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For other uses of "Christine", see Christine (disambiguation). Christine is purportedly a compilation of letters from a "gifted young English girl studying in Germany just before the outbreak of the war" (Charms 188) to her mother in Britain. Written by Elizabeth von Arnim and presented under her anonymous pen-name Alice Cholmondeley, the work dated from May 28, 1914 to August 4, 1914, the letters were published in 1917. "Christine" explained her experience with German pre-war culture; however, Christine did not exist. She was a fictional character that some claim was Arnim's attempt at anti-German propaganda. These detailed letters helped to convey a picture to British citizens of the supposed state of mind of the German public during the chaotic days leading up to World War I.
[edit] BackgroundThe character of Christine was introduced to the British and American public as an eyewitness to the events that explain the German mindset leading into the war, which makes her character more believable. She addresses her mother in her letters with heart-felt sentiments that encourage the average reader to sympathize with her case. For example, she uses phrases like "Precious" and "Beloved" to refer to her mother. Christine speaks in terms of how the German men, women, children, and babies all conform to the aims of the nation leading into the Great War. She discusses the intensity of the German people as they begin to develop bloodlust at the prospect of gaining wealth through warfare with France and Russia. "… [The] Germans have gone mad… [The streets] seem full of drunken people, shouting up and down with red faces all swollen with excitement." Christine also complains of the mindless marching and the callousness of the Germans as she describes them as slaves—"abject, greedy, and pitiful." An article appearing in Nation stated if this book was true in nature, then it would "wipe out distinction between attitude of German people and the German government," ("Did the German" 1917). This is to say it would leave little doubt in the minds of the American people that the German people and their government had different views. The review would receive proper appreciation once the definite authorship was confirmed by the publishers, ("Did the German" 1917). The Christine piece was believed by many, because it offered an explanation and appeared to be written by what appears to be a woman without an agenda. The book also, would help the American effort to rally the American people and gain support for the war. Christine provided the audience with new details to plug into the stereotype of the German people. Arnim also went to great lengths to keep the public from knowing her true identity. "The adopted pseudonym, her subsequent fierce repudiation of authorship, even among intimate friends, may well be due to her realization that any suspected connection with herself might result in the most unhappy consequences…" (Charms 189). Leslie De Charms addresses the success of the Christine book in her biography saying "… Christine would not only be widely read at home, but would be heard of across the Channel and praised or abused according to the political sympathies of readers" (Charms 189). Many book reviewers questioned if the author was a young English woman traveling to Germany for violin lessons, The Dial of Chicago stated, "the doubt as to the legitimacy of the letter comes when one reads the initial one…. the fluency of the style, seem to indicate that 'Christine' is a clever, but fabricated narrative" (Dial Sept 13 1917). Another review from the New Republic, published "were 'Christine' genuine, it would be impressive," ("Bit o' Hate" Oct 6 1917). The style of writing in the first letter forces the reader question the intended audience. Throughout the first letter 'Christine' sets up the scene explaining her background; something one would not expect an individual to do when writing home to her mother for the first time; especially if she is writing in a hurry before she unpacks. Also, while Arnim might have gone to great lengths to keep her identity secret, some individuals had suspicions she was the one writing the letters, "in style and feeling 'Christine' reminds one strongly of 'Fraulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther' and other works of the Baroness von Arnim," (Athenaeum London, Book Review Digest 1917). Another aspect that made Christine unbelievable was the level of awareness for individuals in each German social class. "The letters thus show four different classes of people--the middle-class inhabitants of the boarding house; the well-to-do country folk, the artistic set, and the aristocratic Junker set; each one of these different sets, its opinions and manners and point of view, we see through the medium of these letters," (NY Times Aug 5 1917). This is somewhat of an unbelievable feat when one considers these were letters written by a girl who grew up poor, and the letters were written for her mother. Another review of Christine by the Boston Transcript had this to say about the book, "it is not often that a collection of letters intended for no eyes but those of a beloved mother turns out to an amazingly accurate revelation of the real, hidden nature of a great people," (Boston Transcript Book Review Digest 1917). [edit] The Christine Letters[edit] First Letter-May 28th ,1914Christine explains that she has made it to Berlin safely. She explains that even before she unpacks she is writing her mother to tell her how she is doing. Christine compares herself to a "young man starting his career" (Chomondeley 1). She goes on to say that it will only be a year or less before she comes back home. Christine explains that she knows her mother and that she will have to be brave. Christine then expresses her wishes that her mother could come to Berlin with her, but because of financial reasons they are limited. Her intentions of taking care of her mother are clear, and explains that it is now her turn to provide for the two of them. Christine asks that her mother gardens because it will help pass the time, and it will make her happy. She also goes on to say that they will have the "little house they dreamed about in London" (Chomondeley 2-3). This is the first time that we learn that Christine's mother is a widow. This is also the first time that we meet Frau Berg. The letter indicates that the house where she will be living is even cleaner than her house back in London. Thanks to the German that she learned in her youth, she understands much of what is being spoken to her, but still has limited vocabulary that she uses herself. In Christine the Germanic words she uses are as follows: • Nicht Wahr- not really (Chomondeley 5) • Wundervoll- wonderful (Chomondeley 5) • Natürlich-naturally (Chomondeley 5) • Herrlich-respectable (Chomondeley 5) • Ich gratuliere- I congratulate(Chomondeley 5) • Doch- surely, yes (Chomondeley 5) She closes the letter explaining how excited and happy she is to be in Germany. She also intends to write her mother later on in the evening. According to U.S. Senator Hiram Warren Johnson, "The first