The header image shown here is from pate 6 of Alfred Rethel’s Auch ein Todtentanz. A skeleton - Death - rides through a weeping, decimated down on an exhausted horse.
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Transnational Framings: The German Literary Field in the Age of Nationalism, 1848-1919

On the occasion of Transnational Framings: The German Literary Field in the Age of Nationalism, 1848-1919, the 25th Biennial St. Louis Symposium on German Literature and Culture, the University Libraries will present a selection of 19th and early 20th-century German periodicals, prints, and illustrated books from our special collections.  

The symposium seeks to bring to light the push and pull of nationalist and internationalist impulses in German and Austrian literature. Similarly, this digital exhibition demonstrates how mass-produced illustrated media from this period helped to mold a national identity following the revolutions of 1848. Mass-produced illustrated media from the time provided a middle-class German audience a window into new worlds, new visions, and a new awareness as citizens of an imperialist power.

This exhibition was organized by the Germanic Languages and Literatures Subject Librarian Walter Schlect for Washington University Libraries, with contributions from Special Collections staff.

This digital exhibition is a companion to the onsite exhibition of the same name.

The header image shown here is from pate 6 of Alfred Rethel’s Auch ein Todtentanz, a counterrevolutionary piece from the 1848 revolutions.