MACMILLAN National Socialism and German Discourse: Unquiet Voices

In this discourse history, W J Dodd analyses the ‘unquiet voices’ of opponents whose contemporary critiques of Nazism, from positions of territorial and inner exile, focused on the ‘language of Nazism’. Individual chapters review ‘precursor’ discourses; Nazi public discourse from 1933 to 1945; the testimonies of ‘unquiet voices’ abroad, and in private and published texts in the ‘Reich’; attempts to ‘denazify the language’ (1945-49), and the legacies of the Nazi past in a retrospective discourse of ‘coming to terms’ with the Nazi past. In the period from 1945, the book focuses on contestations of ‘tainted language’ and instrumentalizations of the Nazi past, and the persistence of linguistic taboos in contemporary German usage. Highly engaging, with English translations provided throughout, this book will provide an invaluable resource for scholars of discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and German history and culture; as well as readers with a general interest in language and politics. Review “Jargon-free and accessibly written, with translations provided throughout, a careful glossary of terms, and a targeted bibliography following each chapter, it strikes just the right balance between comprehensive overview and penetrating digest, and will appeal as much to an interested non-specialist reader as a specialist. … Dodd provides the perfect amount to encourage further independent research and reading.” (Kirstin Gwyer, Modern Language Review, Vol. 114 (3), July, 2019) “Dodd has written an important book. It should be on any reading list of key works on German history and thought over the last two centuries.” (Joachim Whaley, Journal of European studies, Vol. 48 (3-4), November, 2018) Review “In this wide-ranging, profoundly serious, yet accessibly written study W J Dodd traces the origins, realities, and legacies of Nazism in German discourse history, focusing impressively on the ‘unquiet voices’ of the time and their contribution to a modern understanding of the politics of language use. This important book deserves to find many readers not only in the English-speaking world, but also in Germany!” (Jürgen Schiewe, University of Greifswald, Germany) “The central focus of Dodd’s account is the complex nexus formed by the discourse practices of National Socialism and the commentaries and counter-discourses of intellectuals and writers engaging in different ways with the (linguistic) brutality of the Nazi regime through public and private dissent. The originality and power of his argument, however, lies in his meticulous tracing both of the antecedents of National Socialist language and of its legacy and its continuing relevance in the present day. Dodd gives us an exemplary demonstration of the German tradition of Sprachkritik: this erudite study is grounded in serious scholarship but the argument is articulated in a lucid and accessible style. These strands of political language use, and critiques of them from many different perspectives, are then skilfully knitted together into a compelling and authoritative narrative.” (Patrick Stevenson, University of Southampton, UK) From the Back Cover ‘In this wide-ranging, profoundly serious, yet accessibly written study W J Dodd traces the origins, realities, and legacies of Nazism in German discourse history, focusing impressively on the ‘unquiet voices’ of the time and their contribution to a modern understanding of the politics of language use. This important book deserves to find many readers not only in the English-speaking world, but also in Germany!’ ― Jürgen Schiewe, Institute of German Philology, University of Greifswald, Germany In this discourse history, W J Dodd analyses the ‘unquiet voices’ of opponents whose contemporary critiques of Nazism, from positions of territorial and inner exile, focused on the ‘language of Nazism’. Individual chapters review ‘precursor’ discourses; Nazi public