Carl Zuckmayer's The Devil's General as Autobiography

.CARL ZUCKMAYER'S rHE DEVIL'S GENERAL AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY CRITICS GENERALLY AGREE that Carl Zuckmayer entered a new creative phase about 1940. This new period, beginning with The Devil's General, is primarily characterized by Zuckmayer's choice of contemporaneous subject-matter and his centering on ethical objectives that are obtained through the phenomenon of encounter; characteristically now in the sense of friendship and trust, along with the equation of love to a belief in the essential decency of humanity.l The creation of The Devil's General is the result of Zuckmayer's own travails of conscience and attempts to come to grips with the phenomenon of Nazi Germany which altered the whole course of his life. Self-exiled from Germany in 1933, with an interim period in Austria and Switzerland, Zuckmayer immigrated to America in 1939. The Devil's General was written while he was farming in Vermont. If rumor can be credited. Zuckmayer for one fleeting moment was considering the possibility of staying on in Germany and going along with the powers-that-were. Thus through the writing of The Devil's General Zuckmayer seems to recreate such a possibility for himself. In his superb portrayal of Harras. Zuckmayer draws largely on congenial elements of his own soul.2 A character study results, as the drama is built to an overwhelming degree around the personality of General Harras who dwarfs all other characters. The hero's name is not accidental. but is ironically appropriate. In Schiller's Wilhelm Tell there is the figure of Rudof der Harras, who is Gessler's adjutant. A kind-hearted and chivalrous soul. he is yet a devil's general who is fascinated by the Gessler idea. 1 For a more detailed exposition of the phenomenon of encounter see my "The Motif of Encounter in Zuckmayer's Dramas," Kentucky Foreign Language Quarterly, X (l96g), 183-90. 2 See Luise Rinser's revelation of Harras-Zuckmayer in her fascinating essay "Portratskizze," in Fiille der Zeit, Carl Zuckmayer und sein Werk (Frankfurt, 1956), pp. Ig-g0. For an over-all analysis of Zuckmayer's work from a generally autobiographical perspective, see Wolfgang Paulsen'S brilliant study, "Carl Zuckmayer ," in Deutsche Literatur 1m .110. ]ahrhundert, 11, Gestalten, ed. Hermann Friedmann and Otto Mann (Heiddberg, 1961), pp. gOIl-IUI. 54 1966 The Devil's General 55 Harras, as a Zuckmayer he-man type of hero, differs from his predecessors through his self-conscious and voluble articulateness shown by his readiness to express his philosophy of life. It is a hedonistic, robust affirmation of life with heavy overtones of daredevil cynicism: "I've been risking my life for a quarter of a century about every second day and it was nice, everything considered . Enough girls-enough to drink-a lot of flying-and-a few good moments. What more can you want." (p. 921)3 He explains "a few good moments" subsequently as amounting to a glimpse of an ultimate rationale of life seen by him in typical Zuckmayer fashion as beauty or joy or both. (p. 931) The feminine duo of Olivia and Diddo ostensibly is brought in for the inevitable romantic angle, but it also serves to throw light on Harras as a Zuckmayer type of Don Juan. Olivia and Harras are kindred souls in their 19th century type of individualism, in their old-fashioned sentimentalism and, above all, in their self-centered urge towards self-fulfillment. Olivia is as passionately obsessed with the stage as Harras is with flying. By contrast, her niece Diddo possesses all the attributes of. Zuckmayer's ideal woman: great femininity, charm, and strong, natural feeling. In addition to this, she has the capacity of selfless action for the sake of love, regardless of the consequences. A striking feature of Harras' personality is his honesty, "which is to him not just the summum bonum, but is self-consciousness and trust in his own courage, strength and independence."4 This is illustrated above all in Harras' open contempt for the Nazis and in his free admission of the egocentric motivation behind his cooperation with them. Somewhat unlovable in itself, such an admission is infinitely more worthwhile than a basic dishonesty to...