The Enemy Reviewed: German Popular Literature through British Eyes between the Two World Wars

by Ariela Halkin

Overview

In past centuries British attitudes toward German culture oscillated between hostility and indifference. For a brief period of 20 years between the two World Wars, this pattern changed dramatically, with a flood of German books in translation threatening to engulf the British book market and triggering violently emotional reactions in the literary pages of the popular press. Reviewers of these books are shown here to have harbored a deep amibivalence toward an alien German culture. The reviews of these years reveal a dialectical tug of war between the established Hun stereotype of Germany and a dual complex and contradicting image of the redeeming barbarian promising rebirth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275951016
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/19/1995
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)
Lexile:	1560L (what's this?)

About the Author

Ariela Halkin was born in Israel and educated in a British boarding school. She received her BA degree in English and French literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She received her MA and PhD degrees in Western European history from Tel Aviv University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Influx
What's Wrong with England?
Prelude to the Flood
The Flood
Postwar Germany: Refractions
The Historical Imagination
The Freudian Complex
Patterns of Reception
The Ambiguous Alternative
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Carl E. Schorske

"[H]alkin's book is the work of a mature scholar that could be pioneering in its multiple approach to Rezeptiongeschichte for historical purposes. Her book is not only illuminating, but a pleasure to read."

Editorial Reviews

Examines the flood of German literature, mostly novels, that poured into Britain between the world wars, and the ambivalent reaction of reviewers in popular journals and newspapers. Describes the highly homogenous and privileged reviewers, the economic pressures on both publishers and reviewers to write favorable reviews, and the changing political and social context in Britain. Does not consider the relationship between German literature and conditions in Germany. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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