The German Patient

The German Patient takes an original look at fascist constructions of health and illness, arguing that the metaphor of a healthy 'national body' - propagated by the Nazis as justification for the brutal elimination of various unwanted populations - continued to shape post-1945 discussions about the state of national culture. Through an examination of literature, film, and popular media of the era, Jennifer Kapczynski demonstrates the ways in which post-war German thinkers inverted the illness metaphor, portraying Fascism as a national malady, and the nation as a body struggling to recover. Yet, in working to heal the German wounds of war and restore national vigor through the excising of 'sick' elements, artists and writers often betrayed a troubling affinity for the very bio-political rhetoric they were struggling against. Through its exploration of the discourse of collective illness, ""The German Patient"" tells a larger story about ideological continuities in pre- and post-1945 German culture.