Katrin Berndt / Andrew Wells (eds). The ‘Second World’ in Contemporary British Writing. Göttingen: V&R unipress / Bonn University Press, 2024. ISBN 9783847117575.
The thirteen contributions to this collection all explore or exemplify the ongoing British interest in the socialist world before 1990. In autobiography, fiction, film, history, and lexicography, these chapters show how contemporary Britain is engaging with the past project to build socialism in Europe, and what this means for the present and the future of our continent. Contributions come from a wide range of disciplinary and geographical backgrounds, and the volume is further enriched by a new short story by Scottish writer Fiona Rintoul and by an in-depth interview with Katja Hoyer, the author of a recent popular history of the GDR. Together, these chapters offer a unique perspective into contemporary British writing on the ‘second world’ and the enduring fascination with the failures of futures past.
The volume is available as an open access publication at https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/detail/index/sArticle/59238.
Katrin Berndt. “Freiheit als Begegnung und Fortschrittsversprechen in Lea Ypis: Frei: Erwachsenwerden am Ende der Geschichte.” Transformationsangst und Nostalgie. Über die Vergangenheitssehnsucht der Gegenwart. Hg. Jan Loheit, Stephan Pabst. Bielefeld: transcript, 2025. 157-174.
Katrin Berndt. „Spieler in der Schlacht. Deutsche und britische Rockmusik im Fernsehmehrteiler Der gleiche Himmel (D/CZ/GB 2016).” Leidenschaft Filmmusik. Theorie – Praxis – Vermittlung. Hg. Claudia Hartling, Susanne Vollberg. Marburg: Schüren, 2024. 211-221.
Katrin Berndt. “Writing on the Wall. The ‘Second World’ in Contemporary British Writing.” “When men are unprepared and look not for it.” In Memoriam Christoph Houswitschka. Hg. Susan Brähler und Kerstin-Anja Münderlein. Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, 2024. 369-382.