Publication: “A mosquito against an elephant” or individual struggle against the state’s reign of terror
Abstract
Kitlesel hareketlerin ve kitlesel manipulasyonun en yoğun olduğu dönemde, yani 1936 yılında Avusturyalı yazar Stefan Zweig’in Castellio Calvin’e karşı ya da Köleliğe Karşı Özgür Düşünce adlı kitabını yayınlar. Yazmış olduğu bu biyografik çalışma ile Nasyonal sosyalist rejimin arasındaki benzerliklerin okuyucuların tarafından anlaşılması kaçınılmazdı. Zweig, 16. yüzyılda yaşayan yoksul bir hümanist ve idealist olan Castellio’nun biyografisi ile zulme, fanatizme ve buna bağlı olarak dikta rejimine baştan kazanılması imkânsız olan bir savaş açar. Çalışmanın amacı, Sigmund Freud’un ve özellikle kitle psikolojisinin etkisini, Zweig’in eserinde ortaya koymaktır. Çünkü, Faşizim’in kol gezdiği ve Avrupa’yı kökten sarstığı bu dönemde meydana gelen tüm olaylar aynı zamanda kitle hareketleriydi. Ayrıca bu esere daya- narak Nasyonalsosyalizm ile olan paralellikler ve dikta rejiminin dile, topluma ve mantaliteye etkisi ortaya konacaktır. Son olarak var olan politik ve toplumsal düzenin, devlet terörü, baskısı ve rejim değişikliği sonucunda edebiyata ne şekilde yansıdığı Zweig örneğinde ortaya konulması hedeflenmektedir.
In 1936, the peak year of mass movements and crowd manipulation, Stefan Zweig, the Austrian writer, published his book named The Right to Heresy: Castellio against Calvin. The similarities between this biographical work of his and the national-socialist regime had not escaped the attention of his readers. With the biography of Castellio, a humanist and an idealist who lived in poverty in the 16th century, Zweig declares a war where no victory is possible against tyranny, fanaticism and dictatorship. This study seeks to reveal the effects of mass psychology on Zweig’s work, for almost all the incidents of this period that engulfed the whole Europe then were considered as mass movements. Besides, based on the Zweig’s work, the influence of the dictatorial regime on language, society and mentality of the period is to be examined. The study is also intended to indicate, as in Zweig’s example, how political and social order that had faced an oppressive regime can be mirrored in literature.
In 1936, the peak year of mass movements and crowd manipulation, Stefan Zweig, the Austrian writer, published his book named The Right to Heresy: Castellio against Calvin. The similarities between this biographical work of his and the national-socialist regime had not escaped the attention of his readers. With the biography of Castellio, a humanist and an idealist who lived in poverty in the 16th century, Zweig declares a war where no victory is possible against tyranny, fanaticism and dictatorship. This study seeks to reveal the effects of mass psychology on Zweig’s work, for almost all the incidents of this period that engulfed the whole Europe then were considered as mass movements. Besides, based on the Zweig’s work, the influence of the dictatorial regime on language, society and mentality of the period is to be examined. The study is also intended to indicate, as in Zweig’s example, how political and social order that had faced an oppressive regime can be mirrored in literature.