University of Warwick Institutional Repository: a Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Phd at The
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University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/58889 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. Social values in some novels of the 'Heimatkunst' movement Donald Watts, B.A. Hans. (East Anglia), M.A. (WarwiCk) Doctor of Philosophy Universi ty of Warwick Department of German Studies April, 1975 BEST COpy AVAILABLE Variable print quality The thesis compares the values and attitudes promoted in the fiction of five authors associated wi th the 'Heimatkunst' movement. The introduction attempts a definition of the term 'Heimatkunst' and then proceeds to an examination of the theoretical writings of Adolf Bartels and Friedrich Lienhard, indicatine the often considerable differences in attitude between the two critics and outlining such common ground as they share with each ot~r and the "piactitioners of th e movement treated in thi s study. The thesis then moves to an analysis of single novels, where necessary relating these works to their authors' other wri tings. The novels chosen for analysis are Wilhelm von Polenz' Der BUttnerbauer, Adolf Bartels' Die Dithmarscher, "Gusta,v Frenssen's JBrn' Uhl, Ludwig Ganghofer's Der hohe Schein and Hermann LBns's Der Wehrwolf. These analyses confirm the existence or' that common ground between the authors outlined in the introduction - their veneration of rural life and their suspicion of urban culture and values, their anti- intellectual bias, nationalist or racialist sympathies and their belie~ that contempo~ ills may be cured or ameliorated qy a return to the pre-industrial, nature-based values of the rural community. The manner, degree and consistency with which they commit themselves to these attitudes and views vary and there are certain preoccupations common to only some of the authors dealt with, although even these differing concerns can often be related to individual interpretations 01' shared premises. The thesis concludes with an examination of common stylistic and technical features of their fiction and the litera~ devices employed to direct the reader's sympathies. Table of contents Preface p.l Chapter 1: Introduction p.) References - Introduction p.60 Chapter 2: Wilhelm von polenz - Der BHttnerbauer p.74 References - Der BHttnerbauer p.114 Chapter 3: Adolf Bartels - Die Di thmarscher p.124 References - Die Dithmarscher p.165 Chapter 4: Gustav Frenssen - J~rn Uhl p.172 References - J~rn Uhl p.2l2 Chapter 5: Ludwig Ganghot'er - Der hohe Schein p.220 References - Der hohe Schein p.2b4 Chapter 6: Hermann L~ns - Der Wehrwolf p.272 References - Der \vehrwolf p.303 Chapter 7: Aspects of language and style p.3l0 References: Aspects of language and styJe p.33l Bibliography p.333 1 Preface Although most critics link the term 'Heimatkunst' in someway to the regional novelists of the Wilhelminian period, there are somewho extend its scope to app~ to all Germanauthors whogave their litera~ works specific regional settings and others who seek to narrow discussion to a consideration of the theoretical writings of Adolf Bartels and Friedrich Lienhard, the two critics responsible for introducing the term into popular literary parlance. The author of this study accepted the basic frame of reference used by Bartels and Lienhard for their definitions of 'Heimatkunst' - namely, that the term appli~d predominant~ to the·work of conservatively minded regional novelists writing duriIl8 the reign of Wilhelm II. Although there are ma:qyways in which the claims madeby Bartels and Lienhard about 'Heimatkunst' are invalid .whenapplied to 1he products of its practitioners, a detailed investigation of those claims seemedan acceptable framework on which to build up this studiY',since, discrepancies between theoxy am practice notwithstanding, the two critics gave voice to most of the relevant major social, cul1nral and. ideological oonsiderations which inform the fiction of the authors treated. An examination of their writings also provided the opportuni-turto assess how far literary historians have been correct in assuming the compatibili~ of the attitudes of the two cri tics. There are upwards of fifty au'thors known to the writer of this studiY' to whose wark the definition established could app~ and their individual novels can be numbered in hundreds. It is therefore essential, if a work on 'Heimatlrunst' is not to degenerate into a list of au'thors, titles and plot synopses, to find oomeway in which the material to be treated can be reduced in scope, yet at the same time to give scme indication of the spectrum of writing produced. The author of fuis thesis has therefore decided to 2 select for analysis the work of five relatively well-known 'Heimatldlnstler' who represent sane of the main variations of literary style, social views and social and geographical origin to be found within the movement. But even these five authors produced works in numbers too lar-ge for them all to be adequately analysed in one thesis. The concentration on one novel by each author, with references to his other works where neoessary or desirable, seemedan adequate compromise, the latter references providing the opportunity to discuss key issues treated more widely in other works, allowing considera- tion of changes or inconsistencies in attitude to be taken into account and facilitating the indioation of comparisons or contrasts with other authors when·these were not apparent in the main work selected for consideration. 