Politics and literature are two central aspects in the work of Egon Erwin Kisch. His experiences during his brief but intense visit to Australia - from November 1934 to March 1935 ?? as an antifascist and pacifist activist/ writer in exile, led to a renewed reflection on the function of literature generally, and of the specific genre of Reportage in particular. The concept of reportage presented by Kisch in his speech at the Paris Congress ?? For the Defence of Culture?? (1935) was formulated as a direct consequence of his Australian Tour. The aim of the thesis is to analyse Kisch??s Australian Landfall in two different discourses: a historical and a literary one. The objective of the historical discourse is to examine the political relevance of the ??Kisch Case?? with regard to its impact on Australian society: the Commonwealth government??s refusal to allow Kisch to enter Australia as a speaker at the Melbourne ?? Congress against War and Fascism??, and its subsequent prosecution of Kisch as an illegal immigrant following his celebrated ??landfall?? ( a jump overboard in the port of Melbourne) became the focus of political, legal and media controversy that produced a vigorous, if short- lived culture of protest. The Kisch visit polarized Australian society and made apparent a number of internal political and socio-cultural contradictions. The focus of the literary discourse is on Kisch??s concept of Reportage which underwent significant changes due to his experiences in Australia and as a result of the difficulties in writing about events that he witnessed not only as an interested, but passionate observer and researcher, but also as a central character and actor in a very personal political drama. The analysis acknowledges the dominant writing strategies, notably the hybrid generic form of reportage, travel writing and autobiographical narrative. Kisch??s collection of reportages is remarkable also because of its innovative contribution to Australian historiography, an achievement that has been overlooked in existing Kisch scholarship. The thesis breaks new ground by reevaluating ??Landung in Australien?? as a significant contribution to the work of one of the Weimar Republic??s most important authors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/272616 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Ihl, Daniela, Languages & Linguistics, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded By:University of New South Wales. Languages & Linguistics |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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