Literature at war, 1914-1940 : representing the "time of greatness" in Germany / Wolfgang G. Natter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Natter, Wolfgang G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

German literature--20th century--History and criticism.

German literature.

World War, 1914-1918--Literature and the war.

World War, 1914-1918.

War in literature.

Nationalism and literature--Germany.

Nationalism and literature.

Literature and state--Germany--History--20th century.

Literature and state.

History.

Germany--History, Military--20th century.

Germany.

History, Military.

Physical Description:

280 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, [1999]

Summary:

In this fascinating examination of German texts written about the First World War, Wolfgang Natter offers a new understanding of the relationship between culture and warfare. He focuses not only on the literary voices of German authors whose works are found in a library today but also on the wartime agencies, institutions, and individuals that produced and distributed an enormous body of books and printed materials during the First World War, the Weimar period, and the years preceding World War II. The book argues that the militarization of literature that occurred between 1914 and 1918 and the ways war events reconfigured literary institutions, aesthetics, and cultural politics, help to explain how a military ethos could remain vibrant in a defeated Germany and lay the groundwork for another world war.

Natter draws on previously unexamined archival sources, literature published between 1914 and 1940, and recent cultural, historical, and literary debates. He considers how the German war "experience" was mobilized by military, state, and private institutions; how reading and the publishing industry influenced history-making activities; and how post-war reassessments of the lost war's meaning uncovered a powerful storehouse of cultural ammunition that propelled and sustained National Socialism's rise to power. In examining these issues within the context of German nationalism, it also contributes to a general discussion regarding the theories and cultural practices of twentieth-century modernity.

Contents:

1 What Is War Literature and Why Does It Merit Study? 11

2 Establishing the Paradigm: Censorship, Frontgeist, and Walter Bloem's Kriegspressestelle 35

3 The Use and Abuse of Feldpostbriefe for Cultural Life 78

4 Literature at War: Literature for the Warrior, 1914-1918 122

5 Publishing the War: Cotta and the "Spirit of 1914" 174

6 "Nevertheless!": Long Live War! 187.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-267) and index.

ISBN:

0300055587

OCLC:

39671120