Adolf Bartels and the Institutions of Literary Extremism in Germany
Description:... Adolf Bartels (1862-1945) was the most notorious anti-Semitic literary critic in German history. However, because of his rabid nationalism, Bartels's influence on late 19th and early 20th Century aesthetic and political life has been entirely underestimated. Bartels is representative of an entire range of intellectuals whose work helped formulate National Socialist ideology. The individuals with whom Bartels associated included such diverse figures as Gerhart Hauptmann, Ferdinand Avenarius, Johannes Becher and Adolf Hitler, to name just a few. My dissertation uses the biography of Bartels to portray the literary climate in Germany from the Grunderjahre to the defeat of National Socialism. The individual study of Bartels provides an illuminating test case for the analysis of intellectual life during this period.
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