.jpg) Cover of the 1918 edition | |
| Author | Heinrich Mann |
|---|---|
| Language | German |
| Genre | Political novel, satirical novel, bildungsroman |
| Publisher | Kurt Wolff |
Publication date | 1918 |
| Publication place | Germany |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
Der Untertan (German: [deːɐ̯ ˈʔʊntɐtaːn]; literally "the underling", translated into English under the titles Man of Straw, The Patrioteer, and The Loyal Subject) is one of the best known novels of German author Heinrich Mann. The title character, Diederich Hessling, a dedicated 'Untertan' in the sense of a person subservient to a monarch or prince, is an immoral man who is meant to serve as an allegory of both the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II and German society of his time.
The novel was completed during the July Crisis in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I. Extracts had been published in the satirical magazine Simplicissimus from 1912 onwards, causing great controversy. Mann signed a contract with the magazine Die Zeit im Bild for the publication of the censored version of the novel from the beginning of 1914, but on 1 August the publication was stopped as "inappropriate". A book edition was not published until 1918 by Kurt Wolff in Leipzig.[1][2]
- ^ Gordon, Peter E.; McCormick, John P., eds. (2013). Weimar Thought: A Contested Legacy. Princeton University Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-1400846788.
When Der Untertan was finally published, it created a sensation. The violent responses to the novel give further evidence for Germany's political fragmentation at the time. But among the literati who most praised the novel was Kurt Tucholsky (1890–1935), who, in his review for the prestigious journal Die Weltbühne, declared that this was the way Germany should fight to get rid of the German spirit of the Untertan.
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