The Hitler Family

A Relational Approach to Norman Mailer

Authors

  • Walter Grünzweig Dortmund University Author

Keywords:

The Castle in the Forest, Adolf Hitler, literary historiography, psychohistorical analysis, narrative ethics, family systems theory

Abstract

On one level, The Castle in the Forest is a book about life of the lower classes of the German-speaking section of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and about one man, Alois Hitler, who manages to rise above the humble origins of his family. It looks at the daily life of the peasants, the education of their children, their sexual relationships, and their sometimes desperate attempts to improve their limiting life conditions. The massive quantity of information Castle provides concerning Hitler’s family and early childhood is equally focused on a later historical development, although in a much different manner. Mailer seems to suggest that there must be some explanatory potential here for what happened later on.

Author Biography

  • Walter Grünzweig, Dortmund University

    Walter Grünzweig, a native of Austria, is professor of American literature and culture at Dortmund University in Germany and Adjunct Professor at University of Pennsylvania and SUNY Binghamton. His research focuses on transatlantic literary and cultural relations and international academic exchange. He is the author of the entry on Mailer in the German-language Kritisches Lexikon zur fremdsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur, which he has been updating since 1991. This lexicon also serves as a bibliographical tool for the German reception of Mailer.

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Published

2026-02-10

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2008): In Memorium

Section

Articles