Peter Jelavich specializes in the cultural and intellectual history of Europe since the Enlightenment, with emphasis on Germany. His areas of interest include the interaction of elite and popular culture; the history of mass culture and the media; and the application of cultural and social theories to historical study.

He is the author of Munich and Theatrical Modernism: Politics, Playwriting, and Performance, 1890-1914 (1985), Berlin Cabaret (1993), and Berlin Alexanderplatz: Radio, Film, and the Death of Weimar Culture (2006). 

He currently is writing a book on censorship of the arts in Germany from 1890 to the present.

“Am Anfang war Panizza.” Herzattacke 100 (2018): 94-99.

“Terror of the Soul.” Berlin: 2018. 29 pp. [Separately bound essay, in artist book edition of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”, three volumes + portfolio, illustrations by Felix Martin Furtwängler and photographs by Peter Jelavich.]

“Popular Entertainment and Mass Media: The Central Arenas of German-Jewish Cultural Engagement.” In: Steven Aschheim and Vivian Liska, eds., The German-Jewish Experience Revisited. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015. Pp. 103-116.

“Kunstfreiheit = Impotenz der Kunst?” In: York-Gothart Mix, ed., Kunstfreiheit und Zensur in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014. Pp. 119-131.

“Maschinenmenschen: Mediale Massenbildung bei Alfred Döblin.” In: Stefan Keppler-Tasaki, ed., Massen und Medien bei Alfred Döblin: Internationales Alfred-Döblin-Kolloquium 2011. Bern: Peter Lang, 2014. Pp. 251-274.

“When Are Jewish Jokes No Longer Funny? Ethnic Humour in Imperial and Republican Berlin.” In: Martina Kessel and Patrick Merzinger, eds., The Politics of Humour: Laughter, Inclusion, and Exclusion in the Twentieth Century. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Pp. 22-51.

“Döblins Moderne.” Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, vol. 37, no. 1, 2012, pp. 119-127.

“Nietzsches ‘guter’ (und antitheatralischer) Europäer.” In: Erika Fischer-Lichte, Matthias Warstatt and Anna Littmann, eds., Theater und Fest in Europa: Perspektiven von Identität und Gemeinschaft. Tübingen: Francke Verlag, 2012. Pp. 305-323.

“Dance of Life, Dance of Death.” In: Starr Figura, ed., German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2011. Pp. 36-51.

“Wie ‘jüdisch’ war das Theater im Berlin der Jahrhundertwende?” In: Tobias Becker, Anna Littmann, and Johanna Niedbalski, eds., Die tausend Freuden der Metropole: Vergnügnungskultur um 1900 . Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2011. Pp. 87-104 [=translation and revision of following article].

“How ‘Jewish’ was Theatre in Imperial Berlin?” In: Jeanette Malkin and Freddie Rokem, eds., Jews and the Making of Modern German Theatre. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2010. Pp. 39-58.

“ ‘Die Welt würde die Bücher nicht fassen, die zu schreiben wären’: Geschichte zwischen Logos und Logorrhoe.” In: Martin Baumeister, Moritz Föllmer, and Philipp Müller, eds., Die Kunst der Geschichte: Historiographie, Ästhetik, Erzählung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009. Pp. 13-27.

“Die ‘Elf Scharfrichter’: Ein Münchener Vorbild für das Kabarett Fledermaus.” In: Michael Buhrs, Barbara Lesak, and Thomas Trabitsch, eds., Kabarett Fledermaus 1907 bis 1913: Ein Gesamtkunstwerk der Wiener Werkstätte: Literatur, Musik, Tanz. Vienna: Christian Brandstätter Verlag, 2007. Pp. 17-29.

“Cultural History.” In: Gunilla Budde, Sebastian Conrad, and Oliver Janz, eds., Transnationale Geschichte: Themen, Tendenzen und Theorien. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 2006. Pp. 227-237.

“Grotesque and Carnivalesque: Negation and Renewal around 1900.” In: Pamela Kort, ed., Comic Grotesque: Wit and Mockery in German Art, 1870-1940. Munich: Prestel, 2004. Pp. 89-104 [=translation of following article].

“Grotesk und karnevalesk: Negation und Erneuerung um 1900.” In: Pamela Kort, ed., Grotesk! 130 Jahre Kunst der Frechheit. Munich: Prestel, 2003. Pp. 79-89.

“The City Vanishes: Piel Jutzi’s Berlin Alexanderplatz (1931).” In: Mark Shiel and Tony Fitzmaurice, eds., Screening the City. London: Verso, 2003. Pp. 58-79.

“Der demokratische Giftschrank: Zensur und Indizierung in der Weimar Republik und der Bundesrepublik.” In: Stephan Kellner, ed., Der ‘Giftschrank’: Erotik, Sexualwissenschaft, Politik und Literatur—‘REMOTA”: Die weggesperrten Bücher der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek. Munich: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, 2002. Pp. 56-67.

[in Hebrew:] “Free to Destroy Freedom? Hate Speech in the Weimar Republic.” In: Michael Confino, ed., The Power of Words and the Frailty of Reason: Propaganda, Incitement and Freedom of Speech. Tel Aviv: Am Oved Publishers, 2002. Pp.181-199.

