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Revealing account of how Nazi Germany manipulated and mobilized European literature, philosophy, art and music to support its ideological ends.
List of contents
Introduction; Part I. Foundations of Nazi Cultural History: 1. The 'Germanic' origins of western culture; 2. Voxvolkish; 3. The western tradition as political and patriotic; 4. The western tradition as anti-Semitic; 5. The archenemy incarnate; Part II. Blind to the Light: 6. Classicism romanticized; 7. Intolerance toward enlightenment; 8. Forging steel romanticism; 9. Romantic music as 'our greatest legacy'; Part III. Modern Dilemmas: 10. Realist paradox and expressionist confusion; 11. Nordic existentialists and volkish founders; 12. Music after Wagner; Part IV. 'Holy' War and Weimar 'Crisis': 13. Heralds of the front experience; 14. Weimar culture wars i: defending German spirit from 'circumcision'; 15. Weimar culture wars ii: combating 'degeneracy'; Part V. Nazi 'Solutions': 16. 'Honour your German masters'; 17. The Nazi 'Renaissance'; 18. Kultur at war; Conclusion.
About the author
David B. Dennis is Professor of History at Loyola University, Chicago. He is the author of Beethoven and German Politics, 1870-1989 (1996) and other works on the intersection of German music and politics.
Summary
This is an unprecedented account of the ways in which Nazi Germany manipulated and mobilized European literature, philosophy, painting, sculpture and music in support of its ideological ends. David B. Dennis reveals just how far activists twisted history, biography and aesthetics in an attempt to reshape the 'German mind'.
