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Marxism, gender and mediated memories of National Socialism : the paradoxical case of Christa Wolf's Kindheitsmuster (1976)
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Stone, Katherine (2014) Marxism, gender and mediated memories of National Socialism : the paradoxical case of Christa Wolf's Kindheitsmuster (1976). German Life and Letters, 67 (2). pp. 202-218. doi:10.1111/glal.12039 ISSN 0016-8777.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/glal.12039
Abstract
This article explores ambivalences in the representation of women's participation in the Third Reich in Christa Wolf's Kindheitsmuster (1976). Its thematic and aesthetic departure from the GDR's official stance towards National Socialism is well-noted. As this article demonstrates, however, Wolf's subversive feminine and moral perspective on the Nazi past also relies on an ideal of human interaction, embodied in some of the female protagonists. This leads Wolf to reinstate the idealised gender norms that traditionally define the memory of National Socialism. Her association of women with essential values further clashes with institutional Marxism's emphasis on the historical, and therefore changeable, nature of man, his social relations, and of gendered oppression. This article considers Wolf's paradoxical departure from and reinscription of the state-sanctioned model of history in light of the Marxist texts that have shaped Wolf's interpretation of fascism, paying particular attention to the place of the Frankfurt School's concept of instrumental reason and J.J. Bachofen's notion of matriarchy in her feminist and historical understanding. An examination of the ambivalent construction of gender and guilt in Kindheitsmuster raises important questions about how gender functions symbolically in the left-wing texts that came to shape post-war interpretations of National Socialism in both Germanies.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PD Germanic languages P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism P Language and Literature > PT Germanic literature |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > German Studies Faculty of Arts > School of Modern Languages and Cultures |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Wolf, Christa. Kindheitsmuster, World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- Germany, National socialism and women, Sex role -- Germany -- History -- 20th century, Women -- Germany -- History -- 20th century | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | German Life and Letters | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0016-8777 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | April 2014 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 67 | ||||||||
| Number: | 2 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 202-218 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1111/glal.12039 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 16 October 2017 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 18 October 2017 | ||||||||
| Funder: | Arts & Humanities Research Council (Great Britain) (AHRC) |
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