René Schickele, Alsace and the question of cultural identity : a study of Hans im Schnakenloch and Das Erbe am Rhein

Abstract

My thesis entitled, 'Rene Schickele, Alsace and the Question of Cultural Identity. A Study of Hans in Schnakenloch and Das Erbe am Rhein' is a comparative investigation into issues of politics and cultural identity in Alsace under German and French rule with the First World War acting as the divisive line between the two experiences. The first part of the thesis examines cultural issues centred on differing Franco-German definitions of nationhood and the varying auto-and hetero-images they produced of one another’s collective identities. This examination highlights in particular how these rival nations used such arguments to justify their claims on Alsace up to the outbreak of World War I. This discussion serves as the backdrop for the study of Rene Schickele's wartime drama Hans in Schnakenloch which addresses the impact of such Franco-German rivalries on Alsatian self-definitions of cultural identity. The second part of this thesis examines the situation in Alsace under a change of rulers when it becomes a part of the French nation. Again issues of cultural identity and the political situation are examined here as a necessary precursor to understanding the political and cultural aspects of the trilogy of novels written by Rene Schickele which focuses on Alsace in the 1920s.