Swastika Night: Difference between revisions

Swastika Night
	First edition
Author	Murray Constantine
Language	English
Genre	Dystopian
Publisher	Victor Gollancz Ltd
Publication date	1937
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	287 pp
ISBN	0-935312-56-0
OCLC	12162019
Dewey Decimal	823/.912 19
LC Class	PR6003.U45 S8 1985

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Swastika Night is a futuristic novel by British writer Katharine Burdekin, writing under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. First published in 1937 and subsequently as a Left Book Club selection in 1940, the novel depicts a world where Adolf Hitler's claim that Nazism would create a "Thousand Year Reich" is realised. Forgotten for many years, until republication in 1985 in England and the United States,^[1] literary historian Andy Croft has described Swastika Night as "the most original of all the many anti-fascist dystopias of the late 1930s."^[2]

Set hundreds of years in the future, this dystopia envisions a sterile, dying Nazi Reich in which Jews have long since been eradicated, Christians are marginalised, and Hitler is venerated as a God.^[3] A "cult of masculinity" prevails, homosexuality has become the norm, and a "reduction of women" has occurred: deprived of all rights, women are kept in concentration camps, their sole value residing in their reproductive roles.

The novel bears striking similarities to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, published more than a decade later: the past has been destroyed and history is rewritten, language is distorted, few books exist apart from propaganda, and a secret book is the only witness to the past.^[4]

Plot synopsis

Swastika Night takes place in a world where the Nazis and Empire of Japan defeated their enemies and conquered the world (from a modern perspective, the novel is an alternate history in which the Nazis won World War II, though at the time of its writing the war had not broken out and it was a work of speculative future fiction.) It follows the protagonist Alfred, an Englishman in his 30s who works as a ground mechanic for the German Empire in the Salisbury aerodrome. Alfred comes to Germany on a holy pilgrimage to see the holy sites of Hitlerism, the religion in this Nazi-dominated world. These sites include the holy forest and the sacred aeroplane in Munich with which Hitler won the Twenty Years' War by personally flying to Moscow, it is said. In this world Hitler is seen as a seven foot tall, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed man who was “exploded” from the head of God the Thunderer and was a god in his own right. He is preached about by "Knights" (a cross between the traditional, feudal knight and a priest) who pass this job down from father to son.

When Alfred arrives at his Nazi friend Hermann's village, he meets the Knight there, an old man by the name of Friedrich von Hess; Hermann works on this Knight's land. The Knight reveals to Alfred about how history was distorted by a man who even when confronted by the truth proclaimed Hitler a god. The writing of this man's book caused the Nazis to burn everything that contradicted the fact – even the book itself – and also anything that revealed life before the empire or during Hitler's life. An ancestor of von Hess wrote about the truth and entrusted the secret to his descendants as he also obtained and preserved a picture of Hitler and a young blonde woman that Alfred originally mistakes for Hitler. This convinces the already sceptical Alfred that Hitler was not a god when he sees that Hitler was a small, brown-haired man with a paunch.

Alfred then vows to return women to how they should be as in the novel they have become ugly things, with shaved heads and no self-respect, used solely for reproduction and kept in a place called the women's quarters from where they cannot escape and are seen as little more than animals. He also vows that he shall teach what is in his book to his fellow Englishmen and others so that eventually they can cause the shattering of the German Empire as the belief that holds it together falls apart. He presses that it must be an ideological, spiritual rebellion as a violent rebellion would be crushed by the occupation armies of the Germans.

Towards the end of the novel Alfred returns to Britain with the book, where he starts teaching his son from it. A few weeks after finishing the book Alfred, his son and Hermann (who followed Alfred to Britain) are almost caught by Nazi soldiers. While Fred (Alfred's son) escapes with the book, Hermann and Alfred are discovered, whereupon Hermann charges the soldiers and is killed. After this happens the soldiers try to discover the reason behind Hermann and Alfred being there, but are unsuccessful. A soldier then kicks Hermann's corpse, causing Alfred to fly into a rage and get beaten into unconsciousness; the beating is so bad that Alfred wakes up in hospital two days later and gets to talk to Fred one last time about continuing his work just before he dies of his injuries.

