Daniel Shoop and Dr. Robert McFarland, Germanic and Slavic Languages
Researching Ann Tizia Leitich’s works was one of the highlights of my undergraduate studies. It had taken Dr. McFarland and me a few discussions to settle on this particular research topic. I was excited to work with him researching the topic of the American ‘other’ portrayed by Leitich and contemporaries such as Stefan Zweig, George Simmel and Theodor Lüddecke. Although I was excited to work on this project with a mentor whom I revered, my emotions were mixed. I must admit that my first thoughs of the research topic were not very interested. I thought it would be boring, but to my relief, the topic seemed to engross me until I had to keep myself from telling my friends about what I had read on a daily basis.
Dr. McFarland and I worked very closely and met often. We began working on the research project when we began to brainstorm ideas for a proposal to the ORCA office. From September to December we met biweekly. During each meeting we would discuss new ideas and write small pieces down, or rework our application until we felt it was ready. From January until March, Dr. McFarland and I met as frequently as we needed. By this point we had our ideas worked out and a plan set. I would find and read articles, often times rereading portions of Leitich’s essays, Amerika, du hast es besser (America, you have it better). One Saturday I spent just over eight hours in the Harold B. Lee library getting all of our ideas organized and on paper. This was the main ball of clay from which I molded my findings with the help of Dr. McFarland.
As we met in his office to discuss Leitich’s perspectives, I really feel that a new world opened up to me. Looking back, I feel like I was being trained to more meaningfully critically analyze literature and formulate my own opinion about them. I was obligated to come to meetings with something to show for my work, such as a new draft or a new idea. From these building blocks Dr. McFarland often guided me to derive and develop my own ideas and opinions about our research. Another essential skill I sharpened over the months was my ability to get our developed ideas on paper, backed with an array of evidence. This was by far the most rewarding and most challenging step for me. Oftentimes our meetings would consist of rewriting only one paragraph.
In 1930’s Austria, Americanism was prevalent and a cause for concern. It swept across the country, altering almost every aspect of the Austrian way of life. This change was called ‘Americanization’. Authors such as Franz Kafka depicted Americanization with duality. It was exciting, bringing opportunities and liberties, yet also threatened their way of life. Kafka violently lashes out at Americanization, claiming that it will monotonize the world. While Austria’s upper class men instill fear in the new ideas stemming from the Atlantic neighbor, a young girl is intrigued to investigate on her own.
While the upper class men write about America from a distant shore, Leitich immigrates to America and becomes the America ‘other’ which had been so feared. Leitich writes for Wien’s popular newspaper depicting her experiences in the distant land. Leitich traveled to a distant land and imbedded herself in a foreign culture and language. She offered her large Austrian following (and later through preservation of her works the world) an opportunity to understand Americanism from a complete different view. It is particulary interesting to compare the her essays, Amerika, du hast es besser (America, you have it better), and Stefan Zweig’s, Die Monotonisierung Der Welt (The Monotonizing of the World), as the two completely clash.
By utilizing Leitich’s “America, Du hast es besser!” essays, my final essay shows how she shed new light on topics such as the history of Austrian culture and its beginnings of American influence. Her essays have also provided us with an understanding of the amazing source of power which carried Americanism, while bringing the discussion of how this was possible to an end. Fordism and efficiency were key to Americanism, which Leitich argued caused the culture to spread so quickly and with such power but also created a distinct variance between classes. Leitich posed a very intriguing discussion on American culture and social structure which corresponded interestingly with German sociologist Georg Simmel’s ideas. She countered Mattl on the topic of a degrading society due to dissenting values and a lack of knowledge to claim that is one secret of American success. She also countered Lüddecke’s claims on American knowledge and wisdom, by actually ascertaining that Europeans learn too much. Having followed and analyzed the discursive threads on the American influence of Austria from Ann Tizia Leitich’s view of the ‘other, one will come to a better understanding of the ‘monotonizatoin’ of Austria in the 1920’s and early 1930’s