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: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140065849
• ISBN13: 9780140065848
• Release Date: July 1984
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"

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.

a society at war against itself

MAN OF STRAW is a politically committed satire against the upper middle-classes in the time of the empire of William II (Kaiser Wilhelm, 1859 - 1941, the German emperor and king of Prussia from 1888 to 1918 who asserted Germany's claim to world leadership and was made to abdicate at the end of World War I, at the time when this novel was written). As such, Man of Straw describes the kind of conditions in European society which led to World War I. The novel's antihero Dr Diederich Hessling is the son of a small factory owner in the small town of Netzig. He is described as the archetype of the mediocre but "serviceable" loyal subject, and the negative journey that traces his development towards maturity and social recognition constitutes an indictment of the kind of citizen created by authoritarian Power in a time of increased commercialist and military values. The action takes place in the 1890s, and even though the question of the origins of the Great War is still debated nowadays, it does much to expose the perilousness of the ideas that were taking root at the time. Diederich's morally reprehensible acts since childhood are his best asset to grow and prosper in society. His final oration on the occasion of the erection of a monument to the Emperor in town is a celebration of Germany's right to mastery of the sea. From the historical point of view, the novel is therefore an accurate reflection of the relevance of the threatening transformation of the relations between the states and the (arms) industry that had been taking place since the Industrial Revolution. Governments needed not so much the actual output of weapons, but the capacity to produce them on a wartime scale, if the occasion arose. This new and complicated state of affairs went hand in hand with the development of socialist ideology (with Ferdinand Lassalle in Germany), which was experienced as a source of terror on the part of part of society. The combination of these two novel results of the Industrial Revolution (the industrialisation of war and the arms race on the one hand, and the rise of the socialist and workers movements on the other) combined to produce a terrified moral state in sections of society who sought refuge within the ideological framework of a strong movement, Nationalism. The role of the press as the link between Authority and the Citizen is originally presented in the novel. The newspapers, even those with a Liberal outlook, such as Netzig's, are fond of including royal anecdotes in their reports, that do much to encourage the belief of a direct, personal relationship between the subjects and the monarch. This over-simplification of affairs results in the citizens' readiness to wage war against England on the basis of trivial anecdotes in gossip columns: "We needed a strong fleet against England, which must be absolutely smashed; it was the deadliest enemy of the Emperor. And why? In Netzig they knew all about it. Simply because His Majesty had once, i

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.