Gypsies and Orientalism in German Literature and Anthropology of the Long Nineteenth Century

Abstract

An apparently nomadic diaspora nation of Indian provenance, the Romanies are present with notable frequency in Germanic literature of the long nineteenth century from Wolzogen, Kotzebue, Brentano and Immermann to Stifter, Keller, Storm, Raabe, Jensen, Carl Hauptmann, Saar, Alscher and Thomas Mann. Against the background of the still officially unacknowledged Romany Holocaust, Saul analyses in a series of close readings the stations of the literary construction of the Gypsy prior to that human disaster, and interrogates the category of Orientalism traditionally applied to locate the Gypsy presence in the symbolic landscape of Germanic culture. The book's synthesis of scholarship in anthropological, social and institutional history, the history of ideas and literature will appeal to the scholarly community across traditional disciplinary boundaries, and will also serve as a valuable introduction for students from diverse fields.