Populäre Moderne

Around 1900, science fiction experienced a boom – in avant-garde as well as popular literature. This study sheds light on this complex field through intensive readings of texts by Jules Verne, Paul Scheerbart, Albert Ehrenstein, August Niemann, Alfred Döblin, and others. With the concept of ›popular modernism‹, it opens up new perspectives on German turn-of-the-century literature that continues to influence storytelling to this day, beyond aesthetic modernism. To this end, it draws on previously neglected material such as colportage novels and Ehrenstein's grotesque »Die grüne Gefahr« (»The Green Danger«), which is published here for the first time.