CROSSING NEW EUROPE: POSTMODERN TRAVEL AND THE EUROPEAN ROAD MOVIE

"Crossing New Europe investigates the tradition of the European road cinema, its relationship with the American road movie, and its aesthetic forms. It examines such crucial issues as individual and national identity crises, and phenomena such as displacement, diaspora, exile, migration, nomadism, and tourism in postmodern, post-Berlin Wall Europe. Drawing on the work of Said, Hall, Shields, Urry, Bauman, Deleuze and Guattari and other critical theorists, Crossing New Europe adopts a broad interpretation of "Europe" and discusses directors and films who have long been associated with the road movie, such as Wim Wenders (Alice in the Cities, Lisbon Story) and Aki Kaurism̃ki (Leningrad Cowboys Go America!), and other more recent contributions such as Run Lola Run, Dear Diary, and The Last Resort."--Publisher's description.