Open AccessDET ER TIDENS SKYLD! - OM NOSTALGI OG ETIK I JOSEPH ROTHS RADETZKYMARCH
Author(s) -
Martin Baake-Hansen
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
k and k/kandk
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2246-2589
pISSN - 0905-6998
DOI - 10.7146/kok.v41i115.15883
Subject(s) - empire , portrait , nationalism , politics , interpretation (philosophy) , sociology , philosophy , law , aesthetics , art history , art , political science , linguistics
TIME IS TO BLAME! ETHICS AND NOSTALGIA IN JOSEPH ROTH’S THE RADETZKY MARCH | Nostalgia is a key concept in the work of Joseph Roth. Referring to John J. Su, this article asks whether we can speak of an ethics of nostalgia in his 1932 novel The Radetzky March. In this novel Roth draws up a nostalgic portrait of the Habsburg Empire which collapsed during the First World War. The aesthetic interpretation of the Habsburg Empire that The Radetzky March is, has ethical implications insofar as it draws up a vision of a just society in which one can live a good life. Roth’s appraisal of the Habsburg Empire can be seen as a counter-image that displays what he hated most about the inter-war period, namely political nationalism. The paper argues that the nostalgia of the novel supports a critique of contemporary society that is also a conservative critique of nationalism. The nostalgic portrait of the Habsburg Empire points to a vision of how to live a good life, which leads the article to conclude that we can in fact speak of an ethics of nostalgia in The Radetzky March.