Ernst Junger and Germany

For most of his life, Ernst Janduuml;nger, one of Europe's leading twentieth-century writers, has been controversial. Renowned as a soldier who wrote of his experience in the First World War, he has maintained a remarkable writing career that has spanned five periods of modern German history. In this first comprehensive study of Janduuml;nger in English, Thomas R. Nevin focuses on the writerandrsquo;s first fifty years, from the late Wilhelmine era of the Kaiser to the end of Hitlerandrsquo;s Third Reich. By addressing the controversies and contradictions of Janduuml;nger, a man who has been extolled, despised, denounced, and admired throughout his lifetime, Ernst Janduuml;nger and Germany also opens an uncommon view on the nation that is, if uncomfortably, represented by him.

Ernst Janduuml;nger is in many ways Germanyandrsquo;s conscience, and much of the controversy surrounding him is at its source measured by his relation to the Nazis and Nazi culture. But as Nevin suggests, Janduuml;nger can more specifically and properly be regarded as the still living conscience of a Germany that existed before Hitler. Although his memoir of service as a highly decorated lieutenant in World War I made him a hero to the Nazis, he refused to join the party. A severe critic of the Weimar Republic, he has often been denounced as a fascist who prepared the way for the Reich, but in 1939 he published a parable attacking despotism. Close to the men who plotted Hitlerandrsquo;s assassination in 1944, he narrowly escaped prosecution and death. Drawing largely on Janduuml;ngerandrsquo;s untranslated work, much of which has never been reprinted in Germany, Nevin reveals Janduuml;ngerandrsquo;s profound ambiguities and examines both his participation in and resistance to authoritarianism and the cult of technology in the contexts of his Wilhelmine upbringing, the chaos of Weimar, and the sinister culture of Nazism.

Winner of Germanyandrsquo;s highest literary awards, Ernst Janduuml;nger is regularly disparaged in the German press. His writings, as this book indicates, put him at an unimpeachable remove from the Nazis, but neo-Nazi rightists in Germany have rushed to embrace him. Neither apology, whitewash, nor vilification, Ernst Janduuml;nger and Germany is an assessment of the complex evolution of a man whose work and nature has been viewed as both inspiration and threat.

andldquo;Ernst Janduuml;nger and Germany is a profound interpretation of Ernst Janduuml;nger, offering a compelling analysis of this leading literary figure who over the years has often been misinterpreted by scholars, literary critics, and journalists. Readers will emerge with a clear view of Janduuml;ngerandrsquo;s significance as one of the centuryandrsquo;s leading exponents of the Dionysian impulse married to modern technology. No one can read this book without seeing Janduuml;nger in a new light.andrdquo;andmdash; Jay W. Baird, author of To Die for Germany

andldquo;By dint of his great age, intellect, cultural breadth, and one-time proximity to supreme power, one could argue that Janduuml;nger is the pre-eminent witness of Europeandrsquo;s history in this century. Thomas Nevin presents an extraordinary picture of an exceptional man and a very important insight into the nature not only of German history in the hundred years of Janduuml;ngerandrsquo;s lifetime but also the modern world.andrdquo;andmdash;Hugh Cecil, author of The Flower of Battle: How Britain Wrote the Great War

Neither apology, whitewash, nor vilification, this is an assessment of the complex evolution of a man, winner of Germany's highest literary awards, whose work and nature have been viewed as both inspiration and threat.

It is a profound interpretation of Ernst Junger, offering a compelling analysis of this leading literary figure who over the years has been misinterpreted by scholars, literary critics, and journalists.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-278) and index.

“Ernst Jünger and Germany is a profound interpretation of Ernst Jünger, offering a compelling analysis of this leading literary figure who over the years has often been misinterpreted by scholars, literary critics, and journalists. Readers will emerge with a clear view of Jünger’s significance as one of the century’s leading exponents of the Dionysian impulse married to modern technology. No one can read this book without seeing Jünger in a new light.”— Jay W. Baird, author of To Die for Germany “By dint of his great age, intellect, cultural breadth, and one-time proximity to supreme power, one could argue that Jünger is the pre-eminent witness of Europe’s history in this century. Thomas Nevin presents an extraordinary picture of an exceptional man and a very important insight into the nature not only of German history in the hundred years of Jünger’s lifetime but also the modern world.”—Hugh Cecil, author of The Flower of Battle: How Britain Wrote the Great War