Reception

John Clute described Swastika Night as "a scathing feminist anatomy of war, sexism and power" and lists the novel as one of the "classic titles" of inter-war science fiction.^[1] Adam Roberts stated "Burdekin's pre-war story reads as horribly prescient and its feminist emphasis ... provides a very valid critique of fascism."^[5]

In his monograph Desire and Empathy in Twentieth-Century Dystopian Fiction, Thomas Horan argues that Burdekin introduces sociopolitical enlightenment, ethics, and hope via "queer desire".^[6] Swastika Night has been described as a "pioneering feminist critique".^[7]

Swastika Night was a Left Book Club selection in 1940—one of the few works of fiction thus honoured.^[8]

Bibliography

Katherine Burdekin: Swastika Night: Old Westbury: Feminist Press: 1985: ISBN 0-935312-56-0

References

^ ^a ^b Clute, John (1995). Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley. pp. 121, 215. ISBN 0751302023.
^ Hopkins, Chris (2006). English Fiction in the 1930s: Language, Genre, History. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 138. ISBN 0826489389.
^ D. Shaw (19 September 2000). Women, Science and Fiction: The Frankenstein Inheritance. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-0-230-28734-1.
^ For a comparative reading of these elements of the two dystopias, see George McKay (1994). 'Metapropaganda - self-reading dystopian fiction: Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night and George Orwell's 1984. Science-Fiction Studies 21(3): November.
^ Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0333970225 (p.171).
^ "Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night, a Gay Romance". ResearchGate. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
^ Gregory Claeys, "The Origins of Dystopia" in Claeys,(ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 0521886651 (p.126).
^ "Left Book Club | Series | LibraryThing". LibraryThing.com. Retrieved 22 October 2024.

Mentioned in

Arnott, Jake (2012). The House of Rumour. Sceptre.

[jc-1] Clute, John (1995). Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley. pp. 121, 215. ISBN 0751302023.

[2] Hopkins, Chris (2006). English Fiction in the 1930s: Language, Genre, History. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 138. ISBN 0826489389.

[Shaw2000-3] D. Shaw (19 September 2000). Women, Science and Fiction: The Frankenstein Inheritance. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-0-230-28734-1.

[4] For a comparative reading of these elements of the two dystopias, see George McKay (1994). 'Metapropaganda - self-reading dystopian fiction: Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night and George Orwell's 1984. Science-Fiction Studies 21(3): November.

[5] Roberts, Adam. The History of Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0333970225 (p.171).

[6] "Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night, a Gay Romance". ResearchGate. Retrieved 1 January 2021.

[7] Gregory Claeys, "The Origins of Dystopia" in Claeys,(ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 0521886651 (p.126).

