History of German Youth as Portrayed in Contemporary Literature

FAIN: FT-10716-70

Katherine S. Larson
St. Mary's College of California (Moraga, CA 94575-2715)

Study to trace the representations of youth in 20th century German fiction to provide an analysis of the reactions of German youth to periods of political and social crisis. Fellow working on the conviction that imaginative literature is a valuable historical source revealing contemporary attitudes and subjective evaluations not found in usual historical sources. Study in four parts: 1) turn of the century to 1914, period when youth was first considered in German literature as an age separate from childhood and adulthood; 2) World War I and Weimar Republic; 3) Third Reich, reactions of youth to totalitarian rule; and 4) post-1945, as German youth passed through periods of defeat apthay (1950s) and commitment (1960s), contrasting these post-war reactions with those of the post-war reactions with those of the post-World War I youth of the 1920s. Fellow's dissertation, Through the Looking Glass of Erich Kastner: Culture and Crisis in Germany, explored the political and social criticism in Kastner's work.