Exilstudien / Exile Studies 8. The Faces of Janus. English-language Fiction by German-speaking Exiles in Great Britain,

Transcription

1 Exilstudien / Exile Studies 8 The Faces of Janus English-language Fiction by German-speaking Exiles in Great Britain, von Nicole Brunnhuber 1. Auflage The Faces of Janus Brunnhuber schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei beck-shop.de DIE FACHBUCHHANDLUNG Peter Lang Bern 2005 Verlag C.H. Beck im Internet: ISBN Inhaltsverzeichnis: The Faces of Janus Brunnhuber

2 1. Linguistic Metamorphosis : New Country, New Language, New Fiction 1.1 Introduction In an era of globalization, concepts of transnationalism, cultural pluralism and multi-lingualism have become commonplace catchphrases of contemporary discourse. As is often the case, history can shed light on even the most contemporary phenomena. Insight into modern processes of cultural transfer and assimilation can be gleaned by examining the mass exodus of Germans and Austrians from the Third Reich in the 1930s. Fundamental to the acculturation of a minority into the majority culture is, of course, acquisition of the host language. Yet, whilst research into the mass exodus from National Socialist Germany has been extensive in examining the processes of assimilation into diverse host cultures, the crucial issue of linguistic migration has largely been neglected. Steven Kellman considers the lack of research on translingualism in the field of literary criticism, astonishing (xi); Dieter Lamping acknowledges that exile scholarship has made some effort to address the linguistic migration of German-speaking exiled authors, but concludes that overall, research on this crucial subject remains oberflächlich (530). This book seeks to address the question of assimilation as reflected in textual polylingualism, by analysing the English-language fiction written by German-speaking exiles in Great Britain. The premise for such an examination is the political and social significance of language, particularly acute during periods when national, cultural and ethnic identities are subject to radical reconstruction, and used to identify native and alien, enemy and ally. In his essay, Das Sprach-Problem (1947), Klaus Mann, who adopted English as his literary language in exile, signals the complexity of literary translingualism: switching languages is a lin- 11

3 guistische Metamorphose (135), a profound transformation leading to a rebirth in a new culture. Of course, writers living in foreign countries can continue to work in their native tongue, but depending on translators can often be a frustrating experience, and risks marginalization of the text as a foreign viewpoint. Adopting the majority language, on the other hand, suggests a desire to communicate with the majority audience directly, with greater legitimacy as authentic participant in the dominant culture. Such a view is further endorsed by examining the generic characteristics of the Englishlanguage texts produced by German-speaking exiles; the vast majority subscribe to popular British forms. The striking preva-lence of crime fiction, thrillers and romance novels in the fiction by German-speaking exiles would further seem to indicate a desire on the part of the authors to conform to popular trends in the British culture industry. By producing popular fiction, German-speaking writers targeted as large an audience as possible. While popular culture is often dismissed as trivial or escapist, a closer analysis of the texts examined in this study reveals a high degree of socio-political discourse. It can be deduced from this, that German-speaking writers exploited less confrontational, popular British forms in order to disguise the marginal and, at times, unpopular discourse of the Germanspeaking refugee. Given the scrutiny under which German-speaking exiles were placed in terms of their political, national and religious identities, it is perhaps not surprising that several writers opted for the more unassuming framework of conventional popular forms, in which to articulate their socio-political identity and marginal viewpoint. As such, the novels reflect thematic and structural trends and traditions of both British and German cultures. Consequently, the novels readily allow for a reading as primary documents of mediation between minority and majority cultures. Presented as popular narratives of crime and romance, the selected texts comment on recent historical and political events and, more often than not, the exile experience itself. In light of this, these novels demand recognition as valid historical documentation. While popular literature tends to affirm existing social and political norms, the novels examined in this study manifest a highly critical view, not only of National Socialism in Germany, but also of British socio-political 12

