The Faces of Janus: English-Language Fiction by German-Speaking Exiles in Great Britain, 1933-1945 by Nicole Brunnhuber

Abstract

MLR, 102.1, 2007 283 is more concerned with thepossibilities of a socialist theatre in theUK at thedawn of Thatcherism, while theanalysis ofHare's approach charts amove from thepolitical to themoral against the backdrop of a post-1 989 Britain without an ostensible socialist alternative. The study is fundamentally concerned with the translations themselves, as opposed to theproductions which theyhave generated. Consequently, elements ofBrechtian stagecraft figureonly in passing. Instead, McNeill focuses on the treatment of the atrical devices in the texts, such as the historicization of character, the deployment of epic theatre, and thepersistence or neglect of dialectics. The relationship between formal strategies and their subsequent transformation yields many interesting views on political theatre in threedistinct historical periods of the twentieth century. I cer tainly hope thatMcNeill will complete his study by publishing an article on David Edgar's Galileo, which premiered inBirmingham in 2005; such an essaywould surely provide an insightful epilogue to a study that comes to the role of political texts in the contemporary theatrewith a freshand critical eye. Both Kruger's andMcNeill's books areworthy additions toBrecht scholarship for twomain reasons. First, theydemonstrate the continued productivity of amaterial istassessment of Brecht that emphasizes the historical, the political, and the social. Second, the books seek to interrogate theways inwhich Brecht's theories of theatre can be gauged away fromhis own practice. IfBrecht is to retain currency and to be liberated from a reverential and restrictingmemorialization, then these two books help us toconsider Brecht in a new set of contexts and reveal his continued presence on theworld stage. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN DAVID BARNETT The Faces of Janus: English-Language Fiction byGerman-Speaking Exiles inGreat Britain, 1933-I945. By NICOLE BRUNNHUBER. (Exile Studies, 8) Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang. 2005. 240 pp. ?3'; SwF 69; ?47.40. ISBN 978-3-039Io i 8o-i. In exile Thomas Mann and Lion Feuchtwanger were able to establish themselves in theUnited States thanks to translators. The present author draws attention to the essay 'Das Sprach-Problem' byKlaus Mann, who notes that more exiles adopted the host language inEngland than anywhere else. As thepresent volume demonstrates, an astonishing number ofGerman-speaking exiles inGreat Britain not only made the language switch but were also remarkably successful. Out of themany to choose from,Nicole Brunnhuber decides in favour ofErnst Bornemann, Robert Neumann, Georg Tabori, Ruth Feiner, and Lilo Linke. By the timehe died Bornemann was famous as a sex guru and lexicographer-Sex imVolksmund (I97I); book collector-Unsere Kinder imSpiegel ihrerLieder, Reime, Verse undRdtsel (I973); and proto-feminist-Das Patriarchat (I975). Even more re markable than these laterworks was the success of his detective story from the film world, The Face on theCutting-Room Floor, which he published inLondon in 1937 only a few years after arriving there as a schoolboy escaping fromNazi Germany. Other English-language novels followed, notably Love Story (I 94 ).Because he had adopted the nom de plume of Cameron McCabe forhis detective story,his identity as the real author remained amystery formany years. Robert Neumann was an es tablishedwriter when he arrived inLondon in 1933, yet he too successfully switched language and produced successful 'English' novels such as The Scene inPassing (i 942) and The Inquest (1944). Ruth Feiner abandoned her native language as soon as she was capable of producing English-language fiction, and especially after Three Cups 284 Reviews ofCoffee (I941), though now almost forgotten, she enjoyed a very successful writing career. Lilo Linke also had a successful professional career, though her best-seller Restless Flags: A German Girl's Story (1935) iSnow also virtually forgotten.To a certain extent Georg Tabori's firstEnglish-language novel, the thrillerBeneath the Stone theScorpion (I945), has also faded from literary memory and it ishis contro versial plays, such as The Cannibals (i 968), which are remembered. Brunnhuber rounds offher studywith thoughts on the adoption by thesewriters in exile of theEnglish language and popular literaryforms such as thedetective storyand the romance. Clearly language-switching occurred not simply because publication in German was virtually impossible or because thewriters wished to demonstrate a pro-British and anti-Fascist stance. German-language writers found theycould com municate their positive and negative feelings about exile and...