English Modernism, National Identity and the Germans, 1890-1950 (Nineteenth Century Series)

244 Pages·2009·4.97 MB·English

by  Petra Rau

English Modernism, National
Identity and the Germans,
1890–1950
Petra Rau
ENGLISH MODERNISM, NATIONAL IDENTITY
AND THE GERMANS, 1890–1950
This page has been left blank intentionally
English Modernism, national
identity and the germans,
1890–1950
PEtra rau
University of Portsmouth, UK
© Petra rau 2009
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Petra rau has asserted her right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be
identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
rau, Petra.
English Modernism, national identity and the germans, 1890–1950.
1. national characteristics, german, in literature. 2. nationalism – great Britain –
history--19th century. 3. nationalism – great Britain – history – 20th century.
4. English literature – 19th century – history and criticism. 5. English literature –
20th century--history and criticism. 6. literature and society – great Britain –
history – 19th century. 7. literature and society – great Britain – history –
20th century. i. title.
820.9’352931’09034–dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
rau, Petra.
English Modernism, national identity and the germans, 1890–1950 / by Petra rau.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
1. English fiction – 20th century – History and criticism. 2. National characteristics,
British, in literature. 3. Germany – Foreign public opinion, British. 4. English fiction
– German influences. 5. Modernism (Literature) – Great Britain. 6. Germany –
in literature. i. title.
Pr888.n3557r38 2009
820.9’355–dc22 2009015758
ISBN 9780754656722 (hbk)
ISBN 9780754696957 (ebk.V)
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
introduction 1
1 ‘A Sickening Suggestion of Common Guilt’ German Renegades
and English heroes in Conrad’s Fiction 17
2 Forster’s Accessible Foreignness Prussian Junkers versus
‘german Cosmopolitans’ 41
3 Flirting with the Beastly hunimperial anxiety and Modern
Militarism in the Popular Fiction of Buchan, Le Queux and Saki 65
4 Ford’s ‘Tricky German Fashion’ Medical Modernity and
anglo-saxon Pathology 89
5 ‘Monster Men and Women’ Woolf’s grotesque german Body and
lawrence’s ‘Bad’ Modernity 119
6 ‘the soldiers of Modernism’ the lure of Fascist Corporeality
in travel Writing and Fiction 149
7 ‘the thinning of the Membrane Between the this and the that’:
Englishness and Espionage in Blitz Writing 183
Select Bibliography 213
Index 227
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list of Figures
2.1 Wallis Mills, Hints to foreigners who produce cinema films
for the English market. Punch, 09 July 1913, p. 57 42
3.1 F. Czabran, What Germany intended to do in 1910.
Poster Collection (PST13572), Imperial War Museum, London 67
3.2 reynolds, Study of a Prussian household having its morning hate.
Punch, 24 February 1915, p. 150 73
3.3 louis oppenheim, ‘Wir Barbaren!’. Poster Collection (PST4808)
imperial War Museum, london 78
4.1 hans holbein the younger, Der Kaufmann Georg Gisze (1532).
Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin;
Bildarchiv Nr. 00012218 (Foto Jörg P. Anders) 90
4.2 Bad nauheim, Sprudelhof (c. 1912),
Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt (R4/26062) 104
4.3 Bad Nauheim, Eingang Badehaus 7 (c. 1905),
Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt (R4/26069) 114
4.4 Bad Nauheim, Badehalle, Badehaus 7 (c. 1906).
Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt (R4/26188) 115
4.5 Bad Nauheim, Badezelle, Badehaus 7 (c. 1906).
Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt (R4/13143) 115
5.1 Fritz Kahn, Der Mensch als Industriepalast (c. 1930).
Westfälisches schulmuseum dortmund 144
6.1 Thomas Cook’s, ‘Germany is News’. The Times, 1 august 1934,
p. 17. news international, london. 155
6.2 german railways Bureau, london, Germany Welcomes You,
The Times, 6 July 1938, p. 9. news international, london 156
6.3 Reichsarbeitsdienst. Nuremberg Party Rally (1937)
Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 146-1975-050-24a 159
6.4 Ferry ahrlé, Arbeitsmänner als Helfer der Wehrmacht (1943)
Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, Bild 003-013-006 162
6.5 rené ahrlé, Reichsarbeitsdienst: Wir rüsten Leib und Seele (1944)
Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 003-013-009 163
6.6 ‘Heil! Summer!’ Thomas Cook brochure 1937,
Thomas Cook company archive, Peterborough 167
viii English Modernism, National Identity and the Germans, 1890–1950
7.1 Telling a friend may mean telling the enemy.
Poster Collection (LP149), Imperial War Museum, London 191
7.2 Fougasse, Careless talk costs lives: don’t forget that walls have
ears. Poster Collection (MH7356), Imperial War Museum, London 192
7.3 Keep mum, she’s not so dumb.
Poster Collection (LDP586), Imperial War Museum, London 193
7.4 Fougasse, Careless talk costs lives: of course there’s no harm
in your knowing. Poster Collection (MH7369), Imperial War
Museum, london 194
Acknowledgements
It took me a long time to realize why I was writing this book, and that it has to
do with an entirely unacknowledged family tradition of uprooting oneself and
settling elsewhere. While my grandparents and parents had left their countries due
to historic circumstances beyond their control (and subsequently never budged an
inch), I made a conscious choice to emigrate to Britain and accommodate myself
in a hybrid, Anglo-German existence. Like most immigrants I had to come to grips
with another culture, understand how that culture made sense of me and how the
historical conditions of our transnational negotiations had developed. among other
things, this book is a critical review of the literary responses to those conditions in
the early twentieth century.
My colleagues in the English department at the university of Portsmouth have
put up with their Beastly hun with great good humour and leniency for some time
now; it has been a privilege to work with such a wonderfully inspiring group of
people. For their various forms of support for this project I would also like to thank
Christine Berberich, Sue Harper, Uschi Hempfling, Marina MacKay, Susanne
Marten-Finnis, Jodie Medd, Maria Petalidou, Patricia Pulham, Max saunders,
Deborah Shaw, Trudi Tate, Mike and Marion Thorpe, and Alex Tickell.
I have received financial support through a small research grant from the
British academy to cover the cost of illustrations. the completion of this
monograph would have been immeasurably more difficult without research leave
in 2007–8 funded by the ahrC. on many occasions the Centre of European and
international social research at the university of Portsmouth opened its coffers
to assist my research.
I would like to thank Brigitte Faatz (Stadtarchiv Bad Nauheim); Eva Haberkorn
(Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt); Jochen Löher (Westfälisches Schulmuseum
Dortmund); Paul Smith (company archive, Thomas Cook’s, Peterborough); Sinead
Porter (News International Ltd, London).
Early versions of chapters were published previously: parts of Chapter 2
as ‘the trouble with Cosmopolitans: Ford and Forster between nation and
Internationalism’, in Grace Brockington (ed.), Internationalism and the Arts at
the Fin de Siècle, New York: Peter Lang, 2009; parts of Chapter 3 as ‘Splendid
Little Soldiers: Invasion, Empire and the Fantasy of Dominance in Saki’s When
William Came. Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens, 65/1 (2007): 185–207; a version
of chapter 6 as ‘the fascist body beautiful and the imperial crisis in 1930s British
writing’, Journal of European Studies 38/1 (2009): 5–35; a version of Chapter
7 as ‘the Common Frontier: Fictions of alterity in Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat
of the Day and graham greene’s The Ministry of Fear. Literature and History,