Braker, Regina
Weapons of Women Writers

Bertha von Suttner's 'Die Waffen nieder!' as Political Literature in the Tradition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'.

This study explores the claim that von Suttner's novel was the "Uncle Tom's Cabin of the peace movement", as commented by Leo Tolstoy. The two novels are compared on the basis of Tolstoy's theory of art, with focus on the didactic purpose and moral message of each novel. While 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' is a work of moral suasion with an unabashed appeal to feeling, the analysis of militarism in 'Die Waffen nieder!' differs in scope and form and in its self-conscious use of sentimentality as a convention, even as its critique of social and political institutions is equally substantial. 155 Seiten, gebunden (Austrian Culture; Vol. 16/Peter Lang Verlag 1995) Mängelexemplar/near mint