A look at the book.“

Blue angel.“

The works of Heinrich Mann.

Perhaps most of us are familiar with Heinrich Mann’s creations through the famous film “The Blue Angel”. In fact, this film, with some changes based on the novel by the master, Heinrich Mann, was turned into a movie and after the amazing success of this film, the name “The Blue Angel” became the main title of the novel.

This novel, alongside the novel “Small Town”, is one of the most important works of the author’s early period, which was first published in 1905 under the title “Master Onorat, or The Fate of a Suicide”. The protagonist of the novel is a county secretary named Rat, which means “advice” in German, but his students and colleagues call him Unrat, which means “garbage” and “filth”.

Gradually, it becomes clear in the novel that this classification – calling advice “filth” – is not entirely baseless. This confident and narrow-minded teacher, who holds a certain social status for himself, loses his position in society due to his passionate love for a girl from a lower class who is pursuing a career in singing and opera, which is considered a third-class profession. The young singer, who is the love of his life, shamelessly drags down his esteemed and bound life and destroys it.

Heinrich Mann, who always had a hand in the “naturalism” style, goes beyond the framework of German naturalism in this work and, like some of his short stories, presents a critical work about German society during the time of Emperor Wilhelm. It should be noted that Heinrich Mann’s style cannot be easily placed in one of the literary schools. He is both the heir to the literary traditions of German Romanticism and, at the same time, influenced by the French writers of that time under the influence of realism and naturalism. It is natural that contemporary literary movements such as expressionism have also had no effect on him. In short, Heinrich Mann’s style is a combination of several literary schools; perhaps the story of the old love has little resemblance to romantic themes. On the one hand, the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the story also gives a Gothic feel. The contrast between the protagonist of the story, or rather the anti-hero, and the society and system

With all of Heinrich Mann’s works, he is not solely a naturalist because naturalists, due to their pessimistic view of humanity and their cynicism towards its potential, saw the root of corruption not only in the political systems governing societies, but also within the individual. Perhaps here, where Heinrich Mann also has a critical eye towards social issues in society, he is influenced by the realists who had a more critical perspective towards political and social structures. In this work, Heinrich Mann’s criticism is directed towards the relationships and educational structures of Germany at that time. This work, along with many others of his, paints a clear picture of Germany in the late 19th century and the methods of education prevalent in its schools.

It can be said that many of Heinrich Mann’s works are types of German power-based body analysis and also predict Nazism. But the author’s analysis is not one-dimensional. Unlike others, he does not see autocrats as only powerful and forceful, but in the novel “The Blue Angel,” he reveals a weakness in the character of Professor Unrat, who is himself an autocrat. Heinrich Mann shows that autocracy is more a result of weakness and mental illness than power. Autocrats and dictators are not superhuman and terrifying beings, but rather individuals trapped in their own hidden complexes of insecurity and inferiority, who now seek to alleviate their unconscious self-hatred and humiliation by commanding others and playing the role of a sacred power, to relieve their own unconscious humiliation and inferiority.

According to my opinion, the nobility of Heinrich’s work is also hidden in these lines, especially in the point he makes about how rulers can also be humble and lowly, and what is more important and comforting for us is that the inevitable fate of these lowly ones will lead to humiliation, degradation, and destruction. A closer look at the majority of these holy powers reinforces this belief; where did Hitler end up? Or Mussolini, Ceausescu, Pinochet, Saddam, Gaddafi, etc.? If we look closely at the current state of each of these individuals, what do we find other than a childhood filled with humiliation and the ridicule of adults around them?

But the subtle point is that the desire for power and greatness for compensation is not from these opportunists. The subtle point that Heinrich Mann also refers to is that such individuals cannot continue their game of power and their sacred mission to the end; the psychology of the person who has become a parasite on himself becomes destructive. The unconscious of such individuals, who are also disgusted with themselves, have a tendency towards collapse. It is no wonder that Hitler, at the height of his power, makes the most foolish strategic mistakes that even Napoleon would have laughed at. All dictators have made these inexplicable mistakes; like Ceausescu, who was dragged down like a snowball and didn’t want to see what was happening in his country until the moment of his death, or Saddam, who until the end, clung to power, or Gaddafi, who until the end, refused to go into exile and stuck his head out of the sewer pipe… There are many examples, but it seems

Barry Owner is also in the position of a power broker and its justifier, a self-centered person who opposes any human emotions around him, but as soon as a emotional feeling arises in him, he becomes restless and his ethical thoughts and his preaching turn into pure disbelief and chaos, and his preaching turns into filth and his preaching turns into filth.

However, what gives the story its realism and tangibility is the focus on the conditions of self-sufficiency that require a hierarchy and subordination, which we find most prominently in the character of Konrad in this novel. In any case, Heinrich Mann also reveals the ultimate fate of any form of fascism in such works. The final conclusion is that any form of self-sufficiency will ultimately lead to humiliation and defeat, as the foundation and essence of the existence of any form of fascism does not stem from power, but from a hidden weakness.

The final point is that the psychological analysis of Heinrich Mann’s personal struggles, which gives a special value to the novel “Blue Angel”, is not very noticeable in the screenplay of this work and naturally in the film “Blue Angel”. Therefore, it is recommended to the viewers of this film not to be satisfied with it and to seek the real “Blue Angel” in Heinrich Mann’s novels.

For further reading, please refer to:

“Blue Angel, written by Heinrich Mann, translated by Mahmoud Haddadi, published by Parsa Books, 1389.”

Literary Schools, written by Reza Seyed Hosseini, published by Payam, 1353.

Introduction to Literary Schools, written by Dr. Mansour Sarvat, published by Sokhan Publications, 1385 (2006).

Naturalism, written by Lillian Forrest, translated by Hassan Afshar, published by Nashr-e Markaz, 1375.