Carl Sternheims Die Hose: Humor and Satire in its

Historical Context

USA or Germany: Which nation has existed longer?

• USA: 1776

• Germany 1871

• What was happening in “Germany” before 1871?

The German Empire (Wilheminian Germany) 1871-

1918

Wilhelm I

Wilhelm II

Carl Sternheim’s Die Hose (1910)

• The first of a cycle of comedies entitled “Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben” (From the Heroic Life of the Bourgeois)

Social Developments in Wilheminian Germany

• Shift from agrarian to industrial society

• Growing city Populations

• Technological change, emerging mass culture, higher literacy rates

The shift from an “estates-based society” to a class system

• The aristocracy, the bourgeoisie(middle class), the proletariat(working class).

• The “feudalization” of the bourgeoisie: mimicry of the aristocracy in the interest of social climbing/success.

• Paternalistic authority, militarism, honor codes

The Subject (written 1914)

Satirical Cartoon from 1897

der Pöbel: the rabble

Die Menge: the masses

das Volk: the people

Philosophy and The Arts

• Friedrich Nietzsche: Perspektivismus

• Fin de siécle Berlin and Vienna: artistic innovation and experimentation

• Max Reinhardt’s directing at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin: 1905-1930

• Socially conscious/critical art

Franz Marc, “Der Tiger” 1912

Social Movements

• The Workers’ movement and the Rise of the Social Democratic Party

• Increasing Strikes and conflict between business managers and labor force

Women’s Rights

• Helene Stöcker’s Essay “die moderne Frau” (1893)

• The restrictions of “Kinder, Küche, Kirche”

• The growing suffrage movement in the early 20th century

Women’s clothing

New, less restrictive clothing in 1903

Jews in Germany in the Wilheminian Era

• Jews: roughly 1% of the German population in 1900

• Many Jews were relatively integrated into German society.

• Anti-Semitism was a European phenomenon not necessarily specific to Germany at the time.

• Carl Sternheim was Jewish

Farce and Satire

• Definitions• What aspects of

Wilheminian society does the play critique or ridicule?

• To what extent is the critique applicable to US society in 2009?

“die Hose” Frankfurt, 1986