[8] "Left Book Club | Series | LibraryThing". LibraryThing.com. Retrieved 22 October 2024.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|1937 novel by Katharine Burdekin}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
+{{Use British English|date=December 2020}}
 {{Infobox book | <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] -->
 | name          = Swastika Night
-| image         = Swastika night.gif<!--prefer 1st edition-->
+| image         = File:Swastika Night.jpg
-| caption = Cover of the [[Feminist Press]] edition of ''Swastika Night''
+| caption = First edition
 | author        = [[Murray Constantine]]
 | cover_artist  =
 | country       = [[United Kingdom]]
 | language      = [[English language|English]]
-| genre         = [[Dystopian|Dystopian novel]]
+| genre         = [[Dystopian]]
 | publisher     = [[Victor Gollancz Ltd]]
 | release_date  = 1937
@@ Line 18: / Line 21: @@
 }}
+'''''Swastika Night''''' is a futuristic novel by British writer [[Katharine Burdekin]], writing under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. First published in 1937 and subsequently as a [[Left Book Club]] selection in 1940, the novel depicts a world where [[Adolf Hitler]]'s claim that Nazism would create a "[[Nazi Germany|Thousand Year Reich]]" is realised. Forgotten for many years, until republication in 1985 in England and the United States,<ref name="jc">{{cite book |last=Clute |first=John |author-link=John Clute |title=Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia |year=1995 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=0751302023 |pages= 121, 215 }}</ref> literary historian [[Andy Croft]] has described ''[[Swastika]] Night'' as "the most original of all the many [[anti-fascist]] [[dystopia]]s of the late 1930s."<ref>{{cite book | last=Hopkins | first=Chris | title=English Fiction in the 1930s: Language, Genre, History | location=London | publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group | isbn=0826489389 | year=2006 | page=138}}</ref>
-'''''Swastika Night''''' is a futuristic novel by [[Katharine Burdekin]], writing under the pseudonym Murray Constantine, first published in 1937. The book was a [[Left Book Club]] selection in 1940.
+Set hundreds of years in the future, this dystopia envisions a sterile, dying Nazi Reich in which Jews have long since been eradicated, Christians are marginalised, and Hitler is venerated as a God.<ref name="Shaw2000">{{cite book |author=D. Shaw |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eV6ADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |title=Women, Science and Fiction: The Frankenstein Inheritance |date=19 September 2000 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-0-230-28734-1 |pages=42–}}</ref> A "cult of masculinity" prevails, homosexuality has become the norm, and a "reduction of women" has occurred: deprived of all rights, women are kept in concentration camps, their sole value residing in their reproductive roles.
-The novel is inspired by [[Adolf Hitler]]'s claim that Nazism would create a "[[Thousand Year Reich]]".
+The novel bears striking similarities to Orwell's ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', published more than a decade later: the past has been destroyed and history is rewritten, language is distorted, few books exist apart from propaganda, and a secret book is the only witness to the past.<ref>For a comparative reading of these elements of the two dystopias, see George McKay (1994). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348870761_Metapropaganda_-_Self-Reading_Dystopian_Fiction_Katharine_Burdekin's_Swastika_Night_and_George_Orwell's_1984#fullTextFileContent 'Metapropaganda - self-reading dystopian fiction: Katharine Burdekin's ''Swastika Night'' and George Orwell's ''1984''.] ''Science-Fiction Studies'' 21(3): November.</ref>
-The novel was forgotten for many years, until it was republished in the 1980s.<ref name="jc">{{cite book |last=Clute |first=John |authorlink=John Clute |title=Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia |year=1995 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=0751302023 |pages= 121, 215 }}</ref>
-Literary historian [[Andy Croft]] has described it as "the most original of all the many [[anti-fascist]] dystopias of the late 1930s".<ref>{{cite book | last=Hopkins | first=Chris | title=English Fiction in the 1930s: Language, Genre, History | location=London | publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group | isbn=0826489389 | year=2006 | page=138}}</ref>
 ==Plot synopsis==
-''Swastika Night'' takes place in a world where the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] and [[Empire of Japan|Empire of Japan]] defeated their enemies and conquered the world (from a modern perspective, the novel is an alternate history in which the Nazis won [[World War II]], though at the time of its writing the war had not broken out and it was a work of speculative future fiction.) It follows the protagonist Alfred, an Englishman in his 30s who works as a ground mechanic for the German Empire in the Salisbury Aerodrome. Alfred comes to Germany on a holy pilgrimage to see the holy sites of Hitlerism, the religion in this Nazi dominated world. These sites include the holy forest and the sacred aeroplane in Munich with which Hitler won the war by personally flying to [[Moscow]] it is said. In this world Hitler is seen as a seven foot tall, long blonde haired, blue-eyed man who was “exploded” from the head of God the Thunderer and a god in his own right. He is preached about by "Knights" (a cross between the traditional, feudal knight and a priest) who pass this job down from father to son.
