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War Primer
A profound exploration of the enduring impact of war in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“War is back again.” So begins Alexander Kluge’s latest book, prompted by a war of aggression that, though being waged in Europe, is of global importance. Blending simple stories with multimedia and reflecting on human responses and hope, the author does not aim to take sides nor make an appeal. Rather, he is concerned with what he calls “mole war,” the tenacious and often subterranean survival of war—what war makes of people and what life of its own it is capable of.
Kluge’s book is based on an iconic model, the primer, and named after a famous Bertolt Brecht’s. Here we find simple stories underpinned with montages, film stills, and sequences. The author was ten years old when—sitting at his school desk and with his finger on the map—he followed German tanks on their journey to Stalingrad. In the time between then and his ninety-first birthday in February 2023, this chronicler of emotions has studied the costumes of war again and War is mortal but does not die quickly. How can we respond to its demands?
“War is back again.” So begins Alexander Kluge’s latest book, prompted by a war of aggression that, though being waged in Europe, is of global importance. Blending simple stories with multimedia and reflecting on human responses and hope, the author does not aim to take sides nor make an appeal. Rather, he is concerned with what he calls “mole war,” the tenacious and often subterranean survival of war—what war makes of people and what life of its own it is capable of.
Kluge’s book is based on an iconic model, the primer, and named after a famous Bertolt Brecht’s. Here we find simple stories underpinned with montages, film stills, and sequences. The author was ten years old when—sitting at his school desk and with his finger on the map—he followed German tanks on their journey to Stalingrad. In the time between then and his ninety-first birthday in February 2023, this chronicler of emotions has studied the costumes of war again and War is mortal but does not die quickly. How can we respond to its demands?
136 pages, Hardcover
Published December 2, 2024
About the author
Alexander Kluge
137 books75 followersKluge was born in Halberstadt at the year 1932.
He studied history, law and music at the University of Marburg Germany, and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, where befriended the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, who was teaching at the Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School.
In 1960 he shooted his first films, before the launch of the New German Cinema.
He also was a remarkable fiction writer, which tended toward the short story form, significant for their formal experimentation and insistently critical thematics.
He studied history, law and music at the University of Marburg Germany, and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, where befriended the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, who was teaching at the Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School.
In 1960 he shooted his first films, before the launch of the New German Cinema.
He also was a remarkable fiction writer, which tended toward the short story form, significant for their formal experimentation and insistently critical thematics.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 10, 2025
3.5-4 stars
Kluge has been exploring war through words and images throughout his career. This book, inspired by Bertolt Brecht's book of the same name that took images from WWII from the news, and responded with four line poems, Kluge responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine with this volume that gathers brief historical accounts, anecdotes and stories—factual and fictionalized— and presents them together with images and clips from his characteristic artistic films (often shifting triptychs against musical scores) accessed through QR codes. Although some of the textual material directly references the current conflict in Europe, the effect is to create a mosaic of contextual commentary and musings about the nature of war, the military mindset, the long human history of conflict. This is not an in depth study, those with a strong background in military history will find it too slight, but if you are familiar with Kluge's work, his perspective against the context of today's conflict in Ukraine at the age of 91 (when this book was first published in 2023) is important.
A longer review can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2025/09/15/wa...
Kluge has been exploring war through words and images throughout his career. This book, inspired by Bertolt Brecht's book of the same name that took images from WWII from the news, and responded with four line poems, Kluge responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine with this volume that gathers brief historical accounts, anecdotes and stories—factual and fictionalized— and presents them together with images and clips from his characteristic artistic films (often shifting triptychs against musical scores) accessed through QR codes. Although some of the textual material directly references the current conflict in Europe, the effect is to create a mosaic of contextual commentary and musings about the nature of war, the military mindset, the long human history of conflict. This is not an in depth study, those with a strong background in military history will find it too slight, but if you are familiar with Kluge's work, his perspective against the context of today's conflict in Ukraine at the age of 91 (when this book was first published in 2023) is important.
A longer review can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2025/09/15/wa...
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review