The more I read Kohn's history of German nationalism (that's what The Idea of Nationalism has become, these last hundred or so pages), the more nervous I become.
Kohn's well aware of this thing that makes me nervous, though he just juts his chin out towards it as painfully ironic sentiments come up. Sentiments found in statements along the lines of 'Germany is a great nation and a protector of the weak,' or Goethe's own "the Germans are like the Jews, they can be oppressed but not annihilated" (415).
It's statements like these that really set the stage for Germany in the twentieth century. And that make me squirm as I read. Writing in 1947, it's clear that they make Kohn nervous as well.
Nonetheless, at the time the comparison between the Jews and Germans was yet another manifestation of an Anglo/Saxon people seeing themselves as the wandering chosen. I swear there's some sort of history- and society-spanning complex there.
Getting back to the matter of nationalism. The late eighteenth century saw this movement take off in Germany, as the people began to take an interest in claiming a nation of their own. One man in particular, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstop, even went so far as to dedicate his life to writing Germany's national epic poem. It was a project that took him twenty seven years to complete.
Kohn dwells quite a bit on the poetry of the time at this point in his discussion. Particularly, he's emphasizing the contemporary idea that poetry needs to be accessible to urbanite an ruralite alike. Hopefully this discussion of poetry is gradually bringing him to the promised folklore.
No comments:
Post a Comment