TY - JOUR A1 - Stutz, Kathryn H. ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - G. B. Smith’s “Elzevir Cicero” and the Construction of Queer Immortality in Tolkien’s Mythopoeia JF - thersites 15 N2 - Following the death of J. R. R. Tolkien in 1973, an obituary appeared in The Times quoting Tolkien as having said that his “love for the classics took ten years to recover from lectures on Cicero and Demosthenes.” This contentious relationship between Tolkien and the Greco-Roman past contrasts with the work of unabashedly classicizing poet Geoffrey Bache Smith, a school friend of Tolkien’s who was killed in the Great War. When Tolkien collected Smith’s poems for posthumous publication, this paper shows, Smith’s engagements with the ancient world became part of Tolkien’s own philosophy of immortality through literary composition. Within his 1931 poem “Mythopoeia,” and his 1939 speech “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien articulated a unified method of mythmaking by looking back to his lost friend’s understanding of mythology as a type of ancient story-craft that enabled poets to preserve the dead against the ravages of time. By tracing a triangular path through the relationships between Tolkien, Smith, and the classical past inhabited by figures like Cicero, this paper argues that Tolkien not only recovered a “love for the classics,” but used classical texts to “recover” his lost friend, granting Smith a queer, classical immortality in return. KW - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien KW - Geoffrey Bache Smith KW - hauntology KW - queer theory KW - mythopoeia Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.225 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 253 EP - 284 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Praet, Raf ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - The Throne of the King BT - The Throne Room in Minas Tirith and Late Antique Ruler Ideology JF - thersites 15 N2 - A conspicuous feature of Tolkien’s description of the city of Minas Tirith in The Return of The King is the depiction of two thrones in the Great Hall; one empty throne reserved for the king, and one seat for the steward of Gondor. This paper aims to ascertain the late antique and mediaeval sources of inspiration behind Tolkien’s creation of the throne room in Minas Tirith. As a starting point, we shall compare the setting of the two thrones in Minas Tirith with a motive in Christian iconography, the hetoimasia, and its architectural expression in the Chrysotriklinos, the throne room in the Byzantine Great Palace in Constantinople. Next, we shall show that Tolkien intentionally obscured his appropriation of the Byzantine throne room to create a multi-layered image of rulership, in accordance with his aesthetics of applicability and allegory. In conclusion, we shall formulate some remarks on the interpretation of the association between the Byzantine Chrysotriklinos and the Gondorian Great Hall. As a form of Tolkien’s literary process of sub-creation, the description of the throne room in Minas Tirith serves to emphasise the significance of The Return of the King as a retelling of Christ’s restoration of the fallen world, placing the work of Tolkien in the context of a strong personal Catholic piety. KW - late antique palace architecture KW - Chrysotriklinos KW - allegory and applicability KW - sub-creation KW - Christ the King Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.210 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 232 EP - 252 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matz, Alicia ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Quis enim laesos impune putaret esse deos?: Ents, Sacred Groves, and the Cost of Desecration JF - thersites 15 N2 - Seneca the Younger, in his Letters, describes a sacred grove as a “thick grove of ancient trees which rise far above the usual height and block the view of the sky with their umbrella of intertwining branches” (Seneca the Younger, Letters 41.3). Fangorn Forest is clearly a sacred site as defined by Seneca, made even more sacred by the presence of the Ents. Thus, to violate it would be a terrible act of desecration, not unlike Lucan’s narrator’s shock at Caesar’s desecration of the sacred grove at Massilia (Lucan BC 3.447 – 8, quoted in the title of this paper). After exploring the relationship between Ents and sacred groves, the paper will compare the fate of Caesar to that of Saruman, who violated Fangorn Forest. Just as Augoustakis (2006) argues that the violation of the grove foreshadows Caesar’s death, so too Saruman’s death at the hands of Wormtongue becomes a fitting punishment for his violation of Fangorn. KW - sacred trees KW - Ents KW - Tolkien KW - Saruman KW - Julius Caesar Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.215 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 204 EP - 231 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chinn, Christopher A1 - Thompson, Phoebe ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Tolkien’s Ithilien and the Landscape of the Ancient Mediterranean JF - thersites 15 N2 - This paper examines the intertext between Tolkien’s Ithilien episode in Two Towers and artistic presentations of plants in the art and literature of Augustan Rome. We argue that the evident ‘superbloom’ depicted in the ekphrasis of the flora of Ithilien recalls both Vergilian botanical adynata (especially in the Georgics) and Roman wall paintings of the Augustan period. KW - Tolkien KW - Vergil KW - ecocriticism KW - Ithilien KW - flora Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.211 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 163 EP - 203 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oughton, Charles W. ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Roman Heroes at Helm’s Deep? BT - Livy, Macaulay, and Tolkien on the Horatius Cocles Episode JF - thersites 15 N2 - This article analyzes Tolkien’s narrative of the Battle of Helm’s Deep as a retelling of the Horatius Cocles episode from Livy’s AUC, which contains descriptions of the defenses and the bridge, a rally encouraged by Horatius, his bold stand both with his companions and alone, and the honors paid to him after the battle. Tolkien’s Battle of Helm’s Deep contains the same elements split across two narratives: the defense of the causeway leading to the gates of the Deep by Aragorn, Éomer, and Gimli; and, after the fall of the Deeping wall, Aragorn’s defiant stand alone on the stairway leading to the inner doors of the Hornburg. Aragorn’s double action demonstrates a fulfillment of Livy’s exemplary arc. Tolkien’s knowledge of Macaulay’s “Horatius” provides a possible intermediary that accounts for various additions to the story. However, the larger structure of Tolkien’s narrative as well as the imagery that resonates throughout the text distinctly evoke the vivid descriptions of Livy. While both sets of heroes make brave stands against their enemies, Tolkien’s warriors represent a civilizing force in their efforts to build and restore their defenses while Livy’s Roman heroes destroy the bridge to save their state. KW - Livy KW - Horatius Cocles KW - Tolkien KW - Macaulay KW - reception KW - exemplarity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.214 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 123 EP - 162 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kambo, Kevin ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Platonic Tripartition and the Peoples of Middle-Earth JF - thersites 15 N2 - Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings employ traditional races from fairy tales: elves, men and dwarves. These peoples are differentiated principally by their dominant desires, but also by their speech, diet, and realms. I argue that these three races are significantly inspired by the three aspects that characterize the Republic’s tripartite soul—logistikon, thumoeides, and epithumetikon—along with their respective principal desires: desire for truth, greatness, and material goods. For Tolkien, therefore, these races have a corporate or political psychology that explains who they are as peoples in the history of Middle-earth. I offer a comprehensive view of the major races, connecting the dwarves with the appetitive artisans of the Republic, humans with the honour- and glory-seeking auxiliaries, and elves with the ruling guardians. This treatment explains the artisanal dwarves, as well as the battle-loving men (and women) of Rohan and Gondor, and the nostalgic, ‘anamnetic’ condition of exile that distinguishes the elves. Indeed, the condition of elves in many descriptions recalls a Platonic philosopher returned to the Cave, as well as the Neo-Platonic sagacity pictured in the biographies of Plotinus and Proclus. KW - Plato KW - Tolkien KW - republic KW - Tripartite KW - race Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.219 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 90 EP - 122 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Capra, Elena Sofia ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - "Orfeo out of Care" BT - The Reception of the Classical Myth of Orpheus from Sir Orfeo to Tolkien JF - thersites 15 N2 - The paper focuses on an example of multiple-step reception: the contribution of the classical story of Orpheus and Eurydice and the mediaeval lay Sir Orfeo to Tolkien’s work. In the first part, I compare the lay with Virgilian and Ovidian versions of Orpheus’ myth. This comparison shows the anonymous author’s deep knowledge of the ancient texts and complex way of rewriting them through stealing and hybridization. The lay was highly esteemed by Tolkien, who translated it and took inspiration from it while describing the Elven kingdom in The Hobbit and building the storyline of Beren and Lúthien in The Silmarillion. Through this key tale, Orpheus/Orfeo’s romance has a deep influence also on Aragorn and Arwen’s story in The Lord of the Rings. The most important element that Tolkien takes from the Sir Orfeo figuration of the ancient story is undoubtedly the insertion of political theme: the link established between the recovery of the main character’s beloved and the return to royal responsability. The second part of the paper is, thus, dedicated to the reception of Sir Orfeo and the classical myth in Tolkien. It shows how in his work the different steps of the tradition of Orpheus’ story are co-present, creating an inextricable substrate of inspiration that nourishes his imagination. KW - Orpheus and Eurydice KW - Sir Orfeo KW - reception KW - Tolkien KW - Beren and Lúthien Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.209 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 52 EP - 89 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pezzini, Giuseppe ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - (Classical) Narratives of Decline in Tolkien: Renewal, Accommodation, Focalisation JF - thersites 15 N2 - The paper investigates Tolkien’s narratives of decline through the lens of their classical ancestry. Narratives of decline are widespread in ancient culture, in both philosophical and literary discourses. They normally posit a gradual degradation (moral and ontological) from an idealized Golden Age, which went hand-in-hand with increasing detachment of gods from mortal affairs. Narratives of decline are also at the core of Tolkien’s mythology, constituting yet another underresearched aspect of classical influence on Tolkien. Such Classical narratives reverberate e.g. in Tolkien’s division of Arda’s history into ages, from an idealized First Age filled with Joy and Light to a Third Age, described as “Twilight Age (…) the first of the broken and changed world” (Letters 131). More generally, these narratives are related to Tolkien’s notorious perception of history as a “long defeat” (Letters 195) and to that “heart-racking sense of the vanished past” which pervades Tolkien’s works – the emotion which, in his words, moved him “supremely” and which he found “small difficulty in evoking” (Letters 91). The paper analyses the reception of narratives of decline in Tolkien’s legendarium, pointing out similarities but also contrasts and differences, with the aim to discuss some key patterns of (classical) reception in Tolkien’s theory and practice (‘renewal’, ‘accommodation’, ‘focalization’). KW - narrative of decline KW - Hesiod KW - reception KW - focalization KW - accommodation Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.213 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 25 EP - 51 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cristini, Marco ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - The Fall of Two Cities: Troy and Gondolin JF - thersites 15 N2 - Vergil was a fundamental source of inspiration for Tolkien, not only when writing the Lord of the Rings, but also at the beginning of his “world-building”. The Fall of Gondolin, written in 1916, was modeled upon the Aeneid, whose second book shares many similarities with the description of Gondolin’s last day. For instance, the attack that seals the fate of the city takes place during a feast in both works, whereas both protagonists (Aeneas and Tuor) leave wives and sons to fight the enemy and witness deaths of their kings (Priam/Turgon). Other analogies include the topos of the fall of the tallest tower of the city as well as the scenes of Creusa/Idril clasping the knees of her husband and begging him not to go back to the battle. Tolkien chose the Aeneid as his main model because, in his opinion, the Aeneid and The Fall of Gondolin evoked the air of antiquity and melancholy. Vergil’s nostalgia for a “lost world” conveyed in the Aeneid greatly resembles the nostalgia pervading both Tolkien’s writing and life. KW - Tolkien KW - reception of Vergil KW - Aeneid KW - Troy KW - Gondolin Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.200 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 1 EP - 24 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matz, Alicia A1 - Paprocki, Maciej ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - There and Back Again: Tolkien and Greco-Roman Antiquity JF - thersites 15 N2 - The following introduction sketches the status questionis of the research on the influence of Greco-Roman antiquity on the works of Tolkien and provides details about the volume’s theoretical impetus and its broad themes. The editors discuss Tolkien’s complicated and indirect relationship with classical models, underscoring certain emergent themes in volume’s contributions, such as decline, multifocal reception and relationship with nature. KW - Tolkien KW - classical reception Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.228 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - i EP - xii ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wyrwa, Ulrich T1 - Zum Hundertsten nichts Neues T1 - For the Hundredth nothing BT - Deutschsprachige Neuerscheinungen zum Ersten Weltkrieg (Teil III) BT - New German Language New Releases to the First World War (Part III) JF - Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft Y1 - 2017 SN - 0044-2828 VL - 65 IS - 11 SP - 955 EP - 976 PB - Metropol-Verl. CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Renault, Manon ED - Bièvre-Perrin, Fabien ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Antiquités et pop cultures dans la haute couture et le prêt-à-porter des années 2010 JF - thersites 13: Antiquipop – Chefs d’œuvres revisités N2 - From the fluid dresses woven from precious materials evoking the iconic statues of Antiquity to the revival of Spartan shoes, two emblematic fashion trends will help us study the place of Greek Antiquity in contemporary women’s fashion collections. Ordinary as well as extraordinary, what do these reminiscences tell? Can they permit to understand the boundaries that structure and govern the fashion’s worlds? Numerous and diverse, the differences and the similarities of the ways in which classical references are used allow us to study the relations of power in which the specificities of haute