Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Generational consciousness
(871 words)

The emergence of a generational consciousness in the early modern period went hand in hand with epoch-making experiences of crisis resulting from the breakdown of traditional predictabilities. This was certainly true of the cultural crisis associated with the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), whose processing found expression especially in literary and biographical witnesses [4]; [5]. These sources compassed new realms of experience, previously unknown, characterized by unending violence and the immediate threat of death [8].

This new quality of existential insecurity…

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Kondratowitz, Hans-Joachim von, “Generational consciousness”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_019879>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180208



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