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scholarsOrAcademics Donating Member (194 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-20-09 09:48 PM
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the Seduction of Culture in German History
Edited on Tue Oct-20-09 09:51 PM by scholarsOrAcademics
The Seduction of Culture in German History, Wolf Lepenies. 2006
The book came to my attention in the May / June issue of New Left Review, an article by Perry Anderson “A New Germany?”. The prime concept is “the vital spirit”. Culture or Civilization. “German tradition, famously, tended to separate the world of culture from that of power, as a compensation or sphere superior to it. In his recent study of The Seduction of Culture in German History, Wolfgang Lepenies convicts this inclination of a significant share of blame for the country’s surrender to authoritarianism, from the Second to the Third Reich, pointing in particular to the failure of so many German thinkers and writers to defend Weimar democracy; indeed, their often outright hostility or contempt towards it. Page 25
The “vital spirit” Lepenies identifies is that of Johann Wofgang Goethe, primarily through the work of Thomas Mann. “In Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Travels, America was hailed as the antidote to European misery. In verses dedicated ‘To the United States,’ Goethe envied America not only for its lack of ruined castles but also for the absence of useless memories and fruitless brooding over its own identity that haunted Europe. It was a distinctly German mind-set that Goethe applied to the whole of Europe. Thomas Mann, writing two hundred years later, said as much: Europe suffered from a chronic illness, a self-inflicted headache.”(Page 191) A few pages later (193) when closing the theme Hamlet and Fortinbras in the chapter IRONY AND POLITICS the irony is the aggressive missionary zeal of the French and critical Old Europe after 9/11 “With the unfolding of the invasion, American-European differences of opinion were once more portrayed, on both sides of the Atlantic, as a clash of civilizations.”
The discussion of war guilt, collective guilt ends on a wise note. “In Berlin, the city of monuments, many small memorials can be found that reflect the same attitude as that of Grass’s diary and the diaries of Victor von Klemperer. They recall the Nazi period and the persecution of the Jews as a daily ordeal. . . .The passerby looks into a mirror and sees himself: Tua res agitur—this too is your concern.
“These small memorials—there are others—disturbingly recall that the Nazis could commit their heinous crimes only because normal Germans showed too little civil courage in their daily affairs. Such remembrances hold up a mirror to each citizen. They remind us that human decency begins in everyday life. In comparison with these small memorials, the great monuments have been given too much attention. They convey another message: the crimes committed were so big that they are beyond reach and understanding. Memory politics thus runs the danger of creating an unbridgeable distance between itself and the citizen by retreating into awe-inspiring aesthetics. The plea for decency is neglected in favor of monumental but distant and abstract guilt. Once more, politics finds its welcome substitute in culture; the moral masterpiece.” Page 208
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Jim__ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-22-09 08:46 AM
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1. I haven't read the book, but I'm not sure I would agree.
In Germany, after WWI, the Weimar Republic was incredibly weak, and German resentment and suffering due to the war reparations were significant. The Germans, and particularly ex-military believed they were betrayed in WWI. That belief is easy to understand. Russia had signed a treaty and withdrew, I believe millions of, troops. The US came in, but with, I believe a feww hundred thousand, troops. Of course the US also brought in tremendous industrial power, but I'm not sure that the people understood this. This resentment and suffering made Germany ripe for a Hitler.

The US may not have ruined castles, useless memories, or fruitless brooding, but when George Bush openly committed war crimes, crimes that could have been easily protested and stopped by the American people, the American people did nothing. The failure to stop horrific behavior by government is a human failure. I don't believe it is due to any particular cultural beliefs.
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scholarsOrAcademics Donating Member (194 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-23-09 12:09 AM
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2. particular cultural beliefs, not a contribution to opposing war?

How do you figure culture, a specific set of cultural attitudes, did not contribute to the war opposition effort?
The book is a fast and enjoyable read, but maybe you could use an introduction. A book that is good - its a more dense text- is the Decision to Divide Germany. I'll look up the info and amend this reply. The immediate question is why did the so-called Democratic Wiemar Republic collapse? The impossible war reparations contributed of course, but I'm not convinced it was the reason for the lack of support for a democratic government. You may have not noticed the split in the narratives 'grassy knoll' to 9/11 incestuous official story. Slight apology for being a bit cryptic. later. Thank you.
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scholarsOrAcademics Donating Member (194 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-26-09 05:17 PM
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3. cultural attitudes and war guilt

The book referred to is Drawing the Line: The American decision to divide Germany by Carolyn Woods Eisenberg. 1996 It deals with the question of war guilt after WWII not WWI. German war guilt and collective guilt is the overall interest. Interestingly, I had blended the two wars, and am at the same time reading Gunter Grass's From the Diary of a Snail which also blends both. It is fiction but I'm sure is largely non-fiction in its account of the Jews of Danzig.
As for Bush's war guilt, it is of course in the historical context of continuing war crimes - Warren Commission Report, Yugoslavia, Congo, Korea, 9/11 Commission report, NPR degeneration, BCC post David Keller. Tip of the iceburg. Is this an indication of an underlying cultural shift or maintenance? Historical,Cultural and political amnesia? As the author puts it - Memory Politics.


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scholarsOrAcademics Donating Member (194 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-28-09 07:27 PM
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4. culture - of move on

The 'move-on' culture of Obama and Pelosi would be a specific cultural (social and political) attitude of current currency. Would nostalgia be within the domain called culture? Thoughts of John F. Kennedy for those of us that were around then. Memory Politics as part of what is passed along to future generations,what governs what is remembered, for intellectuals, would have to include the question of 'can politics be separated from the thought of Heidegger'? Did Hannah Arendt gain anything from being a student of Heidegger?
Some comments on Grass's From the Diary of a Snail. The diary was an edited version of his notes on the campaign of September 1969. "Here are the figures on our close victory: on September 28,1969, the black (cleric) vote fell from 47.6 to 46.1 per cent. The Liberals slipped from 9.5 to 5.8 and were able--since the N.P.D. drew just under 5 Per cent--to join with us, who had risen from 39.3 to 42.7 percent, in forming the Social Democratic-Liberal government, which (contrary to all predictions) is still governing and has since then accomplished more than it realized." p277 The general motif is that of Albrecht Durer's engraving Melencolia I, done in 1514. rating: for adults.
Correction: David Kelly, not David Keller.
I'm going to review H.W.Koch's book A History of Prussia, 1978 for more specifics on the Weimer Republic, if it covers that period.




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