couture and ready-to-wear are defined. The values, the entry criteria, the operating hierarchies as well as the very acceptance of the word “fashion” are different from one environment to another. From the catwalks of big fashion houses on Avenue Montaigne such as Chanel to the youngest brands, the differentiated readings and uses of Antiquity raise the question of the symbolic value of classics in fashion. KW - fashion KW - antiquity KW - sociology KW - Fashion Studies KW - pop culture Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol13.149 VL - 2021 IS - 13 SP - 125 EP - 140 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - D'Aprile, Iwan-Michelangelo T1 - Post aus Felsenburg BT - Erzählmuster und Nachrichtenverkehr in Johann Gottfried Schnabels Wunderliche Fata einiger Seefahrer JF - 300 Jahre "Robinson Crusoe" : ein Weltbestseller und seine Rezeptionsgeschichte N2 - 2019 jährte sich das Erscheinen von Defoes Robinson Crusoe zum 300. Mal. Zu diesem Anlass fand am Zentrum für Buchwissenschaft der LMU München eine Tagung statt, bei der buchhandelsgeschichtliche Kontexte des Romans dargelegt, neue Interpretationen diskutiert sowie die Rezeption des Robinson Crusoe untersucht wurden. In der Einleitung des Sammelbandes legt Christine Haug dar, unter welchen presse- und buchgeschichtlichen Voraussetzungen sich Daniel Defoe im frühkapitalistischen London als Bestsellerautor und politischer Journalist etablieren konnte. Die folgenden Beiträge behandeln motivgeschichtliche, ökonomische, kultur- und rechtsgeschichtliche Aspekte des Robinson Crusoe (Oliver Bach, Anne Enderwitz, Hania Siebenpfeiffer, Daniel Syrovy), befassen sich mit der Gattung der Robinsonade ( Iwan Michelangelo d'Aprile, Norbert Bachleitner, Wolfram Malte Fues, Wynfrid Kriegleder), mit jugendliterarischen Bearbeitungen des Stoffes (Andrew O`Malley, Peter Pohl, Hans-Heino Ewers) und mit der Robinson-Rezeption in der Lyrik und im Roman des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts (Bill Bell, Daniela Jancsó). Der vorliegende Sammelband gehört zu den wenigen neuen Neuerscheinungen, die zum Robinson-Jahr veröffentlicht wurden. Erstmals wird darin im deutschsprachigen Raum die aktuelle internationale Forschung zu Defoe ausführlich dargestellt und mit einer innovativen Sicht auf den in Entstehung begriffenen globalen Buchmarkt verbunden. N2 - The year 2019 marked the 300th anniversary of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. His novel was a huge success right away and was soon followed by bootlegs and translations. With the robinsonade, an independent genre of adventure literature was born. These contributions examine the novel within the context of bookselling history, provide new interpretations, and shed light on its multifaceted adaptation history up into the twenty-first century. Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-11-077606-5 SN - 978-3-11-077619-5 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110776195-008 SP - 145 EP - 166 PB - de Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo A1 - Freitag, Florian T1 - Theme Park Imitations BT - the Case of Happy World (Happy Valley Beijing) JF - Cultural History N2 - Theme parks frequently draw not only on historical themes, from antiquity to the roaring twenties, but also on their own history – that is, the history of the medium of the theme park itself. This article uses the example of the Happy World ride at Happy Valley Beijing (China) to discuss theme park imitations, that is, the fact that theme parks frequently borrow individual elements (themes, technologies, visuals, layouts, names) and/or entire units (rides, restaurants, themed areas) from each other. Opened in 2014 in the Greek-themed Aegean Harbour section of Happy Valley Beijing, Happy World may upon first sight look like an almost exact copy of Disney’s ‘it’s a small world’ (opened at Disneyland in California in 1966) but turns out to be, upon closer examination, a complex refunctionalization of central elements of ‘it’s a small world’ that establishes meaningful connections between (ancient) Greece and the city of Beijing via the theme of the Olympic Games: drawing on the origins of ‘it’s a small world’ in the 1964–5 New York World’s Fair and the latter’s motto of ‘Peace through Understanding’, Happy World takes visitors on a journey from the ancient Olympiad to contemporary Beijing (the site of the 2008 Summer and the 2022 Winter Olympic Games) to offer a theme park rendition of the 2008 Olympic torch relay as an homage to ‘the spirit [of peace, respect, and friendship] in the people’s [sic] of the world’. KW - China KW - Disney KW - Happy Valley KW - ‘it’s a small world’ KW - imitation KW - Olympic Games Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3366/cult.2022.0267 SN - 2045-290X SN - 2045-2918 VL - 11 IS - 2 SP - 181 EP - 198 PB - Edinburgh University Press CY - Edinburgh ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Glöckner, Olaf T1 - Trauma, Sieger, Selbstbehauptung BT - im Deutschland von heute treffen verschiedene jüdische Erinnerungen aufeinander JF - Dynamiken des Erinnerns : der Zukunft ein Gedächtnis geben. Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Julius H. Schoeps Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-95565-541-9 SP - 117 EP - 122 PB - Hentrich und Hentrich Verlag Berlin CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kotowski, Elke-Vera T1 - Die Geschichte als Sinngebung ... BT - Gedanken über den stets unzeitgemäßen Theodor Lessing JF - Dynamiken des Erinnerns : der Zukunft ein Gedächtnis geben. Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Julius H. Schoeps Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-95565-541-9 SP - 79 EP - 84 PB - Hentrich und Hentrich Verlag Berlin CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Homolka, Walter T1 - Konvergenzen: Rationale Theologie als Moment christlich-jüdischer Annäherung JF - Dynamiken des Erinnerns : der Zukunft ein Gedächtnis geben. Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Julius H. Schoeps Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-95565-541-9 SP - 49 EP - 57 PB - Hentrich und Hentrich Verlag Berlin CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Martykanova, Darina T1 - A Gateway to the World BT - Jewish and Armenian Engineers of Ottoman Background at the Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures (1853-1923) JF - Diasporas : circulations, migrations, histoire N2 - In the second half of the 19th century, the French École centrale des arts et manufactures became one of the engineering schools that enjoyed a worldwide reputation. There were many foreigners among its students. This article focuses on the graduates born in the Ottoman Empire, particularly on Jews and Armenians. It analyses their backgrounds, their common features and their professional careers, tracing their links with other centraliens. The patterns in the Ottoman centraliens’ professional trajectories help us picture a world full of opportunities where highly qualified men could cross borders and build careers with ease, but where, at the same time, origins, allegiances, contacts and credentials mattered greatly. N2 - Dans la seconde moitié du xixe siècle, l’École centrale des arts et manufactures française devint une école d’ingénieurs jouissant d’une réputation internationale ; les étudiants étrangers y furent nombreux. Cet article porte sur les diplômés nés dans l’Empire ottoman, en particuliers les étudiants juifs et arméniens ; il s’attache à leur parcours, à leurs caractéristiques et à leurs carrières professionnelles et restitue leurs liens avec les autres centraliens. L’étude de leurs trajectoires professionnelles permet d’appréhender un monde riche en opportunités, où des hommes hautement qualifiés pouvaient aisément traverser les frontières et construire une carrière, mais où, dans le même temps, les origines, les réseaux d’allégeance, les relations et les diplômes jouent un rôle de premier plan. KW - Engineers KW - Jews KW - Armenians KW - Ottomans KW - Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures KW - networks KW - Ottoman Empire KW - France KW - transnational Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4000/diasporas.718 SN - 1637-5823 SN - 2431-1472 VL - 29 SP - 33 EP - 51 PB - Presses Universitaires du Midi CY - Toulouse ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rürup, Miriam T1 - Kommentar zum Beitrag von Marion Röwekamp JF - Emanzipation und Recht : Zur Geschichte der Rechtswissenschaft und der jüdischen Gleichberechtigung Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-3-465-04535-9 SN - 978-3-465-14535-6 SN - 1610-6040 SP - 197 EP - 204 PB - Klostermann CY - Frankfurt am Main ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bösch, Frank T1 - Taming Nuclear Power BT - the Accident near Harrisburg and the Change in West German and International Nuclear Policy in the 1970s and early 1980s JF - German history : the journal of the German History Societ N2 - In 2011 a broad majority in the German Federal Parliament voted to abandon nuclear energy. This article explores the origins of the change in attitude towards nuclear energy and argues that seven years before the Chernobyl disaster, the accident at the U.S. power plant Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1979, had a profound impact which nowadays seems to be largely forgotten in Europe. The article identifies the structural causes underlying the transnational reception of the Three Mile Island accident and explores international reactions, particularly in the Federal Republic of Germany. The accident near Harrisburg led to a loss of public confidence and created unease about nuclear expansion in many industrialized nations. Reactions to the accident can be understood as an attempt to tame nuclear energy both technically, by increasing safety measures and abandoning plans for new nuclear power stations, and politically, with a more critical appraisal of nuclear energy and with semantics that encouraged a long-term withdrawal from nuclear power. Critics were now also accepted as experts. Nuclear policy in all countries became closely dependent on public opinion, indicating a high level of political responsiveness. Various factors, however, including the contemporaneous oil crisis put the brakes on this critical approach to nuclear power, while safety improvements and the limited expansion of nuclear power created new confidence in the early 1980s. KW - Nuclear energy KW - experts KW - social movements KW - media KW - 1970s KW - Germany Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghw143 SN - 0266-3554 SN - 1477-089X VL - 35 IS - 1 SP - 71 EP - 95 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER -