关键词: 克莱斯特; 日耳曼尼亚; 民族认同; 地缘政治; 敌我划分; 总体战

Abstract:

In 1809, Kleist, a German dramatist and novelist, wrote a series of political articles for the magazine Germania, which he had been planning to publish since the end of the 1800s, with the purpose of providing propaganda for the Anti-Napoleonic Wars that were started by the German countries and patriots. These articles are specific outcomes of a particular historical background, namely national wars against foreign aggression; thus, these articles should be interpreted against this political and historical background. By discussing the political situations and the historical events that were taking place when Germania was written, this article reveals different ways of realizing German national self-identity and methods for its consolidation that were presented in Germania according to three aspects: 1) The modern theory of geopolitics posited by Friedrich Ratzel in the second half of the nineteenth century; 2) the system of friend-enemy distinction from the beginning of twentieth century proposed by Carl Schmitt; and 3) the anticipation of the theory of total war raised by Erich Ludendorff during the First World War. The article concludes that, in Kleist’s Germania, national self-identity and the liberation war combined to create the two essential factors for the national freedom of the German people. Thus, this article can assist researchers and readers to have a better understanding of Kleist’s authorship, his views of the nation and the particular style expressed in his works.

Keywords: Kleist; Germania; national self-identity; geopolitics; friend-enemy distinction; total war