Maulwurfsarchäologie

Historical narratives represent about a third of the total output of Wilhelm Raabe (1831-1910). In this study his characteristic concern to recreate the past in narrative terms is examined against the background of the structural models operative in Raabe's hermeneutic view of history. The interest evinced by Raabe in Germany's development towards a nation-state frequently takes the form of a narrative emphasis on illiberal deviations from the course of history in Western Europe as a whole. This mole-like burrowing down into the innermost strata of the historical development of a specific (German) mentalité is frequently combined with anthropological aspects of a history of the collective unconscious. There thus emerges a modern perspective on (German) history which is equally remarkable for the innovative aesthetic means employed in its communication.