nur aus Sicht der Leseforschung und der Literaturwissenschaften in den Blick. Das Fragen nach der sich wandelnden Rolle des Lesens und der Geisteswissenschaften im Informationszeitalter verlangt auch nach der Ausweitung der Perspektive in den Bereich der Gesellschafts- und Wissenschaftspolitik." -- Page 4 of cover

What connects the Baltimore Washington International Airport and South Korea's Songdo International Business District? What are the cultural narratives that unfold from their bold visions of mobility and of the city in transit and transition? Put another way, what are the relations between modernity, mobile lifestyles, and urban spaces as we move deeper into what the French sociologist Marc Augé has called the age of 'supermodernity'? Perhaps more importantly, are there alternative ways of thinking about mobility and the future of society in a rapidly shrinking, globally interconnected and, at the same time, socially and culturally divided world? In their wide-ranging contributions geographers, political scientists, historians, economists, and cultural critics take a closer look at mobility in an American context (and beyond). Investigating aspects of American mobility from a decidedly transnational and transatlantic perspective, these essays conjoin in revealing mobility as a crucial constituent of what we call modernity. They also identify some of the negative consequences and challenges of mobility in an increasingly endangered global ecology.

In 11 original essays highly reputed scholars from both the United States and Europe take a fresh look at the plurality of contemporary scientific cultures and their respective methodologies and discursive practices. While some investigate recent advancements in life and computer sciences (nanotechnologies, robotics, genetic coding, electronic communication and databases etc.) and their repercussions in the social and political field, others discuss new approaches, especially in the humanities, that may help to bridge the gulf between the „two cultures“ (C. P. Snow) and open up new perspectives for 'cross-cultural' fertilization. Each essay - if to varying degrees - also probes the regulatory political and institutional mechanisms that determine both the success and public acceptance and reputation of specific scientific cultures, particularly with respect to scientific ethics and the frequently invoked 'moral' obligation of scientists and researchers.

While the ubiquity of the aesthetic in contemporary society can hardly be denied, the reasons for the staggering aestheticizing of private and social practices are manifold and have recently been subject to controversial debates within the humanities. Arguably, postmodern consumer culture, new hedonistic lifestyles, or the spectacularization of the political sphere are just another form of Americanization, yet the specific 'American' dimension of these phenomena often remains blurry. As the essays collected here show, to simply conflate the aestheticization of everyday life with an American consumerist ideology predicated on packaging and surfaces largely disregards the complex and tangled history of the aesthetic in Western cultures. In this volume, seven eminent literary and cultural historians from both Europe and the United States discuss the power and politics of the aesthetic in American culture (and elsewhere) with respect to multicultural diversity, fashion, the visual arts, aesthetic theory, the politics of race and sexuality, and, finally, America's response to the 9/11 attacks on New York.