From Putsch to Purge. A Study of the German Episodes in Richard Hughes’s The Human Predicament and their Sources

The two last novels by Richard Hughes (1900-1976), the first in his planned The Human Predicament series, are partly set in Germany in the years between the First and the Second World War. Much of the action in The Fox in the Attic (1961) takes part in and around Munich, culminating in a fictional reconstruction of the so-called Hitler Putsch on November 8-9, 1923, the future dictator's aborted early bid for power. In the sequel, The Wooden Shepherdess (1973), the time-span is wider and the places covered are more numerous. The novel's finale is a reconstruction of the so-called Röhm Purge, the internecine Nazi killings of the SA-leaders on June 30, 1934 and the following days. The present study, with its focus on Hughes's German episodes and their sources, is based on extensive research into his unpublished papers in the Lilly Library, Bloomington, Indiana, and the Reading University holdings of his correspondence with Chatto & Windus, the London publishers. In two postscripts, Hughes acknowledged some of his sources. The list is considerably extended in this study which singles out fifteen of his providers of historical material, while assessing the impact the borrowings have had on his fiction: the Bavarian von Aretin family, distantly related to him; his Welsh friend Goronwy Rees; the Prussian Ernst von Salomon; a certain Captain F. Götz; August Kubizek, Hitler's friend from their youth; three members of the Munich Hanfstaengl family: Ernst, Helene and Egon; the novelist and travel-writer Sir Philip Gibbs; the historians Sir John Wheeler-Bennett, Elizabeth Wiskemann and William Manchester; and finally three (former) Nazis: Walter Schellenberg, Kurt G. W. Ludecke and Otto Strasser. The study's narratological considerations of the interplay of fact and fiction in Hughes’s novels make use of some of Gérard Genette's distinctions (intradiegetic focalization, extradiegetic narration, etc), and the question of plagiarism (a term mentioned by Hughes himself) is briefly broached. The final chapters of the study concern Hughes and the German bookmarket, and his unfinished sequel, the torso published as The Twelve Chapters. In conclusion, Hughes's Hitler portrait and the critical response it provoked is discussed. The study quotes liberally from Richard Hughes's hitherto unpublished manuscript material

Testing the capacities of middle power relations in international politics: the case of Turkey and Iran

The aim of this study is to provide a fresh analysis of middle-power states' capabilities within the international political arena, utilising an integrated experimental model to conduct a unit-level of analysis of Turko-Iraman relations with a focus on economic, diplomatic, political and military issues. The principal argument of this study is that the middle-power state is the key actor in the region, socially constructed within a distinctive political context; resisting super power hegemonic intervention, and having bargaining power with regard to more powerful entities. The socially constructed identities of Turkey and Iran are highlighted as key influences in foreign relations, leading to a complex dynamic between these 'reluctant neighbours.' The limits of their power are clarified as consisting of employing agent groups to manipulate internal threats and apply counter-terrorist/revolutionary politics, but falling short of sufficient to control transnational nationalism. Using this ethnic political card to negate each other's influence invites foreign power penetration into regional politics. Kurdish nationalism acts as an independent regional player and challenges the Turkish and Iranian political identities, both secularist and religious. Turkey and Iran endavour to apply the 'niche diplomacy' in energy and pipeline routes competition in the Southern Caucasus. The study, thus, examines the competing factors of the both countries' geographic adjacency as a stimulus for economic integration as a partial entrenchment against diplomatic mistrust, and preventing systematic regional integration within the last three decades within the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) framework. The role of Iran's nuclear ambitions and Turkey's western alliances are examined as influences on the countries' identities. Contrary to the systemic and regional circumstances of secularist Turkey, the messianic identity of Iranian religious nationalism has resulted in a nuclear weaponisation programme that not only militarises the domestic politics of Iran, but also undermines the countries' mutual trust, with a profound adverse effect on the countries' economic relationship. In order to increase the efficiency and explanatory power of middle-power state, this study amended the middle-power state theory, and successfully tested its applicability to Turkish-Iranian relationship through various variables related to international relations, international policy aspects of domestic political events, ethnic tension and economic relations