Besprechungen / Reviews 267 the work of Harun Farocki to reflect on the status of film and the image in contemporary society. In the process, he documents a process whereby radical filmmaking migrates from the cinema to the modern museum. Halle builds on a similar problematic, but focuses on the web and the resulting dematerialization of what he calls «expanded cinema’s» interventions in cyberspace. A must read for any young critics hoping to do scholarship on web-based art forms. Three essays in the «Case Studies» section also stand out: Alice Kuzniar’s essay on Bjørn Melhus, Robin Curtis’s contribution on Michael Brynntrup, and Larson Powell’s essay on Kirsten Winter. Kuzniar provides an excellent introduction to the work of Bjørn Melhus, an artist whose entire oeuvre is infused with images from American mass media - film and TV in particular. Though Melhus has been well received in the United States, with extended stays as well as exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles, he has yet to find a place on syllabi in American universities. Yet his work is an ongoing reflection upon his confrontations with American popular culture as a foreigner and the role it plays in identity formation. Robin Curtis’s essay «From the Diary to the Webcam: Michael Brynntrup and the Medial Self» provides another much needed introduction to a German artist who deserves more recognition in the United States. Through a discussion of the autobiographical form, Curtis discusses Brynntrup’s self-conscious construction of self as a medial entity. Larson Powell focuses on the work of Kirsten Winter and traces an interesting phenomenon typical of the trajectory of many experimental filmmakers: a move away from the broad, global problematic of attacking the institution of art and mainstream image making to a more local focus on the operation of perception and visual perception in particular. On the whole, the essays in this collection offer important contributions to an often-overlooked area of scholarship in German Studies and provide excellent introductions to artists and media practitioners whose works deserve more critical attention. After the Avant-Garde: Contemporary German and Austrian and Experimental Film is an indispensible acquisition for those working in the area of contemporary visual arts and film in the Central European and German-speaking context. University of Kentucky Jeff Rogers T ILLMANN K REUZER : König Kind? Literarische Figuren zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts in Werken der realistischen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2009. 231 pp. € 22. The question Tillmann Kreuzer poses in the title König Kind? refers to his observation that in contemporary German juvenile novels, spanning in the present study the period from the 1970s to 2003, the child protagonist contends with all the harsh realities that beset adults. Thus, «problem-oriented» realistic novels abandon fantasies of children’s sovereign abilities to overcome tragedy, injustice, and abuse. Authentic themes of personal, familial, and social conflicts, such as divorce, economic hardship, and death in the family would contrast with the former trend of the «anti-authoritarian» movement in German children’s literature, which invested the child protagonists 268 Besprechungen / Reviews with unrealistic powers to overcome all adversities. Kreuzer follows in this regard other critics who reject the ’68 generation’s perceived penchant for constructing a fictional «heile Welt» in which the child is «king.» One could presume that this critique would also apply to contemporary popular fantasy stories, such as the immensely popular book series Der kleine Vampir or Paul Maar’s make-believe animal stories, although Kreuzer never mentions these. In contrast to this alleged imaginary wholesome world, psychological realism in novels by German children’s authors Kirsten Boie, Peter Härtling, Christine Nöstlinger, Miriam Pressler and others delivers, in Kreuzer’s view, practical pedagogical tools for today’s «post-modern» children to cope with their troubles. According to Kreuzer, contemporary realistic German juvenile literature reflects a «post-modern» childhood, which he defines as presenting new familial constellations and non-traditional gender roles so that new forms of social interaction arise. Realistic children’s literature at its best also integrates narrative complexities approaching or equaling the standards of sophisticated adult literature. Although Kreuzer values primarily the representational relevance of these novels to the experience of their intended readers, literary quality also augments their pedagogical import. The bulk of König Kind? describes depictions of familial relations and the psyches of the child protagonists. Kreuzer refers to Sigmund Freud, Erich Fromm, C.G. Jung as well as numerous others from the psychoanalytic tradition in order to substantiate his assertions regarding the behavior of young characters in the novels, but he never applies a cohesive analytical framework to his interpretations. One promising assessment of childhood aggression, citing primarily Fromm