Rhine Crossings: France and Germany in Love and War

Explores the unique and volatile relationship of these two nations and cultures over the past two centuries, as expressed in literature, film, and philosophy.

Rhine Crossings explores the conflicts and resolutions that have characterized the relationship between France and Germany over the past two centuries. Despite their varying outlooks on life and style (the French esprit and the German wesen), and despite three bloody wars (the Franco-Prussian and the two world wars), there has always been and still is a vital intellectual, political, and cultural exchange between these former "archenemies." The essays in this book detail the admiration and antagonism in French and German attempts to seek each other out while keeping their individual senses of self. Focusing on representative works of literature, film, and philosophy, the contributors identify the problems vexing these countries (war, economic competition) as well as possible solutions (the Maastricht treaty, increasing youth exchange). From the literary salons of the eighteenth century to the trenches of the twentieth, from a love-hate relationship to one of cooperation and peace, this book investigates the unique and volatile dialectic between these two nations and cultures.