LEADER 03962cam a2200433Ia 4500001 43778 005 20240621170904.0 008 000523s1998 xx r 000 0 eng d 035 (OCoLC)ocm45011836 035 43778 049 LHMA 040 LHM |beng |erda |cLHM 090 HQ1623 |b.M35 1998 100 1 Maier-Katkin, Birgit, |d1962- 245 10 Complicity, defiance and indifference : |bwomen and everyday life in Hitler's Germany as reflected in selected exile works of Anna Seghers and Irmgard Keun : a thesis in German / |cby Birgit Maier-Katkin. 264 1 [Place of publication not identified] : |b[publisher not identified], |c1998. 300 viii, 283 pages 336 text |btxt |2rdacontent 337 unmediated |bn |2rdamedia 338 volume |bnc |2rdacarrier 502 Thesis (Ph. D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 1998. 504 Includes bibliographical references (pages 258-283). 520 More than fifty years after the collapse of the Third Reich, Germans are still coming to terms with the Nazi past. Increasingly literary and historical scholarship has attempted to assess the nature and extent of complicity by ordinary Germans with the criminality of the Nazi regime. Current interest in the Nazi past stems partially from the enormity of the harm that was done, but also from the fact that the post-war period was characterized by deep reluctance to recover or preserve knowledge of the recent past. At the same time, in the second half of the twentieth century, there has been increasing scholarly focus on women's issues in literature and history. This thesis draws upon both of these intellectual developments by focusing on the everyday experiences of many types of women in Nazi Germany as depicted in the exile literature of Anna Seghers and Irmgard Keun. The works selected for analysis include Das siebte Kreuz and "Der Ausflug der toten Mädchen" by Anna Seghers and Nach Mitternacht by Irmgard Keun. A textual analysis of these works is based on a method of interpretation that focuses on literature as historical artifact. "Literature as artifact" is put forward in the thesis as a new method in the field of literary criticism, but its roots in history and particularly in the Annales School are explored. The results of this method of interpretation are two-fold. First, new knowledge and understanding is generated about the varied everyday experience of ordinary women in the Third Reich. Second, the thesis demonstrates that these works by Keun and Seghers, have been undervalued by critics and deserve a clear place in the canon of German literature. Textual analysis reveals elements of quality derived from traditional literary values including intellectual content sophistication about the human condition, and elegance of expression. An argument is made that the value of the works stands out more clearly at the end of the century because readers are more open to the reexamination of the Nazi past. 530 Electronic version(s) |bavailable internally at USHMM. 533 Photocopy. |bAnn Arbor, Mich. : |cUMI Dissertation Services, |d2000. |e23 cm. 590 Dissertations and Theses 591 Record updated by Marcive processing 20 January 2012. 546 English with quotations in German. 591 Record updated by Marcive processing 21 June 2024 650 0 National socialism and women. 600 10 Seghers, Anna, |d1900-1983 |xCriticism and interpretation. 600 10 Keun, Irmgard, |d1905-1982 |xCriticism and interpretation. 650 0 German literature |y20th century |xHistory and criticism. 856 41 |uhttp://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=733053151&sid=2&Fmt=6&clientId=54617&RQT=309&VName=PQD |zElectronic version from ProQuest 956 41 |u http://dc.ushmm.org/library/bib43778/9915892.pdf |z Hosted by USHMM. 994 E0 |bLHM 852 0 |bstacks |hHQ1623 |i.M35 1998 852 |bwww 852 |bebook