and Alexander Mitscherlich, traces children’s hostility to their alienation from nurturers. (161-168) Analyses of similar depth and reflection would have improved the book immensely. Instead, superficiality tarnishes the credibility of König Kind? Sweeping unfounded generalizations, such as «Zentrale Figur im Leben jedes Menschen ist die Mutter» (92) or «Wir wissen, dass die Vater-Tochter-Beziehung von dem Wunsch der Tochter, den Vater für sich zu haben, geprägt ist» (122) exhibit a greater dependence on platitudes than on scholarship. Kreuzer makes several such pronouncements without substantiating his assumptions through supporting research and thoughtful interpretation. At least part of the problem stems from haphazard argumentation. For one, Kreuzer too often relegates theoretical references and support from empirical studies to footnotes, rather than integrating theory consistently into the analyses and conclusions. Moreover, the author appears unclear about his method of interpretation. For example, the abstract on the back cover suggests an anthropological approach, when in fact the author depends overwhelmingly on educational psychology and classic psychoanalysis; Kreuzer clearly reflects on mental and behavioral characteristics of characters in these children’s novels, and far less on culture. Poor transitions between paragraphs and sections further demonstrate that any coherence in the book depends more on lists under headings than on development of ideas. Stylistically this book reads like a preliminary draft. The author appears to have constructed a set of rubrics, organized characters and situations as if cross-referencing them from a catalogue of note cards, and then roughly knitted together his notes with sentences. As a result, ideas remain undeveloped. As a case in point, a paragraph Besprechungen / Reviews 269 on page 143 begins with an observation that animals contribute to the development of children. A list of such instances from several novels follows, and then the section just breaks off. Kreuzer neither reflects analytically on the relevance to the section’s overall theme of «Katalysatoren der kinderliterarischen Figuren» nor investigates any further the insights from empirical or theoretical research on such «catalysts» in childhood development, such as pets. Numerous awkward transitions between paragraphs and the persistent recourse to paraphrasing without critical examination indicate a promising idea for a monograph that emerged prematurely. One finds here neither the incisive scholarly interpretations of contemporary German children’s fiction exemplified in Gundel Mattenklott’s Zauberkreide (1989) nor the erudite polemics of the numerous essays by Hans-Heino Ewers of the past two decades. To be fair, Kreuzer’s book does not appear to be intended for literary scholars, but more likely for grade-school teachers who would use recent children’s literature in their classes. After all, he is writing from his perspective as a Diplom- Pädagoge. Even so, the lack of a well-structured theoretical base diminishes the book’s analytical integrity. Despite objections, König Kind? should interest teachers or future teachers who might read such realistic novels with their students, or university students beginning a study of Kinder- und Jugendliteratur. The table in the appendix provides a useful quick overview of the thematic family relations featured in the realistic novels under discussion; the bibliography includes an appropriate list of secondary literature, despite some glaring omissions, such as the recent series of studies on reading didactics edited by Norbert Groeben und Bettina Hurrelmann. So much has been published recently on fantasy literature for children, at least in part due to the phenomenal popularity in Germany of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, that Kreuzer’s emphasis on realism offers a timely contrasting parallel, even with the shortcomings of this book. Bloomsburg University Luke Springman S ABINE H AKE : Topographies of Class. Modern Architecture and Mass Society in Weimar Berlin. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2008. 323 pp. $ 85.00. Taking its inspiration from the «spatial turn» in cultural studies, this monograph focuses on the interplay between architecture, modernity, and mass society in Weimar Berlin. Drawing on a rich interdisciplinary inventory of literary, philosophical, photographic, and filmic texts to reconstruct Berlin’s urban realities and imaginaries, the author subdivides her investigations into the following seven thematic chapters. Chapter 1 «Setting the Scene: Weimar Berlin, circa 1920» gives an overview of the city’s development from the Wilhelmine to the Weimar years, telescoping its urban planning through Martin Wagner’s bold proposals for modern traffic squares and exemplifying it in the case study of Potsdamer Platz. Chapter 2 «Mapping Weimar Society: On Masses, Classes, and White-Collar Workers» and chapter 3 «Organizing the Modern Masses: New Building in Weimar Berlin» examine the rise of a white-collar class and its culture of «New Objectivity» and exemplify it through Erich Mendel-