Siegfried the Wrestler : The Wilhelmine World of a Colportage Novel

Continually attacked by government officials and educators, installment or colportage novels fascinated their underprivileged readers. Melodrama and sensation were essential ingredients. The hurriedly written, rambling plots sought to electrify fantasies of women with new turn-of-the-century aspirations. They also fused raw political ideas offering populist and paternalist solutions to society's challenges and tensions. Through the study of one rare, surviving colportage novel, Peter S. Fisher offers an unusual mental and visual panorama of a nearly vanished Wilhelmine world. Contents 5 Part One 7 1. Three Readers: George Grosz, Moritz Bromme, Adelheid Popp 7 2. For and Against Popular Literature 19 3. Enter Siegfried the Wrestler 33 4. Wrestling 39 5. National and Ethnic Stereotypes 47 6. Current Events and Sensation 57 7. Class Conflict: Siegfried as Peacemaker 65 8. Wilhelmine Women and their Wrestler 69 9. The Contradictions of Colportage: Paternalism and Populism 83 10. Postscript: Heinrich Büttner’s First Colportage Novel of 1892 91 Part Two 95 The Illustrations 95 Notes 127