11 research outputs found
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Four responses to Nazism
This article examines four memoirs published in pre-war Britain which describe their authorsâ first-hand experience of life under Nazi rule. These writers came from across the political spectrum, but by 1940 they had all risked their lives to escape and oppose the Nazi regime from a position of exile. Their powerful memoirs were an attempt to explain to international audiences what exactly had taken place in Germany, and to suggest ways forward. Incorporating a range of approaches, these writersâ honest reflections on their personal responses to the Nazi movement offer profound insights to readers today, as we try to understand the increasingly distant Nazi era, but are also confronted by a return of far right ideas to mainstream discourse
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Enlightenment dilemmas: nationalism and war in Rudolph Zacharias Beckerâs Mildheimisches Liederbuch (1799/1815)
This chapter explores the moral dilemmas encountered by the Enlightenment writer and pedagaogue Rudolph Zacharias Becker around the concepts of nationalism and war. His meticulous selection and adaptation of texts for the two editions of his Mildheimisches Liederbuch (an originally pedagogical work designed to teach peasants more enlightened ways of thinking) reveal the issues of war and nationalism to have been greatly troubling for him, yet also, unfortunately, unavoidable. While the first edition of Mildheimisches Liederbuch in 1799 treated war as a moral problem, the second edition in 1815 contained a great many new songs proclaiming the anti-French and pro-war sentiments that had arisen during the Wars of Liberation, even though his personal memoir from this period argued for tolerance and respect of the French. Why, then, did he include this anti-French material in the 1815 collection? I interpret Beckerâs choice to include pro-war texts with which he did not agree as an attempt to respect freedom of different political opinions, rather than to censor and control them, in the aftermath of Napoleonic occupation
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Romantic nationalism or romantic retreat? Re-evaluating the politics of Arnim and Brentano's Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1805/1808)
This article argues for a new approach to war and politics in Arnim and Brentanoâs romantic poetry anthology Des Knaben Wunderhorn. It departs from previous Wunderhorn scholarship by considering the collectionâs three volumes individually, and paying attention to the different political circumstances of the two phases of its creation, 1805 and 1808. I show that there is a change of emphasis in the collection between volume I (1805) and volumes II and III (1808), identifying a shift away from political engagement and a withdrawal of the nationalist sentiments that are still, however, often associated with the collection as a whole. Instead, I argue that the later volumes of the collection turn inwards and come to reflect a more spiritual and escapist aspect of Romanticism, with a focus on the figure of the artist rather than any political goal. By exploring the change in emphasis between 1805 and 1808, my reading presents the Wunderhorn as a text torn internally between a tangible engagement with everyday politics on the one hand, and a tendency towards transcendence on the other. In this way, the collection represents two opposing impulses of German Romanticism around 1800
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Infanticide in 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn' and 'Faust I': romantic variations on a 'Sturm und Drang' theme
This article explores how the motif of infanticide is approached by two works of 1808: Volume II of Arnim and Brentano's romantic verse collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Goethes Faust I. I argue that their treatments of the theme are fundamentally different to those of their Sturm und Drang predecessors of the 1770s and 80s. Instead of using the motif for purposes of social critique, the infanticide motif per se is explored, by citing a variety of versions and fragments from collective memory, or 'oral' tradition. At the same time, both works draw attention to their modes of collection and citation, highlighting the role of the romantic Author in the compilation, rather than creation, of their text; echoing Barthes's description of the writing process in 'The Death of the Author' as a 'tissue of quotations'
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Hitlerâs unwilling bystanders: Sebastian Haffnerâs memoir as illustration of the âBystander Society'
The second half of Sebastian Haffnerâs posthumously published memoir, Geschichte eines Deutschen, describes Haffnerâs experiences of the first years of Nazi rule. In my reading of key passages, I consider how the text works to highlight the discrepancy between Haffnerâs thoughts and actions as he is increasingly compelled to accept and even participate in Nazi activities, despite his hatred of Nazism. By presenting his case as typical, and drawing the reader into a sense of intimacy and trust with Haffner, his text elicits empathy for the âordinary Germansâ who unwillingly became part of what Fulbrook calls the âbystander societyâ under Nazism. After analysing the memoir, I consider its reception in the German and English-speaking worlds at the time of publication, and reflect on the ethical implications of empathising with Haffnerâs bystander perspective
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âNicht unsrer Lesewelt, und nicht der Ewigkeitâ: late style in Gleimâs 'Zeit-' and 'Sinngedichte' (1792â1803)
