The German Mind as Reflected in Their Literature From 1870 to 1914: Together With Two Supplementary Chapters on New Movements Which Have Arisen Between 1914 and 1921 (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Fanny Johnson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1330750039 ISBN 13: 9781330750032

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2020

Synopsis

Excerpt from The German Mind as Reflected in Their Literature From 1870 to 1914: Together With Two Supplementary Chapters on New Movements Which Have Arisen Between 1914 and 1921

The need of seeing ourselves as others see us is applicable to literature as to other departments of life. But the converse principle, namely, to see others as they see themselves, is equally incumbent. This is indeed to love our neighbour as ourself, since tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner. We can hardly hope, for some time to come, that either English or German should accept as approximately veracious the mental picture that each of us has formed of the other. It is perhaps more fruitful, and at least less embittering to examine with care each other's respective self-portraiture. A self-portrait, even if flattering, is drawn with concentrated interest in the subject, and qualities will be discovered by the painter that are rarely revealed to the eye of a stranger. Autobiography, or self-portrayal in writing, has this additional value, that the character is oftentimes unconsciously revealed. A man may pride himself on some action or sentiment which to the reader of his life appears mean or base, and again, he may, like Pepys, betray in his blithe relation of some petty incident a standard beneath the highest level, and which, coldly con sidered, is unworthy Of the best in himself. It is rarer when the hero recounts deeds of note as though they were matters of course. But in all these instances the real self is more apparent to the attentive reader than to the writer. It is of such self-portraiture, not of an individual, but of a nation, that I intend to treat.

Through the mouth of many witnesses, speaking, as it were, all on the side of the defence, I shall endeavour to set forth the truth about Germans, as it appears to themselves. Humility is, perhaps, not their strong point, and we may find, as we should expect, plenty of self-laudation. But a man who is honourably and truly proud of his race or his class.

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Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1330750039
• ISBN 13: 9781330750032
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256