Diverse Identity: the Motives of the German National Myth
The German national myth created by modernism is based on the idea of the dualism of the German soul and the dualism of Germany itself, bifurcated between reality and the ideal, or, according to Thomas Mann, between politics and music. The article examines some vivid examples of the interpretation of the German national myth, analyzes the problem of its genesis, formation and crisis, compares it with the conceptual pair of culture and civilization. The final part of the article is devoted to the interpretation of the German national myth in Mann’s report “Germany and the Germans” (1945), containing a criticism of the idea of two Germanies.