Durham E-Theses Religion and Canon Formation in 1950s West German Writing MARWOOD, LAURA,ANN How to cite: MARWOOD, LAURA,ANN (2013) Religion and Canon Formation in 1950s West German Writing , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6915/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Religion and Canon Formation in 1950s West German Writing Laura Ann Marwood Thesis submitted for the Degree of Master of Arts by Research Durham University School of Modern Languages and Cultures Department of German Submitted: August 15th 2012 Religion and Canon Formation in 1950s West German Writing Laura Marwood, Durham University Abstract The central questions to be explored in this study are religion and canon formation in 1950s West German writing. These discussions are centred on four post-war West German novels: Elisabeth Langgässer’s Märkische Argonautenfahrt (1950), Heinrich Böll’s Wo warst du, Adam? (1951), Wolfgang Koeppen’s Der Tod in Rom (1954) and Günter Grass’ Die Blechtrommel (1959). Following the collapse of Nazi Germany in May 1945, the subsequent phase of German political, social and economic strife has come to be known as one of the greatest periods of instability in the nation’s history. The collapse of Nazism is sometimes referred to as a Stunde Null, for it denotes the point at which the clock of German history was turned back to zero. Drawing on the sense of flux and unpredictability that characterised the early post-war years in Germany, combined with the wave of secularisation that intensified throughout the 1950s, this study will focus on the centrality of these four novels’ thematic concern with Catholicism. It will look at the divergent representation of religious themes in post-war fiction and contemplate why some of the selected writers ardently championed a Christian revival in Germany, whilst others assumed a distinctly more sceptical and contemptuous stance. As its second focus, the thesis will consider the process of literary canonisation and will question why some of the works analysed in this study remain commercially and critically successful, whilst others are vastly less read and less celebrated. This thesis anticipates finding a highly divergent set of reactions to four novels that offer conflicting responses to the socio-political circumstances of the post- war era. By viewing literature as a response to social reality, an analysis of these four West German works whose publication dates encompass a whole decade (1950-1959) provides a privileged perspective by throwing light, obliquely, on the wider social problems of the 1950s. i Table of Contents Abstract i Table of Contents ii-iii Statement of Copyright iv Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 - Germany at ‘Zero Hour’ 1 - Die Schuldfrage 2 - The Guilt Debate within the Catholic Church 5 - Literature at ‘Zero Hour’ 9 - A look forward at this work 14 Chapter 1: Elisabeth Langgässer 18 1.1) Struggles as a novelist and poet 18 1.2) Reactions to Langgässer’s fiction 22 1.3) Eine christliche Thematik in 1950’s Germany 26 1.4) Märkische Argonautenfahrt 30 1.5) Conclusion 42 Chapter 2: Heinrich Böll 45 2.1) Heinrich Böll and literary canonisation 45 2.2) Days of Youth 53 2.3) Wo warst du, Adam? 57 2.4) Conclusion 69 Chapter 3: Wolfgang Koeppen 71 3.1) Der Einzelgänger 74 3.2) Die Gruppe 47 77 ii 3.3) Wolfgang Koeppen and Modernism 79 3.4) Contemporary criticism 82 3.5) Church and faith in Der Tod in Rom 85 3.6) Conclusion 98 Chapter 4: Günter Grass 101 4.1) Grass and the public domain 105 4.2) Die Blechtrommel 110 4.3) Germany’s culpability 117 4.4) Indictment of the Catholic Church 120 4.5) Conclusion 122 Conclusion 125 Bibliography 135 iii The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the written prior consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. iv Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to offer my thanks to my supervisor, Professor Jonathan Long, whose proficient and encouraging approach, not to mention his vast expertise, have been exceptionally helpful to me over the course of the year. It has been a privilege to work with him. I am also very grateful to my second supervisor, Dr Caitríona Ní Dhúill, whose support and advice has been invaluable. Thanks are also due to Phil Bolton, whose guidance, friendship and willingness to lend a sympathetic ear has been a great help to me. This research project would not been possible without the generous funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Their financial support has enabled me to realise a research project that had provided me with great personal enrichment and gratification, and for this I am eternally thankful. My research has also been greatly assisted by the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg and the Germanistisches Seminar Heidelberg, to whom I owe thanks for the abundance of useful publications that have been integral to the realisation of this thesis and the stimulating and enjoyable environment provided there. Finally, thank you to all the staff and postgraduates of Durham’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures and to Hatfield College MCR. On a personal note, I would like to thank my friends among the Durham student community – past and present, and the friendships I formed during my research period in Heidelberg. Whilst it would be impossible to mention them all individually, I would like to thank my Mum, Dad and sister Sarah for their love and patience; Benno who has kept me smiling throughout; Kathleen for all those conversations we enjoyed over a Hefeweizen; Daniel for your pearls of wisdom; and finally to Megan, Hollieann, Belle and Hazel for being truly great people. v INTRODUCTION This study explores the questions of religion and canon formation in 1950s West German writing by critically examining the fiction the four post-war West German writers Elisabeth Langgässer (1890-1950), Heinrich Böll (1917-1985), Wolfgang Koeppen (1906-1997) and Günter Grass (1927-). Acknowledging the wave of secularisation that swept across Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War, this thesis will look at the divergent representation of Catholic themes in post-war fiction and contemplate why some of the selected writers became staunch advocates of a Christian revival in Germany, whilst others assumed a distinctly more distrustful and cynical stance. As its second focus, this study will explore the canonisation of each of the four novels, and will question why some works have remained celebrated whilst others have faded into obscurity, paying particular attention to aesthetics, narrative themes, linguistic expression and the representation of faith in this regard. Ultimately, this dissertation addresses the relationship between literature and society. By viewing culture as a response to social reality, the public reactions surrounding the four literary responses to socio-political circumstances examined in this thesis sheds new light on wider social problems of post-war Germany. Germany at ‘Zero Hour’ In May 1945 Germany witnessed a cessation of attacks that had brought desolation and ruin to the country for six long years. Inevitably, there was widespread relief that the guns fell silent.1 As the Germans looked bleary-eyed across their war-torn landscape, they were consoled by the long awaited stillness, a bolstering indicator that marked an end to the atrocities and brutalities carried out during the Third Reich. Yet they were perturbed by the state of flux post-war Germany had found itself in. Aside from the fact that many citizens had come to feel profoundly estranged from the standards of civic life as a result of the lasting collective experience of the front line, air raids, concentration camps, famine, 1Norman Davies, Europe at War: 1939-1945: No Simple Victory (London: Macmillan, 2006), p. 193. 1 homelessness, and the on-going battle for survival, their homeland now lay prostrate before British, American, French, and Soviet occupation regimes.2 This quadripartite military operation called for Germany’s demilitarisation, as was stipulated in the Potsdam Agreement (July 17-August 2 1945), as well as a rigorous break-up of the former German bureaucratic system and its replacement with an ‘Anglo-Saxon model of Civil Service Commission’.3 Additionally, heavy industry was requisitioned in the East, and in the West it became a matter of co- determination by all workers. This move saw many of Germany’s old elite stripped of the roles and privileges they had previously enjoyed. Radical changes such as these, combined with Germany’s being forced to relinquish governance over its own soil and people to occupying troops, resulted in a situation of profound instability in Germany.4 As millions of displaced individuals foraged for food and performed menial tasks in the hope of small monetary