American and European Leftist Academia through the Prism of Paul Berman’s A Tale of Two Utopias: The Political Journey of the Generation of 1968

In his book, Paul Berman outlines a productive framework for a further interpretation of ideas of the leftist thinkers in North America and Europe. This article tries to follow Berman’s approach and to provide a critical stance towards the views of a number of Western social and political philosophers who write after 1968 and even after 1989. My findings confirm Berman’s light irony to this trend of thought but emphasize that some of the works discussed seem to be realistic in avoiding unjustified optimism concerning the leftist position.

The Religious Radicals of ’68

This article focuses on a largely neglected group in the generation of 1968: the Lorscheid movement. Within the Dominican Order (a prestigious Catholic international male order), the Lorscheid movement developed radical conceptions of Christian tradition. Lorscheid members felt very much part of the spirit of 1968. Whereas the radicalism of 1968 is generally associated with a “Zeitregime der Moderne,” a regime of modernity that required a liberation from the past, the Lorscheid members instead intended to “catch up with history” by reclaiming accounts of the past that the Church had disowned. Young Dutch Dominicans who were active in the Lorscheid movement embraced the legacy of their Order, linking history to the present via commemorative practices, actively selecting and neglecting elements of the Dominican tradition. They also affiliated with others of their own generation outside the Order, adopting discourses critical of Europe and linking their own emancipation with liberation movements in the recently decolonized regions of the world.

Surviving Ourselves: Mothers, Clones and the Legacy of 1968 in Blueprint (2003) and The Elementary Particles (2006)

This article examines two German films which, in different ways, engage with ethical questions raised by scientific advances in biotechnology and the specter of eugenics: Blueprint (Rolf Schübel, 2003), an adaptation of Charlotte Kerner's Blaupause, and The Elementary Particles (Elementarteilchen, Oskar Roehler, 2006), a cinematic interpretation of Michel Houellebecq's novel with the same title. Assuming different positions, the films contribute to the divisive public debate surrounding human cloning. Their visions vacillate between dystopian warnings of a commodification of human existence and euphoric promises of the potential to genetically erase human flaws forever. The films' main concern, however, is a critique of ideological positions associated with the generation of 1968, and the directors use the debate on genetics to infuse this discussion with an element of radicalism. This article explores the ways in which the films engage with the memory discourse in Germany through the lens of discourses on ethics and biotechnology.

From Surrealism to Snoorealism: the Theatre of Snoo Wilson

Snoo Wilson has remained one of the most distinctive of those playwrights who emerged from the ‘generation of 1968’ – but unlike his collaborators in the early Portable Theatre, he has never been at home on the big stages of the establishment theatres. Sadly, this has also tended to deny him his proper share of critical and, indeed, audience attention: his highly allusive yet also highly elusive style has thus remained a specialized taste, and many of his plays have been denied even the dignity of publication. Accordingly, we accompany the following article by Ada Coe, in which she examines one of the many threads which contribute to Snoo Wilson's work – his recurrent concern with the world of animals and its symbolism – with an ‘NTQ Checklist’ of Snoo Wilson's complete dramatic output compiled by NTQ Editor Simon Trussler. in collaboration with Malcolm Page of Simon Fraser University. British Columbia, and NTQ's assistant editor, Elaine Turner.

‘A Piece of Our Life’: the Theatre of the Eighth Day

Poland's Teatr Osmego Dnia – the Theatre of the Eighth Day – has survived for 22 years, with essentially the same personnel since the early seventies, and with a constant commitment to social engagement. The group – which has never included trained actors, because, according to director Lech Raczak, any graduate of a Polish theatre school, ‘cannot act with his whole self’ – was a major voice of protest for the Polish student generation of 1968. Despite constant harassment and frequent arrests, it continues both to inspire and record the work of young oppositional theatres, although in 1985 it was forced to split when six members toured western Europe whilst four others, denied their passports, played in Polish churches. What follows is a collage of two interviews conducted that autumn – in London with Tadeusz Janiszewski, Adam Borowski, and Leszek Sczaniecki, and in Poznan with Lech Raczak and Marcin Keszycki. They discuss the importance of Grotowski for their generation: their working method, based on group improvisation; the function of poetry in physical theatre; their major productions; and the day-to-day survival strategies of a collective dedicated to exploring the expressive and political potential of the actor. The interviews were assembled by Tony Howard, a playwright who also teaches English in the University of Warwick, and who expresses his thanks to the many people who made this feature possible – especially Nick Gardiner, the ‘European’ group's manager, and the translators. Ewa Elandt and Ewa Kraskowska.