„Deutschland zur See“

Abstract

Abstract The article examines a genre of popular literature that accompanied the build-up of the German navy in the 1880 s and 1890 s. This Marineliteratur produced seminal images and narratives closely related to political naval and colonial discourses of the Deutsches Kaiserreich. The proponents of a national navy were then able to draw upon the wealth of these “naval fantasies” for their own propaganda. By appealing to a broad audience, but especially to young bourgeois men, the literary genre problematically partakes in shaping and popularizing national, imperial, and masculine identities.