casualty when war comes is truth" (Ferri, 1987). Since the beginning of World War I, propaganda has played an important role in exploiting the opposition. The credibility of propaganda can be determined by analyzing the source and comparing it with documents that are factual. In particular, British propaganda in World War I used Christine, a series of letters written by Elizabeth Von Arnim, pen name Alice Cholmondeley, to promote Anti-German sentiment propaganda. When comparing the Christine letters to authentic war time letters, they were found to be fabricated. [edit] Christine as propagandaElizabeth von Arnim "had published Christine (1917) under the name Alice Cholmondeley. Purporting to be letters home from a girl in Berlin, it was viewed by some as anti-German propaganda; but it was meant partly as homage to Elizabeth's seventeen-year-old daughter who died in Germany in 1916" [1]. Many advertisements in the New York Times praised the 'truth and authenticity' found in the story early in its release. One article read, "She [has] written a book which is absorbingly interesting, with much in it of beauty and even more of truth." (A luminous story: absorbingly interesting). Insistence of truth in the story comes from Cholmondeley in the introduction of the book: "I am publishing the letters just as they came to me, leaving out nothing….We share our griefs, and anything there is of love and happiness, any smallest expression of it should be shared too. This is why I am leaving out nothing in the letters" (Fact and Fiction). The attempt to provide authenticity was not able to be sustained when articles began reporting quotes like, "They speculate wildly as to whether the book is a work of fiction or a chronicle of truth" (To-day's most eagerly discussed novel). Black propaganda is false material where the sources are disguised; the source claims to be on one side of a conflict, but is on the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy (Doob 439). Christine is black propaganda because it is false material, and the source is disguised. "Reviewers differ from each other as to whether these letters are fact or fiction. The publishers wrote the editor of the Digest on September 13, that 'We don't know and we have no means of finding out'" (Jackson, M., Reely M.R. 101-102). Also, "the doubt as to the legitimacy of the letters comes when one reads the initial one, which, like all first letters in epistolary novels, retails to the ostensible recipient all the facts the reader needs to know" (Did the German people desire war?). While the book is fictional, it was viewed as having a true concept behind it, especially upon release when the fallacies of the piece were not known. A New York Times article states, "It would be difficult, indeed, to find a book in which the state of mind of the German people just before and at the beginning of the war was pictured so clearly, with so much understanding and convincing detail, as it is in this one" (NY Times, Aug 5, 1917). The book used stereotypes that were "German" in nature, so while the actual letters were fabricated, the stereotypes were seen as true. Another New York Times review claimed, "…unveiling without rancor the soul of a naïve and arrogant people" (NY Times, Aug 25, 1917). Christine added to stereotypes and reinforced them. This gave the public the stories it wanted to hear, stories of a rude and arrogant people who were bent on conquest and bloodshed. It expanded on the propaganda that had been distributed by the British prior to 1917, which had portrayed the Germans as barbarians and morally unsound (such as the rape of Belgium and Edith Cavell). What is also important is that it sold. The 6th edition of the book was already out by September 15, 1917 (NY Times, Sep 15, 1917). A New York Times ad, from 1917, listed Christine as a recommended noteworthy fiction book. It stated, "Whether fact or fiction it is unique among all the books evoked by the war" (Recent noteworth fiction). The book was "so real…that one is tempted to doubt whether CHRISTINE is fiction at all" (To-day's most eagerly discussed novel). Christine did not provide factual 'truth' to its audience. Christine shows one side of the conflict. "If this is not a true history (and we prefer to believe that it is), then we can only deplore the wretched taste of an author who just at this time would dare to confirm our worst suspicions of Germany by an elaborate fiction parading as a document before the fact" (Did the German people desire war? 202). Christine "confirm[ed] many sickening doubts and fears, it fortif[ied] the indictment of a whole people…it is a book obviously composed by a skillful writer of fiction, feeding the appetite for hatred" (203). The notion that Christine is use as black propaganda is supported. Christine used methods of persuasion; Pathos, Ethos, and logos. Pathos plays on the audience's emotions. Aristotle states that "all those feelings that so change men as to affect their judgments and that are also attended by pain or pleasure" is what makes up pathos. (Bitzer 236). Pathos within Christine, is described as "full of beauty and poignant with true sentiment, few will read without tears this story of an English girl in Germany which brings home the ennobling pathos of the great war as few novels have done" (A new novel by a new author).Christine plays on the reader emotions multiple times. Which aids as a form of propaganda when she describes the Berlin citizens "drunk and mad out there publicly on the pavement, dancing with joy because they think the great moment they've been taught to wait for has come, and they're going to get suddenly rich" (Cholmondeley 195) and "get up to the top of the world and be able to kick it" (Cholmondeley 195). This coincides with Ronald Reid's view of barbarism. Which he explains "the chief method of arousing hatred was to recount atrocity stories" (Reid 266).The novel also uses "atrocity stories to keep such a distinction (that is, 'between those who fight war according to the rules with those who do not') alive and this function links them to the more general role of fear and terror in any culture" (Phillips 239). In Christine, she encounters mistreatment from the German officer during her attempt to retreat home. This eventually leads to her death, as an atrocity story (239). This genre of atrocity stories "draw on a Gothic tradition of fear of the Other. Such stories inevitably colour novels of the period, particularly pro-war novels, of which there are countless examples, now mostly out-of-print. For [this] example, Elizabeth Von Arnim's Christine" (Phillips 239). Ethos, is to demonstrate "the credibility and integrity of the speaker" (Bitzer 235). This form of persuasion is seen when Christine's mother reiterates "I am publishing the letters just as the came to me leaving out nothing" (Foreword of Christine). Lastly, logos is the "probity of thought and the convincing quality of evidence and arguments" (Bitzer 235). Christine, demonstrates logos by the realistic and descriptive writing of the author to strengthen the thought of Christine as anti-German propaganda.
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