Grand Valley State University ScholarWorks@GVSU Peer Reviewed Articles History Department 10-1989 Trials and Tribulations: Authors' Responses to Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1885-1914 Gary D. Stark Grand Valley State University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/hst_articles Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Stark, Gary D., "Trials and Tribulations: Authors' Responses to Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1885-1914" (1989). Peer Reviewed Articles. 9. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/hst_articles/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History Department at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peer Reviewed Articles by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Trials and Tribulations:Authors' Responsesto Censorshipin Imperial Germany,1885-1914 GaryD. Stark Universityof Texas, Arlington In Thomas Mann's famous short story of 1903 about the artist's problematicrelation to bourgeoissociety, the aspiringyoung writerTonio Krfiger,after an absenceof thirteenyears, returns to his hometownfor a brief visit. Therehe is confrontedby a policemanwho, suspectingKifiger to be a swindlerwanted by the law, questionshim abouthis identityand occupation. Kr6ger,although recognizing that this guardianof civic orderis withinhis rights,is neverthelessreluctant to reveal who he is. Unable to providethe requisiteidentity papers, he finallyshows the policemanproof- sheets of a story of his that is aboutto be published.The officeris not entirelyconvinced the young writeris not the wantedcriminal, but in the end he lets the matterdrop and allows Kr6igerto leave the country.This unsettlingconfrontation with a representativeof the Germanstate drives home to Krogerhis socialisolation, his uneasyexistence between two seeminglyincompatible worlds: that of his bohemianartist friends, who regard him as a bourgeois,and that of thebourgeois, who try to arresthim.