Gypsies and orientalism in German literature and anthropology of the long nineteenth century / Nicholas Saul.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saul, Nicholas.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romanies--Germany.

Romanies.

Romanies in literature.

German literature--History and criticism.

German literature.

Germany.

Physical Description:

188 pages ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Legenda, 2007.

Summary:

An apparently nomadic diaspora nation of Indian provenance, the Romanies are present with notable frequency in Germanic literature of the long nineteenth century from Wolzogen, Kotzebue, Brentano and Immermann to Stifter, Keller, Storm, Raabe, Jensen, Carl Hauptmann, Saar, Alscher and Thomas Mann. Against the background of the still officially unacknowledged Romany Holocaust, Saul analyses in a series of close readings the stations of the literary construction of the Gypsy prior to that human disaster, and interrogates the category of Orientalism traditionally applied to locate the Gypsy presence in the symbolic landscape of Germanic culture. The book's synthesis of scholarship in anthropological, social and institutional history, the history of ideas and literature will appeal to the scholarly community across traditional disciplinary boundaries, and will also serve as a valuable introduction for students from diverse fields.

Contents:

1 Stations in Gypsy Cultural Anthropology from Jacob Thomasius to Liszt 1

2 Zigeunerromantik, Gypsy Others, and Fake Gypsies in German Literature from Wolzogen to Immermann 20

3 Secularized Zigeunerromantik: Literary Gypsies and Realism in Storm and Stifter 47

4 Gypsies, German Identity, and Heimat in Hebbel, Raabe, Keller, and Strauss 60

5 German Knowledge, German Nation, and German Paths to Selfhood in Freytag and May 91

6 Gypsies, Race, Culture, and Hybridity in Wilhelm Jensen 106

7 Carl Hauptmann's Gypsies between Racial Hygiene and Boheme 121

8 Saar, Alscher, and the Beginning of the End 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781900755887

1900755882

OCLC:

166314582