3 Chapter 1. Introduction Before we proceed to our investigation of the social values and attitudes promoted by the authors treated in thesis, all of whomare associated with the literaxy phenomenonof 'Heimatkunst', it is essential that we establish what, for the purposes of this study, is to be understood by the central term in question. The critical use of thewoI~ 'Heimatkunst' has been both vague and inconsistent. The lowest caamon denominator in the bewildering variety of contexts in which the term has been used is its associations with forms of art, most~ literaxy, which are given speoific regional settings. There, however, unanimity of usage ceases. 'Heimatkunst' has been used to refer to the plastic arts and to every literary genre. Amongthe literary figures associated with 1he term have been writers as divergent in period, preoooupations and style as Sohiller, Gotthe1f, Storm, Fontane, Gustav Frenssen, ThomasMann and HermannHesse. Other literary terms have frequent~ been regarded as synonymouswith 'Heimatkunst', and we often find that a regional writer is identified as such in three or four different ways. Albert Soergel uses the term 'Heimatdiohter' interchangeably with 'Heima.t- ld1nst1er'; 1 Werner Mahrho1z equates 'Heimatkunst' with 'Heimatdichtung'. 2 Other cri tics employ the terms 'Landschaftsdichtung', 'Dorfraaan' and 'Schollendiohtung' to refer w warks more caamon~ identified as 'Heimatkunst'. Matzy'of the eauses of thi s confusion and incons istency stem from literary critics' interpretation of the term 'Heimat'. 'Homeland' or 'birthplace' are inadequate translations for a word which has so manyvarying associations and undertones. It is, for example, a word which is generally associated wi th rural areas - hence the employmentof such terms as 'Landschaftsdichtung' as synotzy'msfar 'Heimatkunst'. In his article, 'Die Heimat und die Dichtkunst', the contemporary critic, Michael Wegener, writes: 'Es ist bemerkenswert, daas mit "Hedmab"in seiner weitgehenden Bedeutung in der Regel "lAndliche Heill8.t" gemeint ist, fast me jedocil eine gr6ssere stadt. ,3 Yet it is possible to find a number of exceptions to this interpretation of 'the word. J.Q. Robertson, for eXample, claims Buddenbrooksto be amongthe novels which 'might ••• well have their place under the rubric Heimatkunst,.4 It is possible, though unlikely, that the English critic's use of 'Heimatkunat' to refer to a novel wi th a distinctly regional but non-ruml setting might be explained by inade- quate familiarity with an accepted loading for the term 'Heimat' but no such explanation could be considered re~eTant to the declaration madeby Adolf Bartels, one of the two menmost closely involved in promoting the 'Heimat- kunst' movement. He wrote, in an article defining the aiJns and nature of 'Heimatkunst' : Im flbrigen steht nirgends geschrieben, dass di e Heimatkunst Dorfkunst sein soll; auch die Stldte, selbst die grossen, haben noch ihr genius locii und ihre von ibm beeinflussten Menschen, die sind auch fftr die Heimatkunst da, 5 Admittedly, on the majority of occasions on which Bartels uses the terms 'Heimatkunst' or 'Heimat', they are explicitly or implicitly associated with non-urban areas. But the previous quotation am other sillilar declarations in which Bartels claimed the possibiliW of identifying the city as a 'Heimat' indicates the absence of 8.I\Y consistent use of the word in this context. There is furthermore no generally accepted definition of the relationship 5 a man lDUS t ha.ve to a parti cular area to ca II it hi s 'Heimat ' or even how large that area must be to be identified as such. The 1877 edition of Grimm's Deutsches w6rterbuch, which may be regarded as an adequately repre- senta t:ive source of the word's usage during the period with which we are concerned in this thesis, lists three different meanings for 'Heimat' as & word related to place of origin or residDnce: 1) heimat, das lan4~oder auch nur der landstrich in demman geboren~oder bleibenden aufenthalt hat 2) heimat, der geburtsort oder stAndige wohnort 3) selbst das elterliche haus oder besitzthum heisst so, in baiern. 6 These variations give rise to the problem of defining exactly what subject matter an author mayuse to be identified &S a 'Heimatldinstler'.