Acknowledgments

Without the friendly suggestions and criticism voiced in conversations with Helga Geyer-Ryan, Hortense von Heppe, and Heinz-Dieter Kitt-steiner, this work would never have been completed. My thanks go as well to Inka Mulder-Bach, Regina Busch, and Ulrike Baureithel, who commented on drafts; and to Carl Wege, Richard Faber, Riidiger Sa-franski, Hans-Thies Lehmann, Joachim von der Thiisen, and Bernd Weyergraf, with whom I had subsequent discussions. The book benefited from the advice and objections of Carrie Lee Asman, Friedbert As-petsberger, Teja Bach, Susanne van Briemen, Jean-Luc Evard, Joachim Fischer, Dieter Hensing, Tony Kaes, Volker Kaiser, Reinhard Kapp, Martin Lindner, Crystal Mazur, Helga Moser, Manfred Moser, Peter Oesterreich, Klaus Rathschiller, Friedrich Rothe, Georg Scherer, Renate Schlesier, Nicolaus Sombart, Caroline Sommerfeld, Frank Trommler, Renate Voris, Waltraud Wende, Hannes Wendt, Ernest Wichner, Hubert Winkels, Heinz Wismann, Temilo van Zantwijk, and Carsten Zelle. Karl-Heinz Barck was kind enough to arrange access to the Werner-Krauss Archiv in the former Akademie der Wissenschaften, where I enjoyed the assistance of Horst F. Müller and Karin Preisigke. I thank my colleagues Jattie Enklaar, Gregor Laschen, and Peter Wessels for having helped make this book possible.

At the invitation of Herbert Wiesner, I was able to present a few of my ideas at the Literaturhaus Berlin. Winfried Menninghaus encouraged me to publish them.

The work was written under the auspices of the research program of the Onderzoekinstitut voor Geschiedenis en Cultuur at the University of Utrecht and would never have been finished without the remarkable assistance of Lilo Roskams.

Nearly all the persons named raised serious objections to the afterword, which, consequently, is the only chapter short enough to be my responsibility alone.