
Political Languages in the Age of Extremes
Willibald Steinmetz(Editor)
Oxford University Press
Published in May 2011
Book
Hardback
422 pages
978-0-19-960296-4 (ISBN)
Description
The short twentieth century was an age of total wars and aggressive ideological struggles. It was also an age of growing linguistic awareness in the political sphere. Communist, fascist, and Liberal regimes fought each other with violence as well as words, and verbal warfare became increasingly sophisticated. The regimes were supported by propaganda experts and took advantage of new mass media which facilitated the interplay of words, images, and sounds. Leaders and
their propagandists used language to persuade followers, terrorize opponents, and annihilate enemies. Knowing how to adapt one's own use of language to changing political situations was of vital importance for everyone. In the Age of Extremes words could wield political power, but at another moment
even a whisper could endanger one's life.
This volume explores the ways in which language served to create, uphold, subvert, or deflect political power in the Age of Extremes. The book is unusual in encouraging its readers to compare totalitarian and democratic regimes under this aspect. Moving beyond propaganda studies the book opens up a variety of perspectives. While some authors take a look from above and show how those in power succeeded, or failed, in policing the boundaries of what could be said, others investigate the
strategies of those who attacked the rules of the powerful by promoting alternative concepts and counter-discourses. Finally, there are also essays on the experiences of those who simply tried to stay alive by presenting themselves in a flexible manner or preserving their own private languages in diaries,
poems, or secret conversations.
their propagandists used language to persuade followers, terrorize opponents, and annihilate enemies. Knowing how to adapt one's own use of language to changing political situations was of vital importance for everyone. In the Age of Extremes words could wield political power, but at another moment
even a whisper could endanger one's life.
This volume explores the ways in which language served to create, uphold, subvert, or deflect political power in the Age of Extremes. The book is unusual in encouraging its readers to compare totalitarian and democratic regimes under this aspect. Moving beyond propaganda studies the book opens up a variety of perspectives. While some authors take a look from above and show how those in power succeeded, or failed, in policing the boundaries of what could be said, others investigate the
strategies of those who attacked the rules of the powerful by promoting alternative concepts and counter-discourses. Finally, there are also essays on the experiences of those who simply tried to stay alive by presenting themselves in a flexible manner or preserving their own private languages in diaries,
poems, or secret conversations.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
7 colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
661 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-960296-4 (9780199602964)
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Willibald Steinmetz
Political Languages in the Age of Extremes
Book
10/2012
Oxford University Press
€36.50
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Edited by Willibald Steinmetz, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Political History, University of Bielefeld
Contributors:
Judith Devlin University College, Dublin
Emilio Gentile University La Sapienza, Rome
Martin H. Geyer University of Munich
Igal Halfin Tel Aviv University
Ralph Jessen University of Cologne
Heidrun Kämper University of Mannheim
Angelika Linke University of Zurich and University of Linköping (Sweden)
Thomas Mergel Humboldt University Berlin
Siân Nicholas University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Isabel Richter University of Bochum and University of California, Los Angeles
Gareth Stedman Jones University of Cambridge
Willibald Steinmetz University of Bielefeld
Olaf Stieglitz University of Cologne
Ruth Wodak Lancaster University
Contributors:
Judith Devlin University College, Dublin
Emilio Gentile University La Sapienza, Rome
Martin H. Geyer University of Munich
Igal Halfin Tel Aviv University
Ralph Jessen University of Cologne
Heidrun Kämper University of Mannheim
Angelika Linke University of Zurich and University of Linköping (Sweden)
Thomas Mergel Humboldt University Berlin
Siân Nicholas University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Isabel Richter University of Bochum and University of California, Los Angeles
Gareth Stedman Jones University of Cambridge
Willibald Steinmetz University of Bielefeld
Olaf Stieglitz University of Cologne
Ruth Wodak Lancaster University
Editor
Professor of Modern and Contemporary Political History, University of Bielefeld
Content
PART I. INTRODUCTION ; PART II. THE RISE OF THE DICTATORS AND THE SEMANTICS OF LEADERSHIP ; PART III. MIND YOUR WORDS! POLICING LINGUISTIC BOUNDARIES (1920S-40S) ; PART IV. THE GROWTH OF LINGUISTIC AWARENESS IN THE COLD WAR ERA