Zeitgeist Und Zerrbild: Word, Image and Idea in German Satire, 1800-1848 by Frazer S. Clark

Abstract

272 Reviews Zeitgeist undZerrbild: Word, Image and Idea in German Satire, I800-1848. By FRAZER S. CLARK. (British and Irish Studies inGerman Language and Literature, 43) Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang. 2006. 400 PP* ?47.50; ?72.50. ISBN 978-3 03910-725-4. This study offers excellent insights into the connections between philosophical, li terary,and print cultures in theGerman states between theNapoleonic period and the I848 revolutions. The linkingmedium examined isvisual-verbal satire.Usefully defining satire as a genre thrivingon, inSchiller's terms, the 'Widerspruch derWirk lichkeit mit dem Ideale', theauthor shows how German idealist thought creates ample scope for satirewhenever reality is found lacking in relation to theworld-historical Zeitgeist. Importantly, Frazer Clark discusses satire as an ensemble ofword and im age even if there is no image; purely verbal satire appeals to the visual imagination and 'pictures' its text.This approach makes itpossible to integrate the discussion of Germany's erratically produced graphic satire prior to i848 into a coherent narrative. The origins ofmodern German caricature go back to the I7gos. The turmoil caused by theFrench Revolution and itsaftermath called forsatirical comment on the times inpictures and words, but in theGerman states a tradition of graphic satire had not been established since the woodcuts of theReformation. This gap was beginning tobe filledby imports fromLondon, in the formofGillray's fiercelyanti-French and anti Whig caricatures, which Friedrich JustinBertuch published as copies in his journal London und Paris. Budding German caricaturists were thus able to learn fromGillray, with varying degrees of success, the art of comic visual representation complete with speech-bubbles or captions. Yet an unequivocal language shared between image and text became possible only when Napoleon's fortunes had turned. Clark shows how the Wars of Liberation brought together the biblical, populist rhetoric of the call to arms with the 'christlich-teutsch' tenor of patriotic verse and the Satanic imagery of anti-Napoleonic prints. By this concerted effort, theGerman Volk was being made the agent in a divine scheme. As Clark observes, however, the graphic language (in both senses) supporting this ideology was not really satirical since the idea did not contradict the reality of enthusiastic mass mobilization. Soon, however, reality did turn against the idea of the Volk marching towards its destiny. The oppression of nationalism and constitutionalism after I8I5 made Metternich's system a prime target for satirical attacks, togetherwith thatbutt of Vormdrz wit, the sleeping and dreaming, politically gormless Deutscher Michel, a contemporary adaptation of the erstwhile combative popular figure of the Thirty Years War. Clark points to the all-important shift in the relationship of the imagined or addressed Volk to official religion between i8 I5 and I830. The campaigns against Napoleon had relied on an appeal to themasses, recruited as the executives ofGod's will in the name ofKing and Fatherland. By contrast, the reactionary alliance between Church and State after I8I5 made it impossible to see official religion as a champion of the national cause fulfillinghistory's grand design. Instead, 'world-historical legitimacy' was 'secured for the common man, and this time against the grain of state-sponsored orthodoxy' (p. 148). This 'common man', endowed by themore or lessHegelian leftwith the quasi-theological mission of 'Verwirklichung', became an object of satiricalwarfare in words and pictures, asMichel showed no signs of revolutionary fervourand was unable toassert himself against his oppressors once he had risen against them in I848-49. The often intricate, convoluted allegory of graphic satire in the Vormdrz, which makes itsomuch less accessible than French or English examples of the same period, ispartly due tocensorship. Yet Clark illuminates a nexus between allegorical represen tation and German conceptualism (e.g. the 'embodiment' of an abstraction in a noun with definite article such as 'dieFreiheit') and thuspoints toan intrinsic reason forthis mode of depiction. His fine interpretation shows how the reader's visual imagination MLR, 103. I, 2oo8 273 is invited to translateverbal satireworking with coded concepts intoacted-out scenes, and how theviewer's conceptual reading isstimulated bynon-realistic graphic images. While Michel caricatures concentrated on the failureof the 'commonman' to translate theZeitgeist intoaction, plebeian typeswere empowered to act asmouthpieces for the spirit of the times inanother genre. Distinct from theexaggerations...