Lion Feuchtwanger’s Erfolg: A Grossstadt Novel

Lion Feuchtwanger deals with the complexities of the Grossstadt and modern society in his novel Erfolg. He portrays the post-World War I problems in Germany of revolution, civil war, inflation, and unemployment and accurately depicts the attraction of the Munich populace to Hitler, leading to the Hitler putsch of 1923. Hereby he achieves a collective representation of the Grossstadt Munich and modern life in all its technical vitality. Feuchtwanger offers no solution to the complex problems of the Grossstadt except to counsel reason instead of simplistic accusations against the Jews, socialists, communists and the Judenregierung in Berlin.