This article examines the late poems of Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, arguing that they employ a 'late style.' I suggest that the poet deliberately stylises himself as an old, unfashionable author, in order to address political themes in his work that would not have appeared fashionable at the time
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âAlso mein allerliebster redette ihre Sapho mit dem Kriegeâ: literary role-play in the war poetry of Anna Louisa Karsch
Anna Louisa Karsch stylised herself as an uneducated peasant poet possessing natural genius, moved by her ʻfeminineʌ passions and ignorant of literary
conventions. As a result of her successful self-presentation, until recently scholars have not fully grasped the ways in which she engaged in literary role-play in her poems â instead often reading her works autobiographically or as statements of authentic personal feeling. By demonstrating some of the contradicting viewpoints her poems express on the topic of the ongoing Seven YearsÊŒ War, this article should prove two things. Firstly, that Karsch was acutely aware of poetic techniques
and genre conventions, employing and citing a variety of literary traditions; and secondly, that by playing different literary roles in her poems, making use of classical, biblical and popular genres, she approaches the topic of war from a variety of perspectives that cannot be reduced to one of simple patriotism, as has been done
by most Karsch scholars since her lifetime. In short, I argue that the ʻvoicesʌ in her poems should not be automatically conflated with the authorʌs own
âSĂ€bel- und Federkriegeâ: Strategies of Authorship in German Poems of War (1760â1815)
This thesis examines the strategies of authorship used in German poems of war, from the Seven Yearsâ War to the Wars of Liberation. Applying Foucaultâs theory that the âauthorâ is merely a function of discourse (an âauthor-functionâ), each chapter examines the way an author constructs, adapts, and masks his or her own authorship when approaching the topic of war. Chapter One examines the various roles adopted by Anna Louisa Karsch in her poetry discussing the Seven Yearsâ War, questioning the extent to which autobiographical readings of her works should be taken seriously. Chapter Two looks at Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleimâs Anacreontic poetry, his PreuĂische Kriegslieder eines Grenadiers, and his late Zeitgedichte. Gleim too is shown to play with various authorial roles in his works. The third chapter examines how Arnim and Brentanoâs editorial strategies change between the first volume of their song collection, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1805), and its later volumes (1808). I argue that the two editors retreat from political commentary in the later volumes, seeking consolation in the Romantic imagination. My final chapter compares the two editions of Rudolph Zacharias Beckerâs Mildheimisches Liederbuch (1799 and 1815). Political poetry and the subject of war are approached quite differently in the two volumes, and Beckerâs editorial strategy changes in the aftermath of the Napoleonic occupation. The thesis concludes that the designation of writers as âGewissen der Nation,â often applied to German writers since the Second World War, can also be applied to eighteenth-century poets. The more concretely writers engaged with the developing concepts of nationhood and citizenship, the more they considered the moral consequences of war, and the demands placed on the individual by political participation. Their experimentation with multiple roles and unstable attitudes to their own authorship demonstrate the changing understanding of the relationship between aesthetics, power, and morality
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Goetheâs politics and political uses: Nazi and Anti-Nazi readings of Des Epimenides Erwachen
This article examines the first leaflet made produced by the anti-Nazi White Rose group in 1942, focusing on its use of a quotation from Goetheâs festival play Des Epimenides Erwachen. I begin by exploring the appropriation of Goethe by the Nazi Regime, in particular the instrumentalisation of his works during wartime. In contrast, I then consider how the White Rose use their chosen Goethe passage to send an anti-war message and to incite passive resistance, reclaiming Goethe for an anti-Nazi agenda. Finally, I consider the passageâs political significance in Goetheâs own context ca. 1813, which was characteristically ambivalent, reflecting the lack of a singular political, nationalist narrative at the time of the Wars of Liberation
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Teaching eighteenth-century German literature in the era of #MeToo: gender and the Enlightenment canon
This article presents the course âSeduction and Destruction: 1772ÂŹâ1808â, which I taught at Bristol in 2017, at the time of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and ensuing #MeToo debate. I argue for the examination of gender ideologies as a way into more traditionally studied eighteenth-century concepts and movements such as AufklĂ€rung, Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. I offer an overview of the texts we studied on the course, and consider to what degree these texts can be seen to critique the gender norms and sexual power dynamics of their own day. Finally, I consider the strengths and challenges of the course at the time, and what made it attractive to students who might otherwise have shied away from eighteenth-century literature