Loyal Subject (German Library)

Loyal Subject (German Library)

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Customer Reviews

An Alternate Translation of "Der Untertan"

Reviewed by Giordano Bruno, 2010-01-16

"Der Untertan" means 'The Subject' in German. This same novel has been translated and published under the title "Man of Straw". That's the translation I've looked at and reviewed; I haven't seen this translation.

Here's what I wrote about the other translation:
Wilhelmine Germany, at the threshold of the 20th C, was truly a malodorous hog wallow -- at least as depicted in Heinrich Mann's novel 'Der Untertan', published in 1918 -- and the grossest boar (boor? bore?) in the pen was the Man of Straw (the English Title) Diederich Hessling, clearly the embodiment of the cultural corruption of his milieu. Hessling is possibly the most despicable principal character in any novel I've ever read, though he'd have some competition from Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry. Both fictional 'heros' are blustering cowards, kiss-up/kick-down opportunists, sexual bullies, vulgar, greedy, loveless, and hypocritical blowhards of religious piety. There's a strong resemblance between 'Man of Straw' and the later works of Sinclair Lewis, both in style and structure. Like 'Elmer Gantry' and 'Babbitt', Man of Straw is the life story of one dreadfully flawed individual up to a certain point of characterological apotheosis. Both authors are scornfully satirical, not only of their principal characters but also of the scoundrels and fools that surround them. Heinrich Mann paid a higher price for his outspoken bitterness toward his crass society; he was briefly imprisoned and then permanently exiled (and to Southern California, alas!) while Lewis was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.

Diederich Hessling is the son of a modest paper-maker in a city regarded as a bastion of liberal opposition to the Hohenzollern monarchy. Diederich aspires to 'succeed' beyond the expectations of his small wealth and subservient social status, and he does, with a certain amount of dumb luck, either despite or because of his utter lack of redeeming human qualities. That's the plot; I don't intend to reveal more. It's the procession of swinish co-actors, friends and foes being interchangeable, and the unexpected depths of ignominy to which they stoop, that make the book worth reading. As a bonus for the reader, the novel ends catastrophically, picturesquely, with some sense of the impending 'Götterdammerung' of Wilhelmine Germany.

Four years older than his brother Thomas, Heinrich Mann was not the complex, conflicted word-artist Thomas Mann was. He was braver and more clear-sighted, however, foreseeing the calamitous future of postwar German culture far sooner than conservative Thomas, and his novels are more less ponderous, more energetic in narrative, more readable even if arguably less profound philosophically.

An over-the-top view of Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany

Reviewed by Yaakov Ben Shalom, 2007-10-24

Diederich Hessling is the characteristic man of Wilhelmine Germany. Arrogant, boorish, philistinic, conniving, hypocritical, bullying, cruel, self-important, and ever-impervious to criticism. He is the loyal subject of His Majesty, and he is His Majesty.

Diederich Hessling is raised in Netztig, a small town, by a strict Prussian father and a dotting mother. He is taught to respect authority, hard-work, and traditional values. These lessons are absorbed only so far as they directly benefit the sniveling boy who fears his upright, moral, moralistic father. While at university in Berlin, Diederich fails to absorb the cosmopolitan luster of the capital and associates with beer-swilling, pompous, nationalist fraternity brothers. He graduates with a doctorate in chemistry and a knowledge of how to exploit people and twist situations for his gain.

Upon his return home to petty Netzig, he takes over the family factory and is determined to do things his own way. (Just like the young Kaiser when he assumed power in 1888/1890.) In his quest for wealth and personal power, he double-deals, cheats, lies, and acts shocked at the improprieties of others. He plays the Liberals off the Socialists and the Conservatives, secretly siding with each group. However, his heart remains with the Nationalist camp. He does the bidding of the nobility for scraps of prestige.

As he grows in power, he tramples his Liberal erstwhile allies underfoot, ruining lives without a care. The whole time, he is condescending and self-righteous. On the other hand, he is truckling to the aristocratic gentry. He sews the seeds of discord among Netzig's citizenry, but cares not. It is all in the name of the National cause for His Majesty! Diederich's actions mirror and even presage those of Kaiser Wilhelm, for whom he is practically a doppelganger.

"The Loyal Subject," written by an infamously leftist German author, has been derided as overly political and crass. Its literary merits are debatable. But its depiction of all that was wrong with Wilhelmine society and with Wilhelm himself is worth the read, especially for any student of German history.