Man of Straw

By Heinrich Mann

Book Overview

First published in 1918, Man of Straw is a sharp indictment of the Wilhelmine regime and a chilling warning against the joint elevation of militarism and commercial values. The 'Man of Straw' is Diederich Hessling, embodiment of the corrupt society in which he moves; his brutish progression through life forms the central theme of the book.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140181377
• ISBN13: 9780140181371
• Release Date: November 1992
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

In the Hog Wallow, the Fattest Boar is King

Wilhelmine Germany, at the threshold of the 20th C, was truly a malodorous 'Schweinpferch' -- at least as depicted in Heinrich Mann's novel 'Der Untertan', published in 1918 -- and the grossest boar (boor? bore?) in the pen was the Man of Straw (the English Title) Diederich Hessling, clearly the embodiment of the cultural corruption of his milieu. Hessling is possibly the most despicable principal character in any novel I've ever read, though he'd have some competition from Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry. Both fictional 'heros' are blustering cowards, kiss-up/kick-down opportunists, sexual bullies, vulgar, greedy, loveless, and hypocritical blowhards of religious piety. There's a strong resemblance between 'Man of Straw' and the later works of Sinclair Lewis, both in style and structure. Like 'Elmer Gantry' and 'Babbitt', Man of Straw is the life story of one dreadfully flawed individual up to a certain point of characterological apotheosis. Both authors are scornfully satirical, not only of their principal characters but also of the scoundrels and fools that surround them. Heinrich Mann paid a higher price for his outspoken bitterness toward his crass society; he was briefly imprisoned and then permanently exiled (and to Southern California, alas!) while Lewis was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature. Diederich Hessling is the son of a modest paper-maker in a city regarded as a bastion of liberal opposition to the Hohenzollern monarchy. Diederich aspires to 'succeed' beyond the expectations of his small wealth and subservient social status, and he does, with a certain amount of dumb luck, either despite or because of his utter lack of redeeming human qualities. That's the plot; I don't intend to reveal more. It's the procession of swinish co-actors, friends and foes being interchangeable, and the unexpected depths of ignominy to which they stoop, that make the book worth reading. As a bonus for the reader, the novel ends catastrophically, picturesquely, with some sense of the impending 'Götterdammerung' of Wilhelmine Germany. Four years older than his brother Thomas, Heinrich Mann was not the complex, conflicted word-artist Thomas Mann was. He was braver and more clear-sighted, however, foreseeing the calamitous future of postwar German culture far sooner than conservative Thomas, and his novels are more less ponderous, more energetic in narrative, more readable even if arguably less profound philosophically. He's best known in the English world for his novel 'Professor Unrat", on which the famous film "The Blue Angel" was based. This Penguin edition translation is reasonably representative of Mann's prose style.

Mann warns of the dangers of blind nationalism

Heinrich Mann's novel paints a portrait of the Second Reich through the eyes of Diedrich Hessling, an unconsequential little man who bullied his way into society using superpatriotism (he even curls his mustache so that it resembles the emperor's) and nationalism as a crutch, finally gaining status as a prominent conservative businessman, in the process being metamorphosed into a mini-Kaiser. His struggle was a reflection of the Second Reich's attempt at world domination through nationalism and Social Darwinism.His use of patriotism to the emperor was used when he manipulates someone into stating that the Hohenzollerns were Jews, accusing him of lese-majeste. At that man's trial, Diedrich is accurately portrayed as "an average man, with a commonplace mind,... without courage so long as things are going badly for him and tremendously self-important as soon as they had turned in his favour"Diedrich doesn't hesitate to make alliances when expedient and to boost his star higher, such as his association with his nemesis, Napoleon Fischer, a Social Democrat machinist at his factory. On one occasion, to cover up his own mistake in miscalculating the dimensions of the New Patent Cylinder Machine, he bribed Fischer to sabotage the machine so that he had a case to return it. Later, the two agreed to help each other in their political ambitions.Thus Diedrich used his patriotism and anti-Social Democratic stance as ways to boost himself onward and upward, yet willing to make alliances with his alleged enemies, similar to the way Bismarck used nationalism as a tool to rally the Liberals against his wars against Austria and the south German states against France, all for his own personal power.The importance of Wilhelm II's attempted surpassing of Bismarck must be reiterated. Diedrich's colleague warns people of the danger of any man emulating Bismarck: "Weak and pacifistic by nature, he becomes noisy and dangerous. Without a doubt the victories of his vanity will serve commercial ends. First his travesty of opinion brings a man to prison for lese-majeste. Afterwards he reaps his profit" So by virtue of the chain rule, Diedrich was in fact emulating Bismarck, making him not only a mini-Kaiser, but also a mini-Iron Chancellor. And this illustrates Mann's criticism of Bismarck's self-motivating political profit, perpetuated in the person of Diedrich.Mann's novel is a portrait of pre-war Wilhelmine Germany (1888-1914). He thus saw as reasons for Germany's defeat in World War I the blind nationalism of the people and their obedience to the autocratic rule of the Kaiser. It's a warning to be heeded by any nation making rumblings toward war.

Read this book and you will finally be able to understand...

... how Hitler, World War II and the Holocaust could happen. At least that's how I felt after reading it (and I'm German). The book describes the life of a man named Diederich Häßling, who grows up in pre-WWI Germany. He learns to respect, to love authority unquestioningly, even when it hurts him or is obviously unjust. And when he comes into a position of authority himself, he employs it just as brutally and unjustly. The reader looks on in horrified fascination and thinks: "if people really thought like that, then no atrocity is impossible..."

How Good Was This!!!

This book shows that many people can live from after having cancer, espically lung prison.