Inspiration Bonaparte? : German Culture and Napoleonic Occupation

Two hundred years after his death, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) continues to resonate as a fascinating, ambivalent, and polarizing figure. Differences of opinion as to whether Bonaparte should be viewed as the executor of the principles of the French Revolution or as the figure who was principally responsible for their corruption are as pronounced today as they were at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Contributing to what had been an uneasy German relationship with the French Revolution, the rise of Bonaparte was accompanied by a pattern of Franco-German hostilities that inspired both enthusiastic support and outraged dissent in the German-speaking states. The fourteen essays that comprise __Inspiration Bonaparte__ examine the mythologization of Napoleon in German literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and explore the significant impact of Napoleonic occupation on a broad range of fields including philosophy, painting, politics, the sciences, education, and film. As the contributions from leading scholars emphasize, the contradictory attitudes toward Bonaparte held by so many prominent German thinkers are a reflection of his enduring status as a figure through whom the trauma of shattered late-Enlightenment expectations of sociopolitical progress and evolving concepts of identity politics is mediated. **Table of Contents** Acknowledgments Introduction __Seán Allan and Jeffrey L. High__ **Part I. Napoleon: Art, Literature, and Occupation** 1: Prelude-Pre-Occupation Bonaparte: Historical and Literary Conquerors in Schiller's Life, Thought, and Works __Jeffrey L. High__ 2: Schiller's Johanna and Collin's Bianca as Women('s)-Liberators in Anti-Napoleonic Drama __Rebecca Stewart__ 3: Friedrich Hölderlin, the French Revolution, and Napoleon: Politics, Poetry, Philosophy __Laura Anna Macor__ 4: The Anecdote on the Battlefield: Napoleon-Kleist-Kluge __Christian Moser__ 5: "Der große Schauspieler, Napoleon Buonaparte": August von Kotzebue's Antitheatrical Politics __Elystan Griffiths__ 6: An Ingenious Tyrant: The Representation of Napoleon Bonaparte by German Women Writers __Elisabeth Krimmer__ 7: Icons of Resistance: Kleist, Le Musée Napoléon, and Queen Luise of Prussia __Seán Allan__ **Part II. Napoleon: Political Science and Natural Science** 8: The European Machine God: The Image of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Political Writings of Jean Paul __Helmut J. Schneider__ 9: Saul Ascher's Napoleon __Bernd Fischer__ 10: Napoleon's Campaigns: Models for "French" Revolutionary Science Abroad and at Home? __Mary Orr__ 11: Napoleonic Occupation and the Militarization of the Sciences: The Case of Johannes Scherr and the Zurich Polytechnic __Andrew Cusack__ **Part III. Inspiration Bonaparte: German Receptions from** **__Vormärz__** **to the Present** 12: "We are all possessed!" Napoleon and Inspiration in German Naturalist Drama __Michael White__ 13: Arnold Schoenberg's Setting of Byron's __Ode to Napoleon__: Fighting Hitler's Regime in Byron's and Beethoven's Wake __Wolf Kittler__ 14: The Emperor's Clothes: Napoleon as a Screen Icon __Susanne Kord__ Notes on the Contributors Index 'In the Beginning was Napoleon'--'Napoleon and no end': Inspiration Bonaparte explores German responses to Bonaparte in literature, philosophy, painting, science, education, music, and film from his rise to the present.Two hundred years after his death, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) continues to resonate as a fascinating, ambivalent, and polarizing figure. Differences of opinion as to whether Bonaparte should be viewed as the executor of the principles of the French Revolution or as the figure who was principally responsible for their corruption are as pronounced today as they were at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Contributing to what had been an uneasy German relationship with the French Revolution, the rise of Bonaparte was accompanied by a pattern of Franco-German hostilities that inspired both enthusiastic support and outraged dissent in the German-speaking states. The fourteen essays that comprise Inspiration Bonaparte examine the mythologization of Napoleon in German literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and explore the significant impact of Napoleonic occupation on a broad range of fields including philosophy, painting, politics, the sciences, education, and film. As the contributions from leading scholars emphasize, the contradictory attitudes toward Bonaparte held by so many prominent German thinkers are a reflection of his enduring status as a figure through whom the trauma of shattered late-Enlightenment expectations of sociopolitical progress and evolving concepts of identity politics is mediated. "Two hundred years after his death, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) continues to resonate as a fascinating, ambivalent, and polarizing figure. Differences of opinion as to whether Bonaparte should be viewed as the executor of the principles of the French Revolution or as the figure who was principally responsible for their corruption are as pronounced today as they were at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Contributing to what had been an uneasy German relationship with the French Revolution, the rise of Bonaparte was accompanied by a pattern of Franco-German hostilities that inspired both enthusiastic support and outraged dissent in the German-speaking states. The fourteen essays that comprise Inspiration Bonaparte examine the mythologization of Napoleon in German literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and explore the significant impact of Napoleonic occupation on a broad range of fields including philosophy, painting, politics, the sciences, education, and film. As the contributions from leading scholars emphasize, the contradictory attitudes toward Bonaparte held by so many prominent German thinkers are a reflection of his enduring status as a figure through whom the trauma of shattered late-Enlightenment expectations of sociopolitical progress and evolving concepts of identity politics is mediated. SeánAllan is Professor of German at the University of St Andrews. Jeffrey L. High is Professor of German Studies at California State University, Long Beach"-- Provided by publisher