+''Swastika Night'' takes place in a world where the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] and [[Empire of Japan]] defeated their enemies and conquered the world (from a modern perspective, the novel is an [[alternate history]] in which the Nazis won [[World War II]], though at the time of its writing the war had not broken out and it was a work of speculative future fiction.) It follows the protagonist Alfred, an Englishman in his 30s who works as a ground mechanic for the German Empire in the [[Salisbury Plain|Salisbury]] aerodrome. Alfred comes to Germany on a holy pilgrimage to see the holy sites of Hitlerism, the religion in this Nazi-dominated world. These sites include the holy forest and the sacred aeroplane in Munich with which Hitler won the Twenty Years' War by personally flying to [[Moscow]], it is said. In this world Hitler is seen as a seven foot tall, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed man who was “exploded” from the head of God the Thunderer and was a god in his own right. He is preached about by "Knights" (a cross between the traditional, feudal knight and a priest) who pass this job down from father to son.
-When Alfred arrives at his Nazi friend Hermann’s village, he meets the Knight there, an old man by the name of Friedrich von Hess; Hermann works on this Knight’s land. The Knight reveals to Alfred about how history was distorted by a man who even when confronted by the truth proclaimed Hitler a god. The writing of this man’s book caused the Nazis to burn everything that contradicted the fact – even the book itself – and also anything that revealed life before the empire or during Hitler’s life. An ancestor of von Hess wrote about the truth and entrusted the secret to his descendants as he also obtained and preserved a picture of Hitler and a young blonde woman that Alfred originally mistakes for Hitler. This convinces the already sceptical Alfred that Hitler was not a god when he sees that Hitler was a small, brown haired man with a paunch.
+When Alfred arrives at his Nazi friend Hermann's village, he meets the Knight there, an old man by the name of Friedrich von Hess; Hermann works on this Knight's land. The Knight reveals to Alfred about how history was distorted by a man who even when confronted by the truth proclaimed Hitler a god. The writing of this man's book caused the Nazis to burn everything that contradicted the fact – even the [[book burning|book]] itself – and also anything that revealed life before the empire or during Hitler's life. An ancestor of von Hess wrote about the truth and entrusted the secret to his descendants as he also obtained and preserved a picture of Hitler and a young blonde woman that Alfred originally mistakes for Hitler. This convinces the already sceptical Alfred that Hitler was not a god when he sees that Hitler was a small, brown-haired man with a paunch.
-Alfred then vows to return women to how they should be as in the novel they have become ugly things, with shaved heads and no self-respect used for solely reproduction and kept in a place called the women’s quarters from where they cannot escape and are seen as little more than animals. He also vows that he shall teach what is in his book to his fellow Englishmen and others so that eventually they can cause the shattering of the German Empire as the belief that holds it together falls apart. He presses that it must be an ideological, spiritual rebellion as a violent rebellion would be crushed by the occupation armies of the Germans. The reader may also realise that a violent rebellion would also only adhere to the Hitlerian beliefs of violence and strength.
+Alfred then vows to return women to how they should be as in the novel they have become ugly things, with shaved heads and no self-respect, used solely for reproduction and kept in a place called the [[Sex segregation|women's quarters]] from where they cannot escape and are seen as little more than animals. He also vows that he shall teach what is in his book to his fellow Englishmen and others so that eventually they can cause the shattering of the German Empire as the belief that holds it together falls apart. He presses that it must be an ideological, spiritual rebellion as a violent rebellion would be crushed by the occupation armies of the Germans.
-Towards the end of the novel Alfred returns to [[United Kingdom|Britain]] with the book where he starts teaching his son from the book. A few weeks after finishing the book Alfred, his son and Hermann (who followed Alfred to Britain) are almost caught by Nazi soldiers. While Fred (Alfred’s son) escapes with the book, Hermann and Alfred are discovered, whereupon Hermann charges the soldiers and is killed. After this happens the soldiers try to discover the reason behind Hermann and Alfred being there, but are unsuccessful. A soldier then kicks Hermann’s corpse causing Alfred to fly into a rage and get beaten into unconsciousness; the beating is so bad that Alfred wakes up in hospital two days later and gets to talk to Fred one last time about continuing his work just before he dies of his injuries.
