A Green Hell Makes Better Germans: Carl Stephenson’s “Leiningen” and the Almost Aryan Countertextual Army Ants

Abstract

Carl Stephenson’s short story “Leiningen versus the Ants” (1937) is one of the most widely read and remediated German literary texts of the last century. It is also widely ignored by academics, especially by German scholars. My analysis compares Stephenson’s story to H. G. Wells’ more respected “Empire of the Ants.” The basic thesis is that “Leiningen” is a countertext; it changes key elements of Wells’ story in order to deliver a different message. I then discuss to what extent the depiction of racism, conquest and the invigorating effects of taming the wilderness in “Leiningen” is linked to principles of Nazi racism. The key point is the question of idealism and sacrifice, which in Hitler’s Mein Kampf are said to be exclusively Aryan traits, but which also play a part in the cotemporaneous scientific literature on the extreme altruism found among ants and other social insects. Finally, I discuss Marabunta, Stephenson’s largely unknown novelization of “Leiningen.” It was written after war; and I argue that Stephenson not only extended his original story but also made certain changes to alter the message.