Identifier

etd-04042011-181700

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

History

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

The primary subjects of this dissertation are the post-World War II German authors Alfred Andersch and Hans Werner Richter. Drawing from a mixture of the authors’ writings and previously-researched as well as new archival sources, this study will examine their roles as editors of the U.S. Army-sponsored POW newspaper Der Ruf, as founders of the postwar West German journal, also titled Der Ruf, and, most famously, as founding members of the influential postwar West German literary circle Group 47. Each of these developments led directly to the next, and this study will explore the various processes that linked them together. Existing studies have offered various interpretations, ranging from the belief that the authors’ time in America strongly impacted their development as writers to claims that their later careers were strongly informed by desires to distance themselves from accusations of “collaboration.” Most works tend either toward an exclusively historical or literary focus, but this study seeks to unite previously disconnected areas of scholarship in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of the authors’ roles in the emergence of post-World War II West German literature.

Date

2011

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Lindenfeld, David

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.3836

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History Commons

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