Helmuth Kiesel: Writing in Dark Times. History of German-Language Literature, 1933–1945

Nevertheless, works of great historical significance and high literary merit were produced. Helmuth Kiesel has written the first comprehensive account of this era from a single perspective. He explores a vast literary landscape spanning loyalty to the regime and exile, conveying a moving portrait of that time. Critics are in agreement: Helmuth Kiesel has written a book that is not only worth reading but also exceptionally accessible, and which must already be regarded as a standard work.

Between 1933 and 1945, literary engagement with the present demanded exceptional existential strength, political clarity, and literary skill. In his comprehensive account of the era, Helmuth Kiesel focuses on the literature of exile and internal emigration, as well as on authors sympathetic to the regime, and also on Austrian and Swiss German literature. In doing so, he presents the famous works of the era—from Anna Seghers’ *The Seventh Cross* to Thomas Mann’s *Doctor Faustus*, from Ernst Jünger’s *Marble Cliffs* to Hermann Hesse’s *The Glass Bead Game*—alongside numerous forgotten books that are literarily remarkable and historically insightful.

Helmuth Kiesel studied German language and literature and history in Tübingen from 1969 to 1974. After earning his doctorate with a dissertation on literary court criticism from Sebastian Brant to Friedrich Schiller, he completed his habilitation in 1984 with a dissertation on Alfred Döblin’s works written in exile and his later works. After holding professorships in Bochum, Tübingen, and at the University of Bamberg, he taught at the University of Heidelberg from 1990 to 2015. Kiesel’s research focuses on the history of German-language literature from 1918 to 1945.

Thomas Sparr studied literature and philosophy and worked at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at the German Literature Archive in Marbach. He later headed the Jüdischer Verlag and served as chief editor at Siedler Verlag. Today, he is editor-at-large for Suhrkamp Verlag and the author of numerous books on topics and authors related to German-Jewish history, among other subjects.

Maximilian Benz studied German language and literature, classical philology, and education; he earned his doctorate in 2012 from Humboldt University in Berlin, completed his habilitation in Zurich in 2019, and, after five years at the University of Bielefeld, has held the Chair of German Philology (Medieval Studies) at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen since the 2025–2026 winter semester.