Modern European Culture and Consciousness, 1870-1980

Download or read book Modern European Culture and Consciousness, 1870-1980 written by Paul Monaco and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1983-01-01 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On both personal and public levels the past century has brought Western Europeans some of the most devastating episodes of human history. Paul Monaco identifies the major modes of consciousness that Europeans have developed as ways of interpreting their experiences. Europe appears to many Americans as an aging dowager with a grand past but little future. Yet, beyond the stereotype lies the complex reality. The U.S. and the Soviet Union both failed to carry on the ideological and cultural traditions of the Western world to which they fell heir at the end of World War II. By contrast, Western Europe quickly recovered its cultural equilibrium. Modern European Culture and Consciousness shows how Europe's amazing recovery took place. Monaco argues that the sensibility now being forged in Europe will provide the guide to the twenty-first century. He illustrates this thesis by analysis of novels, plays, and especially motion pictures, which have gradually supplanted novels.