Ambiguous Aggression in German Realism and Beyond

Our main words defining emotional states suggest that we have clarity about them: expressions like love hatred anxiety or sorrow seem clear enough. The reality however tends to be more complicated. We are often faced with gestures and utterances that are difficult to interpret; we thus find ourselves wondering about the affective force of what has just been said: Was that an insult? Flirtation? Aggression? <br/><i><br/></i><i>Ambiguous Aggression</i><i>in German Realism and Beyond</i> looks at three interlocking forms of social violence--flirtation passive aggression and domestic violence. In order to understand their circulation it<i></i>traces their literary-historical genealogy in German realism and modernism--in scenes from Annette von Droste-Hülshoff Adalbert Stifter Theodor Storm Theodor Fontane Robert Walser and Franz Kafka covering a historical period from the middle of the 19th century to the early decades of the 20th century. <br/><br/>Reading realist and modernist literature through 21st-century affect theory and vice versa the analyses collected in this book show the deep literary history of our current cultural predicaments and predilections.