Author Description

By means of close analysis of Rudolf Borchardt's (1877-1945) autobiography, the study demonstrates that he had a narcissistic personality from early childhood, and draws on his essays and speeches to indicate how this personality structured his self-presentation as martyr, prophet, and messiah of German/European history. The four main sections discuss the culture-political roles he allots to the 'abortive nation' (Germany), the 'hostile poet' (Stefan George), the 'absent ruler' (from Wilhelm II to Hitler), and the 'quest for a home' (Prussia between Berlin and Kvnigsberg) in the cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries, which Borchardt construed in the form of a tragedy.