Founding Fictions: History, Myth, and the Modern Age

In: International journal of politics, culture and society, Band 12, Heft 2, S. 205-220

Abstract

A review essay on Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring: The Great War at the Birth of the Modern Age (New York & London: Doubleday, 1990). Ecksteins studies how collective memories & feelings of past events shape present actions & acknowledged the connection between the arts & politics. Eksteins's contention that turn-of-the-century Germany represented the ideal modernist nation because it attempted to fashion a national identity that went beyond German history is explored. In addition, Eksteins's comparison of Germans' public celebrations in Berlin during the initial stages of WWI to the opening of Serge Diaghilev's ballet, The Rite of Spring, is discussed to illustrate how the German citizenry associated war conduct with liberation. It is contended that Eksteins's discussion of Charles Lindbergh's 1927 flight across the Atlantic Ocean aptly demonstrates the decreased relevance that Europeans attached to history during the early 20th century. Moreover, Eksteins's contention that the condition of homelessness among Germans facilitated the rise of Nazism & assertion that Germans were attracted to, rather than forced into, the Nazi movement are examined. The modernist aspects of the Nazi movement are discussed, & the power of myth & imagination to shape present action is acknowledged. J. W. Parker