Celebrity and the Cultural Nation.Thomas Mann’s Lotte in Weimar

Abstract

Abstract Mann’s 1939 Goethe novel, Lotte in Weimar, is a valuable text through which to understand the role of celebrity in the literary and political landscape of the early 20th century. I explore the ways in which an engagement with the field of Celebrity Studies makes possible a reading of Mann’s Goethe as a palimpsest of the historical celebrity author, Mann, a 20th century celebrity author, and Hitler, Germany’s most famous politician in the media age. Mann’s own experiences in the spotlight, especially those gathered in his exile years, inform the social and familial relationships at the center of the novel. Furthermore, Mann takes an ironic stance towards the “Goethe Mythos,” thereby undermining the validity of the cult of genius and inviting a reading that recognizes its shared features with the cult of modern celebrity that made possible Hitler’s rise to power.