Visions of War: Ideologies and Images of War in German Literature Before and After the Great War

Combatants’ experiences of war changed radically during the Great War, yet combatant writers before and after the modern ordeal of total war show unexpected similarities in their representations of battle. By concentrating on the popular writings of Detlev von Liliencron, Walter Flex, August Stramm, and Ernst Juenger, while situating these authors in the broad context of war literature in general between 1866 and 1933, this literary history shows how authors’ literary expressions of their own combat experiences demonstrate varying degrees of aesthetic and ideological coherence. This study provides a much needed literary historical foundation for the many readings of Weimar-era war literature.