Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Germanic Languages & Literatures

Advisor

Tamara S. Evans

Committee Members

Burton Pike

Eckhard Kuhn-Osius

Subject Categories

German Language and Literature

Keywords

German literature, Modern literature

Abstract

Recent research in the field of Cultural Studies has shown that popular fiction, more than any other genre, provides a way for readers to regulate and structure their lives. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the popular fiction which girls living in Nazi Germany read in an attempt to see how current events and policies are reflected in the novels in an effort to acclimatize girls to life under National Socialism and gain their complete support of the Third Reich. Popular fiction was expected to portray a mirror of life for young readers under National Socialism, with characters giving up their individuality to join the Volksgemeinschaft, and thereby worthy of emulation. In a state where the personal had become political, the novels present a broad picture of girls' life dominated by National Socialism, and as the state developed, the ways and extent that girls might be of use to the Reich in everyday life also becomes more apparent within the stories.

Little research has been done in the area of popular fiction written for girls in Nazi Germany. Most investigations center on texts used in education at National Socialist schools, but popular fiction was actually the preferred choice of reading matter by girls. It was, therefore, the perfect vehicle for supplementing the ideological rhetoric young girls received in the schools, the Bund Deutscher M퀌_del, and the home.

In this dissertation, I have relied, for the most part, on primary documents. These include laws; newspaper articles; speeches; and books written about reading and books, all produced between 1933 and 1945. In addition, 20 adolescent novels are included for an in-depth interpretive textual analysis in an attempt to provide a representative sample of this genre. All of the novels used were mass produced and easily available to girls. Secondary texts concerning research on adolescent literature were also used.

Comments

Digital reproduction from the UMI microform.

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