+Towards the end of the novel Alfred returns to [[United Kingdom|Britain]] with the book, where he starts teaching his son from it. A few weeks after finishing the book Alfred, his son and Hermann (who followed Alfred to Britain) are almost caught by Nazi soldiers. While Fred (Alfred's son) escapes with the book, Hermann and Alfred are discovered, whereupon Hermann charges the soldiers and is killed. After this happens the soldiers try to discover the reason behind Hermann and Alfred being there, but are unsuccessful. A soldier then kicks Hermann's corpse, causing Alfred to fly into a rage and get beaten into unconsciousness; the beating is so bad that Alfred wakes up in hospital two days later and gets to talk to Fred one last time about continuing his work just before he dies of his injuries.
 ==Reception==
+[[John Clute]] described ''Swastika Night'' as "a scathing feminist anatomy of war, sexism and power" and lists the novel as one of the "classic titles" of inter-war science fiction.<ref name="jc"/> [[Adam Roberts (British writer)|Adam Roberts]] stated "Burdekin's pre-war story reads as horribly prescient and its feminist emphasis ... provides a very valid [[Anti-fascism|critique of fascism]]."<ref>Roberts, Adam. ''The History of Science Fiction''. Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|0333970225}}  (p.171).</ref>
-[[John Clute]] described ''Swastika Night'' as "a scathing feminist anatomy
-of war, sexism and power" and lists the novel as one of the "classic titles" of inter-war
+In his monograph ''Desire and Empathy in Twentieth-Century Dystopian Fiction'', Thomas Horan argues that Burdekin introduces sociopolitical enlightenment, ethics, and hope via "queer desire".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night, a Gay Romance |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323157454 |access-date=2021-01-01 |website=ResearchGate |language=en}}</ref> ''Swastika Night'' has been described as a "pioneering feminist critique".<ref>[[Gregory Claeys]], "The Origins of Dystopia" in Claeys,(ed.) ''The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature'' Cambridge University Press, 2010. {{ISBN|0521886651}} (p.126).</ref>
-science fiction.<ref name="jc"/>
-[[Adam Roberts (British writer)|Adam Roberts]] stated "Burdekin's pre-war story reads as horribly
+''Swastika Night'' was a [[Left Book Club]] selection in 1940—one of the few works of fiction thus honoured.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Left Book Club {{!}} Series {{!}} LibraryThing |url=https://www.librarything.com/nseries/4185/Left-Book-Club |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=LibraryThing.com |language=en}}</ref>
-prescient and its feminist emphasis&nbsp;... provides a very valid [[Anti-fascism|critique of fascism]]".<ref>Roberts, Adam.
-''The History of Science Fiction''. Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|0333970225}}  (p.171).</ref>
 ==Bibliography==
@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 ==See also==
 {{portal|Novels}}
-*[[Axis victory in World War II]]
+*[[Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II]]
+*[[Esoteric Nazism]]
+*[[Gender in speculative fiction]]
+*[[Sex and sexuality in speculative fiction]]
 ==References==
@@ Line 54: / Line 57: @@
 ===Further reading===
-*{{cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | authorlink=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | year=1948 | page=83}}
+*{{cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | author-link=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | url=https://archive.org/details/checklistfantast00blei | url-access=limited | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | year=1948 | page=[https://archive.org/details/checklistfantast00blei/page/n95 83]}}
+*''Swastika Night'' https://ia902803.us.archive.org/17/items/SwastikaNightKatherineBurdekin/Swastika%20Night%20-%20Katherine%20Burdekin.pdf
-===Mentioned in===
-*{{cite book | last=Arnott | first=Jake | authorlink=Jake Arnott | title=The House of Rumour | location= | publisher=Sceptre | year=2012}}
-==External links==
+===Mentioned in===
+*{{cite book | last=Arnott | first=Jake | author-link=Jake Arnott | title=The House of Rumour | publisher=Sceptre | year=2012}}
-* [http://www.feministpress.org/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=55861100401690 Feminist Press]
 [[Category:1937 British novels]]
-[[Category:1930s science fiction novels]]
+[[Category:1937 science fiction novels]]
+[[Category:Anti-fascist books]]
 [[Category:British science fiction novels]]
 [[Category:Feminist science fiction novels]]
@@ Line 69: / Line 72: @@
 [[Category:English novels]]
 [[Category:Novels about Nazi Germany]]
-[[Category:Political novels]]
+[[Category:British political novels]]
 [[Category:Works published under a pseudonym]]
+[[Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books]]