© 2012 Juljana Gjata Hjorth Jacobsen ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN MEERUMSCHLUNGEN AND THE CALL FOR NATIONALISM: NATIONAL IDENTITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION ON THE GERMAN AND DANISH BORDER IN SELECTED WORKS BY THEODOR STORM, THEODOR FONTANE, AND HERMAN BANG By JULJANA GJATA HJORTH JACOBSEN A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in German Written under the direction of Martha Helfer And approved by ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Schleswig-Holstein meerumschlungen and the Call for Nationalism: National Identity Under Construction on the German and Danish Border in Selected Works by Theodor Storm, Theodor Fontane, and Herman Bang By JULJANA GJATA HJORTH JACOBSEN Dissertation Director: Martha B. Helfer My dissertation examines selected German and Danish literary texts of the late nineteenth century that employ ideological notions of nationalism for the purpose of constructing and stabilizing national identity. The groundwork for the research centers on specific times in nationalist movements in Europe and a specific setting on the border region of Schleswig-Holstein. The urgency of this project lies especially in the effort to understand the shifting qualities and perceptions of nationalism as both a destructive and productive force in current discourses of globalization. In my analysis of four literary narratives, Theodor Storm’s novellas Ein grünes Blatt (1850) and Abseits (1863), Theodor Fontane’s Unwiederbringlich (1891), and Herman Bang’s Tine (1889), I demonstrate how national identity is constructed on the basis of a firm nationalism and constantly destabilized when confronted with the presence ii of an Other by the border. In the chosen literary works, national identity, at all stages of its formation and in all classifications and depictions as German, Prussian, Danish, or Frisian, is fundamentally about attaining the subject’s recognition as sovereign and universal. And because the subject functions as a representation of the nation with which it identifies, the construction of the subject’s national identity is ultimately about achieving international recognition. In the selected narratives, national identity—whether German or Danish—is constructed by the authors in a very similar fashion. While nationalism is criticized and condemned to different degrees, it also serves as the necessary ground for shaping effectively one’s national identity. The three authors under discussion operate with a nationalist project in which they set out to construct a national self: in the texts under consideration, nationalism functions as a temporary but necessary formative stage in the construction of the subject’s national identity. The selected authors also experience and triumph over nationalism in their personal lives. Ultimately, this dissertation will point to the crucial significance of the regional particularity—given by the margins of a border area—for the representation of the national totality. iii Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iv Introduction I. The Urgency of the Current Border Discourse in Germany and Denmark 1 II. Argument Outline 6 III. An Overview of Nationalism and National Identity 11 IV. Chapter Outlines 18 Chapter One – Theodor Storm’s Novellas Ein grünes Blatt and Abseits : Destabilizing the Heimat and Discovering the Other I. Introduction 21 II. Updating Storm’s Identity 24 III. Ein grünes Blatt : Documenting Early Awareness by Means of Nationalism 35 IV. Abseits : Storm’s Fremde and the Matter of Succession 59 V. Conclusion 77 Chapter Two – Theodor Fontane’s Unwiederbringlich : Retrieving the National Subject I. Introduction 81 II. Fontane’s Nationalistic Split 82 III. Unwiederbringlich : Source Material and Politics 89 IV. Fragmentation in Unwiederbringlich : Totality Beyond Recall 95 V. Something is Rotten in the State of Prussia 105 VI. Construction of the Male Subject and Identity Formation via Women 122 VII. Unwiederbringlich : A Novel of Authorial Redemption 134 VIII. Conclusion 139 Chapter Three – Herman Bang’s Tine : Towards a Productive Transgression of Borders and an Optimistic Reading of Nationalism I. Introduction 141 II. Herman Bang’s Realism and His Function as a Border Figure 143 III. Reception and Criticism of Bang’s Tine 157 IV. Tine ’s Authenticity 160 V. Political and Historical Background 163 VI. The Danger from Within 167 VII. Bang’s Appeal for Danish Remembrance and Recognition 184 VIII. Fathers’ Legacy to Mothers: The Female Realm of National Identity 194 IX. Conclusion 205 Conclusion – Further Implications and Future Avenues of Research 208 Bibliography 211 Curriculum Vitae 228 iv 1 