1967–2007: The Gruppe 47 as a Cultural Heimat1

Abstract

This paper looks in detail at how the Gruppe 47 has been presented in the media since its official demise in 1967, and considers why the group still has a high level of symbolic capital decades after its active participation in the German literary field. Focusing on previously unresearched TV documentary material from the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, it posits that the group's enduring importance in the German cultural landscape can be traced to the way it has been narratively and visually reconstructed within the mythologizing, emotive, and widely resonant terms of the Heimat discourse. Drawing on various philosophical and conceptual approaches to Heimat and applying them specifically to the context of a country's perceived cultural tradition, I conceive of the Gruppe 47 as a “cultural Heimat” for the economically and culturally dominant white, middle‐class German literary field. In so doing, I show how a specifically literary culture can be repackaged in the age of mass media to carry important debates about national identity and symbolize the search for an elusive collective cultural heritage.