4 paradigms of the period under examination. Aside from their historical value, English-language novels by German-speaking exiles merit attention and rescue from obscurity as primary documents of cultural transfer. In other words, the novels examined in this study illustrate how exiled authors presented their viewpoints and cultural identity as Germans to the British audience, at a time when German culture was becoming increasingly stigmatized. Refugees, who sought asylum from National Socialism in Great Britain, have attracted growing scholarly interest. However, the majority of publications on this subject tend to focus on the historical and political exigencies of the exile experience in Great Britain. Until recently, research into the cultural production of German-speaking writers in Britain consisted mostly of articles on individual authors. Ground-breaking work on cultural and literary exile in Great Britain is produced by the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies, 1 formed in 1995 at the Institute of Germanic Studies of the University of London. Austrian writers, who had fled to Britain, received critical attention with the publication of Sylvia Patsch s pioneering Österreichische Schriftsteller im Exil in Großbritannien (1985). A significant contribution to research on exile fiction by German-speaking authors in Britain is Dirk Wiemann s doctoral thesis, Exilliteratur in Grossbritannien (1998). Published in 2000, Richard Dove s Journey of No Return: Five Germanspeaking Literary Exiles in Britain, discusses and analyses the exile experiences and works of Alfred Kerr, Robert Neumann, Max Hermann-Neiße, Karl Otten and Stefan Zweig. These publiccations characterize the growth of scholarly work on Germanspeaking exile fiction produced in Britain. Still lacking is a work concentrating on exile fiction written in English, evidently intended for the British audience. Furthermore, a number of writers, particularly female authors and their work, still linger in obscurity, and risk being almost completely forgotten. One of the objectives of this book 1 The Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies combined the former London Research Group for German Exile Studies and the Research Centre for Germans and Austrians in Great Britain, previously at the University of Aberdeen. 13

5 is to acknowledge the achievements of lesser known writers, and to restore their biographical and literary legacies to the cultural history of German-speaking exile. Overall, this book seeks to complement research into the historical exigencies of the exile experience in Great Britain with close critical analyses of the textual responses to this experience, as expressed in the fictions intended for the mass British audience. The selection of authors presented in this study is the result of numerous considerations. First and foremost, I will deal with authors, who fled from National Socialism to Britain and wrote English fiction, published between 1933 and An examination of Arthur Koestler and his exile oeuvre would, of course, readily subscribe to these criteria, but, since this book seeks to contribute to exile research by addressing lesser known authors, Koestler s oeuvre is not included in this study. The English-language work of Robert Neumann was selected, since, although his work has attracted growing scholarly interest in recent years, his English-language fiction demands further critical attention. Furthermore, Neumann offers a sound point of comparison, in that he is the only émigré writer in this study, who had already established a literary career in German and a literary reputation in Britain before he went into exile and began writing in English. Also included are the novels by Ernest Borneman, whose first novel, The Face on the Cutting Room Floor, marks an overwhelming success in penetrating and influencing popular trends in the British culture industry. George Tabori, although by no means an unknown figure, is included in this study because his English-language novels, in spite of recent editions in German, have attracted little scholarly attention as exile fictions. A study of this nature, which attempts to provide an overview of the German minority s response to British exile, should also address gender-specific discourse of the exile experience. Chapters four and five examine the biographies and exile fictions of Ruth Feiner and Lilo Linke respectively. Since this book traces the interaction between historical events and the personal experiences of a range of authors, individual textual treatments of gender-based, national and Jewish identities are addressed in each of the chapters. Examined collectively, the texts shed light on how a disempowered minority, particularly during 14

6 periods of acute jingoism and war, articulates the outsider position, at times even perceived as the enemy, to the majority audience. Before embarking on a close reading of the texts, it is therefore essential to establish the historical context of their production in order to trace responses to external events submerged within the respective narratives. 1.2 Britain as a Country of Exile German-speaking Refugees and British Immigration Policies In spite of extensive research, there are no exact figures to account for the total number of individuals fleeing Nazi persecution. The intermittent nature of Nazi policy against Jews and the fact that thousands, who had fled Germany and Austria were to be trapped in neighbouring countries, mean that there is still considerable conflict in source material. It is, however, safe to estimate that approximately 390,000 Jews in total fled the Third Reich. Statistics for the number of political exiles are equally contradictory, but can generally be estimated to be in the range of 30,000 to 35, With such overwhelming figures, the number of exiles, who sought refuge in Great Britain may seem quantitatively disappointing. Again, there is no unilateralism in research on exact figures, since the Home Office did not differentiate between refugees fleeing persecution and all other immigrants entering Britain. Waltraud Strickhausen s research on German-speaking refugees in Britain, published in the Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration, states that figures for the total number of German-speaking 2 Based on Brinson, Dora Fabian 21. Brinson refers to Röder, Lewis Edinger, German Exile Politics: The Social Democratic Executive in the Nazi Era (Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1956) and K. Grossmann, Emigration: Geschichte der Hitler Flüchtlinge (Frankfurt am Main: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 1969). 15