Introduction I. The Urgency of the Current Border Discourse in Germany and Denmark This dissertation examines selected German and Danish literary texts of the late nineteenth century that employ ideological notions of nationalism for the purpose of constructing and stabilizing national identity. The groundwork for the research centers on specific times in nationalist movements in Europe and a specific setting on the border region of Schleswig-Holstein. The urgency of this project lies especially in the effort to understand the shifting qualities and perceptions of nationalism as both a destructive and productive force in current discourses of globalization.1 The interest in the subject of nationalism grows by decades in new and revised editions of works that tirelessly aim at defining and analyzing the phenomenon of nationalism and its developmental forms. Benedict Anderson comments on the current awareness of nationalism in his revised edition of Imagined Communities that “the ‘end of the era of nationalism,’ so long prophesied, is not remotely in sight. Indeed, nation-ness is the most universally legitimate value in the political life of our time” (3). With a contemporary view on nationalism, Michael Billig claims in his Banal Nationalism that nationalism must be understood as an endemic condition that we experience daily in routine and familiar forms, like the seemingly innocent flag that hangs outside a public building (5-6). 2 1 Nationalism in the context of globalization, although limited only to Europe, is recently discussed in a number of writings in the essay collection edited by Ireneusz Pawel Karolewksi and Andrzej Marcin Suszycki: Multiplicity of Nationalism in Contemporary Europe . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield/Lexington Books, 2010. 2 Hardly interested in the origins of nationalism, Michael Billig investigates the current ideological habits of nationalism, by which nations are reproduced as nations. Concerned with the general attitude that nationalism as a peripheral and exotic force is problematic only in the case of extremists, Billig identifies the banality and thus the danger of nationalism in the established nations, which, located at the center, are led to see nationalism as the property and the problem of others, but not of theirs (5-7). 2 The presence of nationalism and its role in reinforcing national identity prove to this day that nationalism still appeals excessively and subtly to individuals and groups in our modern societies. Two recent events in 2011 draw attention to an aggressive nationalism in the established nations of Northern Europe: Denmark’s reinforcement of border controls with Germany and Sweden in May; and the Norwegian nationalistic terror attack in Oslo, accompanied by the shooting of more than eighty young members of the governing Labor Party on the island of Utøya in Norway, in July. 3 These happenings are clearly furious forms of a nationalism that is called to serve a national purpose. While these events endangered people’s freedom and safety at an individual and national level, they also serve to remind people of their national identity and fortify its nature through a clear distinction from the identity of others. Even in established nations today, nationalism in its many guises still is evident in the construction of national identity. Denmark is a case in point. In May 2011, Denmark made international news by reinforcing the border control with its two neighboring countries, Germany and Sweden. Attention and criticism was directed at the stubborn little Scandinavian country, which, with this unilateral decision, was accused of shaking the very foundations of the European Union.4 The current border debate revolves more ardently around the particular relationship that Denmark has with Germany, rather than with Sweden, for the relationship with the former has long marked a historical significance between the two nations and it now points at the tension between them. Denmark’s intention of fortifying its borders by building a 3 The Norwegian terrorist attacks both in the middle of Oslo and in the island of Utøya were carried by the Norwegian citizen Anders Behring Breivik, who claims to be against multiculturalism and Norway’s openness to emigrants. For some details on this event, see, for example, Anita Bay Bundegaard’s article “Samfundet efter Anders Behring Breivik” in Politiken , 25 July 2011. 4 The first to acclaim border control were, in fact, Italy and France. One of their primary concerns was the wave of refugees fleeing from Middle East and North Africa. 3 number of new custom houses and increasing video surveillance is explained by the leader of the