“Satire under Socialism: Cabaret in the German Democratic Republic.” In: Sigrid Bauschinger, ed., Die freche Muse / The Impudent Muse. Tübingen: Francke Verlag, 2000. Pp. 163-178.

“ ‘Am I Allowed to Amuse Myself Here?’: The German Bourgeoisie Confronts Early Film.” In: Suzanne Marchand and David Lindenfeld, eds., Germany at the Fin de Siècle: Culture, Politics, and Ideas. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004. Pp. 227-249 [=translation of following article].

“ ‘Darf ich mich hier amüsieren?’ Bürgertum und früher Film.” In: Manfred Hettling and Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, eds., Der bürgerliche Wertehimmel: Innenansichten des 19. Jahrhunderts. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000. Pp. 283-303.

“Paradoxes of Censorship in Modern Germany.” In: Mark Micale and Robert Dietle, eds., Enlightenment, Passion, Modernity: Historical Essays in European Thought and Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. Pp. 265-285.

“Performing High and Low: Jews in Theater, Cabaret, Revue, and Film.” In: Emily Bilski, ed., Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890-1918. New York: The Jewish Museum, 1999. Pp. 208-235.

“German Culture in the Great War.” In: Aviel Roshwald and Richard Stites, eds., European Culture in the Great War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. 32-57.

“Literature and the Arts.” In: Roger Chickering, ed., Imperial Germany: A Historiographical Companion. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996. Pp. 377-408.

“The ‘Wrapped Reichstag’: From Political Symbol to Artistic Spectacle.” German Politics and Society, vol. 13, no. 4, Winter 1995, pp. 110-127.

“Methode? Welche Methode? Bekenntnisse eines gescheiterten Strukturalisten.” In: Christoph Conrad and Martina Kessel, eds., Kultur und Geschichte: Neue Einblicke in eine alte Beziehung. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1998. Pp. 141-159 [=translation of following article].

“Method? What Method? Confessions of a Failed Structuralist.” New German Critique, no. 95, Spring/Summer 1995, pp. 75-86.

“Poststrukturalismus und Sozialgeschichte—aus amerikanischer Perspektive.” Geschichte und Gesellschaft, vol. 21, no. 2, April 1995, pp. 259-289.

“ ‘Girls and Crisis’: The Political Aesthetics of the Kickline in Weimar Berlin.” In: Michael Roth, ed., Rediscovering History: Culture, Politics, and the Psyche. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994. Pp. 224-239.

“Modernity, Civic Identity, and Metropolitan Entertainment: Vaudeville, Cabaret and Revue in Berlin, 1900-1933.” In: Charles W. Haxthausen and Heidrun Suhr, eds., Berlin: Culture and Metropolis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1990. Pp. 95-110.

“Contemporary Literary Theory: From Deconstruction Back to History.” Central European History, vol. 22, no. 3/4, September/December 1989, pp. 360-380.

“Berlin's Path to Modernity.” In: Art in Berlin 1815-1989. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1989. Pp. 13-40.

“Republican Ethics as Social Science: The Case of Emile Durkheim.” In: Murray Milgate and Cheryl Welch, eds., Critical Issues in Social Thought. London: Academic Press, 1989. Pp. 139-157.

“The Censorship of Literary Naturalism, 1890-1895: Bavaria.” Central European History, vol. 18, no. 3-4, September-December 1985, pp. 344-359.

“Wedekind’s Spring Awakening: The Path to Expressionist Drama.” In: Stephan Bronner and Douglas Kellner, eds., Passion and Rebellion: The Expressionist Heritage. South Hadley: J.F. Bergin Publishers, 1983. Pp. 129-150.

“Popular Dimensions of Modernist Elite Culture: The Case of Theater in fin de siècle Munich.” In: Dominick LaCapra and Steven Kaplan, eds., Modern European Intellectual History: Reappraisals and New Perspectives. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982. Pp. 220-250.

“München als Kulturzentrum: Politik und die Künste.” In: Armin Zweite, ed., Kandinsky und München: Begegnungen und Wandlungen 1896-1914. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1982. Pp. 17-26 [=translation of following article].

“Munich as Cultural Center: Politics and the Arts.” In: Kandinsky in Munich 1896-1914. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1982. Pp. 17-26.

“ ‘Die Elf Scharfrichter’: The Political and Sociocultural Dimensions of Cabaret in Wilhelmine Germany.” In: Gerald Chapple and Hans Schulte, eds., The Turn of the Century: German Literature and Art 1890-1915. Bonn: Bouvier-Verlag, 1981. Pp. 507-525.

“Art and Mammon in Wilhelmine Germany: The Case of Frank Wedekind.” Central European History, vol. 12, no. 3, September 1979, pp. 203-236.

“Marché culturel, radicalisation idéologique et innovation esthétique dans le théâtre munichois fin de siècle: Thoma, Wedekind, Fuchs.” Le Mouvement social, no. 109, October-December 1979, pp. 35-65.