German images of the self and the other : nationalist, colonialist and anti-semitic discourse 1871-1918 / Felicity Rash.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rash, Felicity J., 1954-

Contributor:

Albert E. Visk, W'28, Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discourse analysis--Social aspects--Germany.

Discourse analysis.

Discourse analysis--Social aspects.

German literature--Social aspects.

German literature.

National characteristics, German.

History.

Germany.

National characteristics, German--History--19th century.

National characteristics, German--History--20th century.

Other (Philosophy) in literature.

Group identity--Germany.

Group identity.

Racism in literature.

Germany--In mass media.

Physical Description:

xii, 222 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Summary:

This monograph is a detailed linguistic analysis of the discourse of German nationalism, colonialism and anti-Semitism from the 1870s to the end of the First World War, using a methodological framework devised by Ruth Wodak et al, the Discourse Historical Approach. It pays particular attention to the discourse strategies, argumentation topoi and metaphors used by a selection of representative authors of both political propaganda and fiction. The study shows how the analysis of linguistic and social behaviour and the connection between them sheds light on the nature and effects of human behaviour, and on the motives and reasoning behind human actions. Within the context of nationalism and prejudiced behaviours, the construction in discourse of individual and group 'self-images' and the discursive means of contrasting these with 'other-images' is of major significance. It is widely believed that a self-image can only be formed if an image of a so-called 'Other' exists as a focus of contrast and (frequently) suspicion and antipathy, which in extreme cases can lead to fear and hatred. Fear and hatred of the 'Other' in the form of racism and racial anti-Semitism, and the discursive representation of these, is therefore a major focus of this study. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Methodological Framework 1

1.1 Critical Discourse Analysis and the Discourse Historical Approach 1

1.2 Historical Discourse Semantics (HDS) 6

1.3 Critical Metaphor Analysis 10

1.4 Presupposition and metacommunication 14

1.5 Corpus Linguistics and Computer-Assisted Discourse Analysis 16

2 Self-identity, Otherness and Nationalism 20

2.1 Identity 20

2.2 Self-identity and other-identity 24

2.3 Myths, folk-tales and the creation of identity 27

2.4 National identity and nationalism 31

2.5 German nationalism, the Volk and the Other 36

2.5.1 Fichte, Jahn, and the German nation 37

2.5.2 Nationalism after the formation of the Second Reich 43

3 Racism in Discourse 50

3.1 What is race? 50

3.2 Houston Stewart Chamberlain's view of race 51

3.3 What is racism? 59

3.4 Racist discourse 61

3.5 Anti-Slavic discourse 62

3.5.1 Heinrich Claß 64

3.5.2 The treatment of Slavs in fiction 68

3.6 Images of gypsies and anti-Ziganism 73

3.7 Final thoughts 79

4 Anti-Semitism in Discourse 81

4.1 What is anti-Semitism? 81

4.2 Discourse about Jews 1871-1879 84

4.2.1 Wilhelm Marr 85

4.2.2 Stoecker, Mommsen and Treitschke 91

4.3 Anti-Semitic discourse 1880-1899 95

4.3.1 Eugen Dühring 95

4.3.2 Böckel and Fritsch 98

4.4 Anti-Semitic discourse 1899-1914 99

4.4.1 Houston Stewart Chamberlain 99

4.4.1.1 Analysis of Chapters 5 and 6 of the Grundlagen 101

4.4.1.2 DHA analysis of the Grundlagen 110

4.4.1.3 Arische Weltanschauung 115

4.4.2 Heinrich Claß's anti-Semitism as a precursor to Chamberlain's war-time essays 116

4.5 Chamberlain's war-time anti-Semitism 118

4.6 Anti-Semitism in fictional literature 123

4.7 Final thoughts 129

5 Colonialism in Discourse 130

5.1 What is colonialism? 130

5.2 The Self and the Other in colonialist discourse 132

5.3 The German colonies 1884-1919 134

5.4 Colonial racism 137

5.5 Analysis of colonialist writing 138

5.5.1 Carl Peters 138

5.5.2 Paul Rohrbach's 'German Idea' 142

5.6 Images of the Self and the Other in colonial fiction 151

5.7 The journalistic portrayal of German culture in the colonies 161

5.8 Final thoughts 167

6 Discourse in War-Time 169

6.1 The 'Bismarck effect' 170

6.2 Paul Rohrbach's Zum Weltvolk hindurch! 174

6.3 Houston Stewart Chamberlain's Kriegsaufsätze 181

6.3.1 Textual analysis of the Kriegsaufsätze 182

6.4 Computer-assisted analysis of Rohrbach's and Chamberlain's war essays 189

6.4.1 The use of metaphors in the war essays 193

6.5 War poetry 194

6.6 War-time films 199

6.7 Final thoughts 201

7 Conclusion 202.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Albert E. Visk, W'28, Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780230282650

0230282652

OCLC:

795020545

Publisher Number:

99950777415