The Child's View of the Third Reich in German Literature: The Eye among the Blind (Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs)

This book considers how and why German authors have used the child's viewpoint to present the Third Reich. Authors as diverse as Günter Grass, Siegfried Lenz, and Christa Wolf have all used this perspective, and this raises the question as to why it is such a popular means of confronting the Third Reich. This study asks whether it is an evasive strategy, a means of gaining new insights into the era, or a means of discovering a new language. This raises issues central to the post-war German aesthetic. The child is a prominent figure in German literature and in German literary criticism alike. This book examines the ways in which German authors have used the child's perspective to present the Third Reich. It examines a number of texts ranging from the 1930s to the 1980s. It also considers how children at this time were brought up and educated to accept unquestioningly National Socialist ideology, and thus questions the possibility of a traditional naive perspective on these events. Authors, as diverse as Günter Grass, Siegfried Lenz, and Christa Wolf, together with many less well-known writers had all used this perspective and this raises the question as to why it is such a popular means of confronting the enormity of the Third Reich. This study asks whether this perspective is an evasive strategy, a means of gaining new insights into the period, or a means of discovering a new language which had not been tainted by Nazism. This raises and addresses issues central to a post-war aesthetic in German writing This book examines the ways in which German authors have used the child's perspective to present the Third Reich. It considers how children at this time were brought up and educated to accept unquestioningly National Socialist ideology, and thus questions the possibility of a traditional naive perspective on these events. Authors as diverse as Günter Grass, Siegfried Lenz, and Christa Wolf, together with many less well-known writers, have all used this perspective, and this raises the question as to why it is such a popular means of confronting the enormity of the Third Reich. This study asks whether this perspective is an evasive strategy, a means of gaining new insights into the period, or a means of discovering a new language which had not been tainted by Nazism. This raises and addresses issues central to a post-war aesthetic in German writing. Title Page......Page 4 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Permissions......Page 9 Contents......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 11 Works Cited......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1. 'Schuldig, Keiner Schuld Bewußt?': The Fallen Child......Page 46 2. Beyond the Fall......Page 104 3. 'Sollten Alle KInder Dichter Sein?': The Child as Artist......Page 172 4. The Inadmissable Witness?......Page 197 5. Conclusion......Page 244 Select Bibliography......Page 264 Index......Page 286 Machine generated contents note: 1. 'Schuldig, keiner Schuld bewuBt?': The Fallen Child 2. Beyond the Fall 3. 'Sollten alle Kinder Dichter sein?': The Child as Artist 4. The Inadmissible Witness? 5. Conclusion Select Bibliography Index.