"Vom Winde verweht", or Frankly, How to Get Students to Give a D**n in Composition and Conversation

Abstract

Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind first appeared in German translation as Vom Winde verweht in 1937, one year following its publication in the United States. Although the classic film version was released in 1939, it was not shown in Germany until 1948 due to the outbreak of World War II. Hence, it was in post-war Germany that the novel became a major success in hardcover, paperback, and numerous bookclub editions. Similarly, the film struck a respondent chord in Germans not only during its initial release, but on subsequent showings in 1954, 1961, 1967, 1974, and 1976, and on German television. Prior to its release on video cassette in 1984, Vom Winde verweht was showcased in a special broadcast by ZDF on Christmas Eve. Recently, the German periodical Bunte offered its readers the inferior sequel to the original novel, Scarlett, as a five-part serial in August and September 1991. The lure of the original work must have helped Alexandra Ripley's novel achieve greater success in Germany than in the United States, for it stayed on the bestseller list for over