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René Schickele and Alsace

Cultural Identity between the Borders

by Aine McGillicuddy (Author)
©2011 Monographs X, 296 Pages
Series: Cultural Identity Studies, Volume 11

Summary

Born into a German-French bilingual environment, the once renowned German-language author René Schickele (1883-1940) grew up in the Alsace region − today located in eastern France − during its annexation to the German Empire when links to French culture were frowned upon. In the aftermath of the First World War the situation was reversed when Alsace was reclaimed by the French Republic. In both these phases of its troubled history, Schickele insisted on the importance of Alsace’s right to retain its double cultural heritage between the borders of its powerful rival neighbours and on its potential, as mediator between France and Germany, to promote peace in Europe. These issues are addressed in a critical discussion of a range of Schickele’s works. His controversial wartime drama Hans im Schnakenloch affords a wry but penetrating insight into issues of identity in Alsace under German rule up to the war, while his socio-political essays and a novel trilogy, Das Erbe am Rhein, were written against the backdrop of the malaise alsacien and life under French rule. The historical background to the work is examined in detail as it is intimately bound up with the issues of cultural identity that Schickele explores in his writings.

Details

Pages
X, 296
Publication Year
2011
ISBN (PDF)
9783035300635
ISBN (Softcover)
9783039113934
DOI
10.3726/978-3-0353-0063-5
Language
English
Publication date
2011 (March)
Keywords
cultural identity french-german literature
Published
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien, 2011. X, 296 pp.

Biographical notes

Aine McGillicuddy (Author)

Áine McGillicuddy is a lecturer in German Studies in the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University.

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Title: René Schickele and Alsace