Retail organization and political capital: Fallada’s Kleiner Mann – was nun? and Brecht’s Dreigroschenroman

Schonfield, E. (2015) Retail organization and political capital: Fallada’s Kleiner Mann – was nun? and Brecht’s Dreigroschenroman. In: Weiss-Sussex, G. and Zitzlsperger, U. (eds.) Tales of Commerce and Imagination: Department Stores and Modernity in Film and Literature / Konsum und Imagination: Das Warenhaus und die Moderne in Film und Literatur. Peter Lang: Frankfurt am Main, pp. 145-161. ISBN 9783631642337

Abstract

This chapter explores how an analysis of Kleiner Mann – was nun? and Dreigroschenroman can contribute to our understanding of how commerce and politics were interlinked in late Weimar Germany. Both novels engage with the department store debate, highlighting the figure of ‘little man’ who was targeted by populist propaganda. The chapter contextualizes each novel within the department store debate in terms of its relation to salaried employees (Fallada) and the German Mittelstand (Brecht), and in terms of retail organization and rationalization. Both novels imply that commerce and morality are ultimately irreconcilable, but they differ in terms of their focus. Brecht’s epic framework insists on the interconnections between economic and political interests; Fallada’s novel focuses on questions of personal dignity.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Schonfield, Dr Ernest
• Authors: Schonfield, E.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PT Germanic literature
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > German
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• ISBN: 9783631642337

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