! "# $ % & % ' % !" #$ !% !' &$ &""! '() ' #$ *+ ' "# ' '% $$(' ,) * !$- .*./- 0 #!1- 2 *,*- Atomic Apocalypse – ‘Nuclear Fiction’ in German Literature and Culture A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) in the Department of German Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences 2010 by Wolfgang Lueckel B.A. (equivalent) in German Literature, Universität Mainz, 2003 M.A. in German Studies, University of Cincinnati, 2005 Committee Chair: Sara Friedrichsmeyer, Ph.D. Committee Members: Todd Herzog, Ph.D. (second reader) Katharina Gerstenberger, Ph.D. Richard E. Schade, Ph.D. ii Abstract In my dissertation “Atomic Apocalypse – ‘Nuclear Fiction’ in German Literature and Culture,” I investigate the portrayal of the nuclear age and its most dreaded fantasy, the nuclear apocalypse, in German fictionalizations and cultural writings. My selection contains texts of disparate natures and provenance: about fifty plays, novels, audio plays, treatises, narratives, films from 1946 to 2009. I regard these texts as a genre of their own and attempt a description of the various elements that tie them together. The fascination with the end of the world that high and popular culture have developed after 9/11 partially originated from the tradition of nuclear fiction since 1945. The Cold War has produced strong and lasting apocalyptic images in German culture that reject the traditional biblical apocalypse and that draw up a new worldview. In particular, German nuclear fiction sees the atomic apocalypse as another step towards the technical facilitation of genocide, preceded by the Jewish Holocaust with its gas chambers and ovens. This study is primarily a literary one. However, I place the discussion in the vast cultural framework in which the texts of German nuclear fiction were embedded: science, history, philosophy, sociology, and cultural studies. I draw on various secondary sources from a plethora of disciplines to shed light on the nuclear age in German literature and culture. The study is divided into three chapters that analyze the following aspects: the philosophical question of the ultimate evil of the nuclear disaster in an all-encompassing war, traditional apocalyptic imagery versus the modern science-aided apocalypse, the employment of nuclear science in literary accounts and how it is absorbed by fiction, the dynamics of miscommunication and risk communication and why that inevitably sucks iii fictional characters into the maelstrom of disaster. Finally, the depiction of nuclear war in fiction is in opposition to traditional war literature, turning the three-dimensional world of Euclidean geometry upside down and bestowing new meaning on the term “total war.” An outlook on the future of nuclear fiction concludes this study, trying to show how the tenets of the Cold War and its apocalyptic culture have informed German writings and culture in the new millennium. Even though this study focuses on German literature, the themes of German nuclear fiction appeal to a global readership. iv Copyright 2010 Wolfgang Lueckel All rights reserved. v Acknowledgements I would like to thank my advisors at the University of Cincinnati for their continued support of my work. Sara Friedrichsmeyer and Todd Herzog inspired me with their creative suggestions and their thorough criticism that helped me hone my thoughts. I want to thank Richard Schade and Katharina Gerstenberger for providing me with tidbits of inspirational knowledge that have made their way into this thesis. A special mention goes to Heather Arden who was so kind to proofread the entire manuscript and made many valuable suggestions for stylistic improvement. I also want to thank Langsam Library, the Interlibrary Loan Staff and the Literaturarchiv Marbach for providing me with the necessary resources. Every research project hinges on the accessibility of materials, and the speed and efficiency with which I could access even obscure and rare texts is owed to the professionalism of the libraries that I consulted. Furthermore, without the generous support of the Department of German Studies, the University Research Council and the Taft Research Center I would not have been able to write this thesis. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife Mandy and our daughter Anna Matilda for their love, support, and constant encouragement. vi Table of Content Introduction (1) I. The Most Evil of All Worlds? (15) The Question of Evil in the Face of Total Annihilation in Fictional Texts on Nuclear War and Technology The New Holocaust? – Between Absolute Evil and Blithe Innocence (18) The Personification of Evil – The Bomb as the Epitome of Evil (64) The Christian Evil? – Religion and Literature at Variance (76) The New Indifference? – Two Strands of Nuclear Evil (104) Conclusion – The Most Evil of All Worlds? (113) II. The Grim Face of the Apocalypse – The Oxymoron of the Old and the New (134) The Clash of Traditional and Modern Apocalyptic Concepts in Nuclear Fiction The Great Showdown – Literature’s Worst Case Scenario (140) The Nuclear Double Whammy – The De(con)struction of Human Qualities (195) Rationalizing the Religious – the Language of the Modern Apocalypse between Imitation and Innovation (212) Lovemaking in the Face of Death (235) The Apocalyptic Afterlife –the Post-Nuclear World? (251) The Depopulated Planet – Boon or Bane? (268) III. Warring Between Logic and Chaos (278) Concepts of War and Communicative and Narrative Strategies of the Rational and the Irrational Risk Communication and Miscommunication (291) Narrative Strategies of Chronicling the Unthinkable (312) Total War – “Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg?” (335) The Logic of Disaster (346) Paradise Lost? – Conclusion and Summary (354) Sources (372) vii Introduction “Die Atombombe – wie auch die Kernkraftwerke und andere atomare ‘Errungenschaften’ – haben die Phantasie der Menschen von Anfang an beflügelt…” Michael Salewski, Das nukleare Jahrhundert (9) The danger of a global nuclear war seemed to have dissipated in the wake of the collapse of the former Soviet Union when on September 11, 2001, the people of the Western world were thrown out of their dreams and back into reality although no nuclear material was involved in the four plane attacks. 9/11 has precipitated a barrage of military and political actions that have simultaneously aggravated and obfuscated a new nuclear crisis. The nuclear aspirations of Iran and North Korea portend the dawning of an era of nuclear resuscitation, but by far the biggest fear is that nuclear material might be in or will get into the hands of irrational terrorists. What does all this have to do with the field of German Studies? Germany was the cause for the development of the world’s first two nuclear bombs that were finally not employed against the already vanquished Nazis but against Japan. Germany itself tried to build the first nuclear bomb but failed. During the Cold War, Germany “served” as the potential first battlefield in the fictitious scenario of a Third World War. Had the Cold War escalated, the then divided city of Berlin probably would have been hit first. German physicists have contributed heavily to the development of nuclear physics and Germany as a whole has been deeply involved in the history of the nuclear age. However, the power of nuclear technology cannot be limited to national discussions. It is an issue that 1 concerns the entire world, as one could observe in the Chernobyl incident. Yet the essential question how to contain nuclear proliferation remains unsolved. My study presents what many German writers, thinkers, and also a few filmmakers have brought to the table of the nuclear discussions in the twentieth and the beginning twenty-first century. The goal is not only to explore a strain of German works of literature, philosophy, and film that has barely been afforded academic attention but also to see literature as a way to educate ourselves in urgent matters. First and foremost, fictional texts about the nuclear age represent the center of this study. I refer to these texts as “nuclear fiction.” Most of these accounts deal with the possibility of a total nuclear apocalypse or the severe implications for human culture and society if such an apocalypse were to happen. A plethora of philosophical, theoretical and non-fictional texts will second nuclear fiction and help enlighten our understanding of these fictional texts and films. Oftentimes, however, the strict differentiation between fiction and non- fiction is difficult as some authors segue from one genre into the next. I have chosen fictional works as my focus for two main reasons: 1. Purely non-fictional writings on nuclear issues are virtually limitless and they exceed the possibilities of this study. 2. The nuclear apocalypse is (until now and hopefully also in the future) a fictitious scenario. Its dystopian potential is best depicted in fictional texts rather than in non-fictional writings. The rational approach of non-fictional writings may bring clarification and knowledge, but the visions and fantasies, the abominable atrocities and the fear that the world might come to an end, the ghastly 2 catastrophe, the phantasmagorias of horror and terror are the purview of fiction where there are no limits to the author’s fantasy. By producing strong and lasting images of terror, literature and also a few selective films are best able to challenge our minds and to provoke our reaction. These works appeal to us because they kindle a desire to learn about the seemingly impossible apocalypse and yet repel us because what they depict is deeply inhuman and horrific. My selection contains texts of disparate natures and provenance: about fifty plays, novels, audio plays, treatises, narratives, films from 1946 to 2009. Since the sheer amount of nuclear fiction abounds, I made a conscious decision only to deal with the most relevant texts that contain core messages about the nuclear age and that exemplify best the key features of nuclear fiction.