I share your interest in and admiration for some of the long-held tradition of German student fraternities, but I suppose Mann's Untertan more than any other work of literature exposes the inherent absurdity and ridiculousness of some of their rituals, caused by a rigid and obsessive adherence to a codified view of what constitutes a man's "honour", and the fact that all social esteem within late 19th / early 20th century society was based on the strictest possible observation of such codices.
"In every battle the eyes are the first to be conquered..."
- Tacitus, Germania
"One must work in solitude as a man who opens a clearing in virgin forest, sustained by the unique hope that somewhere in its depths, others are working to the same end."
- Ernst Jünger
"I find that I must go handsomely, whatever it costs me, and the charge will be made up in the fruit it brings."
3 comments:
I am reminded of "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp."
I now have another excuse for my scar...
I share your interest in and admiration for some of the long-held tradition of German student fraternities, but I suppose Mann's Untertan more than any other work of literature exposes the inherent absurdity and ridiculousness of some of their rituals, caused by a rigid and obsessive adherence to a codified view of what constitutes a man's "honour", and the fact that all social esteem within late 19th / early 20th century society was based on the strictest possible observation of such codices.
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