Many people know what it’s like to dive headfirst into a captivating book. Sometimes fictional characters and emotions can feel completely real. But what happens in our brain when we devour page after page? How does this differ from its work during other moments of everyday life? And is there any difference at all?
These questions were partially answered by a team led by specialists from Carnegie Mellon University. They explored how we read literature using a machine learning algorithm.
How Scientists Study Brain Activity During Reading
The perception and comprehension of written text is an incredibly complex process. Early research tried to break it down into parts, focusing on each aspect separately. For instance, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they tracked which brain structures were involved in processing a single word or sentence.
However, these strictly controlled experiments barely resembled the actual process of reading. Sentences used as stimuli for brain activity were often out of context, crafted specifically for the research. While such studies provided useful information about certain aspects of text comprehension, they did not help form a complete picture.
Machine learning specialists took a different approach. Volunteers read a chapter from an engaging novel while scientists scanned their brains. The researchers then deconstructed the brain’s functioning process. According to the scientists, they created the first integrated model in the world that shows how our brain processes written words, grammatical structures, and stories.
The Study’s Process
Researchers gathered a group of eight volunteers and recorded their brain activity using an MRI scanner as participants spent 45 minutes reading a chapter from the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (specifically, the episode where the characters are learning to fly on broomsticks).
In the next stage, the scientists fed the data into a computer program they had written. Their algorithm looked for patterns of brain activity that occurred when participants read specific words, grammatical constructions, names of characters, and so on. There were 195 such “story elements” in total.
The program was able to determine which part of the chapter the participant was reading based solely on brain activity. To make these conclusions, the algorithm used models of brain activity that it had learned to associate with each story element. When researchers applied all these models at once, the program was able to identify which of two passages a person was reading with 74% accuracy, which is significantly higher than random guessing.
Finally, the scientists repeated the test for each type of story element in every brain region. This helped them discover connections between them and precisely determine which brain structures process different types of information. Some results aligned with the researchers’ expectations, while others were quite surprising.
Practical Implications of the Findings
As expected, the brain processes individual words through an initial stage in the visual cortex, which handles all visual information, and then through higher-level processing areas. These include gyri in the frontal and parietal lobes, which are involved in language, speech comprehension, interpretation of text, reflection, and more. But that’s not all.
When participants read descriptions of physical movements in the book, activity in the posterior temporal lobe and angular gyrus changed.
These brain regions are involved in perceiving real-life movements.
Different characters’ personalities correlated with neuron activity in the right posterior superior and middle temporal regions. These structures are important for speech perception, visual memory, and emotions.
Dialogues were linked to the right temporoparietal junction, a brain region critical for imagining the thoughts and goals of others.
Interestingly, some of the areas listed are not even considered part of the brain’s language system.
We use them daily when interacting with the real world, and now it turns out that they also engage when we imagine the perspectives of different characters in books.
This seems to confirm the existence of a phenomenon scientists call the “narrator perspective network.” In other words, it’s a network of brain areas that allows us to “become” the character of the story we’re reading.
If these hypotheses are correct, science could be on the path not only to creating a more accurate neural model of language processing but also to better understanding how and why this process can break down.
Scientists are interested in various ways that speech perception can be disrupted. With enough data, they may be able to understand how one brain, for example, that of a person with dyslexia, works differently from any other.
Researchers hope that such diagnostic tools will one day help create individualized neurological correction methods for dyslexia and other reading disorders. If these methods prove effective, many people may find it much easier to fully immerse themselves in a good book.
She defended her mother’s reputation against misrepresentations and intrusions.
Her efforts contributed to the success of iconic TV adaptations.
Rosalind’s legacy lives on through her son today, Mathew Prichard, a dedicated philanthropist.
Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Hicks, Agatha Christie’s only child, was born on August 5, 1919, and passed away on October 28, 2004. When Rosalind’s mother passed away in 1976, she received a sizable chunk of the inheritance, including 36 percent of Agatha Christie Limited’s stock. Christie’s autobiography was released in 1977, and she helped write it with her second husband, the lawyer Anthony Hicks. In addition to helping Christie write, Rosalind analyzed and organized the notes that were important in the development of Christie’s legacy. She tried to stop the release of new materials that would have twisted her mother’s original works or that would have harmed her legacy. Her son Mathew Prichard and eventually her grandson James Prichard took the helm of ACL when she passed away.
Rosalind Hicks’ Early Years
It was at Ashfield, a coastal resort town near Torquay, Devon, that Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie was born on August 5th, 1919. Her maternal grandmother raised her. Agatha’s parents, Frederick (1846-1901) and Clarisa Boehmer (1854-1926), had her there in 1890. Colonel Archibald Christie (1889-1962), Rosalind’s late father, served as a military pilot during World War I. Rosalind’s parents married in late 1914, and when Rosalind was seven, the family relocated to Sunningdale and into a mansion they called “Styles,” after Agatha’s first mystery book, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles.”1
Rosalind’s grandma Clarissa died away on April 5, 1926, a loss that hit Agatha pretty hard.2 Archibald, who worked in London City, began dating Nancy Neele, who worked in an office nearby, about this time. On Rosalind’s birthday in August 1926, he told Agatha he had fallen in love with someone else.
After months of trying to patch things up, the couple finally gave up. Tension and arguments grew between them. Agatha departed from “Styles” for eleven days in December 1926, to an unknown destination. A controversial divorce case developed shortly after that. Agatha met archeologist Max Mallowan in 1928 and lived the rest of her life with him beginning in 1930.
She kept the surname she had inherited from her previous marriage. Agatha seemed to feel remorse for Rosalind, who had blamed her mother for the family’s dysfunction. However, the latter has always stuck to the “official” explanation for her mother’s absence from the Styles house. As her daughter describes it, Agatha “was ill throughout 1926 and, at some traumatic moment on the night of December 3-4, lost her memory.” Christie and her ex-husband kept in touch seldom, mostly via letters. After Nancy Neele passed away in 1956, Rosalind covertly contacted her father and even met him.
Her Education and a New Life at Greenway Estate
After everything that happened, Agatha, a world traveler who supported herself by writing, made the difficult decision to enroll her daughter in a prestigious private school. Before attending Benenden, Rosalind attended Caledonian, both British boarding institutions.
It is believed that Christie’s boarding school in “Cat Among the Pigeons” (1959) was inspired by her time spent there. Rosalind Hicks attended two Swiss boarding schools for her formal education and then moved to Paris and Munich, France, and Germany, respectively, to study the languages. Greenway Estate in Torquay, which her mother acquired in 1938 and refurbished the following year, became a regular place of residence for Rosalind Hicks as she became older.
Throughout her memoirs, the author made references to her daughter. She said that the primary trait of “Rosie” consisted of “irrepressible activity”: “She was the kind of fidgeter who do not sit still for a minute and, returning after a long and tiring picnic, cheerfully asked: ‘Dinner is still half an hour away – what are we going to do?’”3
The Fate of Rosalind’s Two Marriages
Rosalind Hicks married Major Hubert de Burr Prichard (1907-1944), an army officer from a privileged family, at the start of World War II. Mathew was born to them on September 21st, 1943. Sadly, the news that Hubert had been killed in action in the Battle of Normandy in 1944 dampened the celebrations of his loved ones. Five years later, she married lawyer Anthony Arthur Hicks (1916-2005) in 1949 and remained married to him until her death in 2004 and Anthony died a year later.
The title of Agatha Christie’s biggest hit “The Mousetrap” was suggested by Rosalind’s husband Anthony. Recalling the experience, Agatha said, “When it became clear that the original title, The Three Blind Mice, could not be used because there was already a play with that title, we all began to think of a new one. Anthony came in and immediately said: “The Mousetrap” – and we immediately agreed.”
Since Agatha did not anticipate the play’s popularity, she did not consider the possibility that Anthony might want a portion of the profits.
Agatha gave her daughter the Greenway Estate in 1959. The writer’s will, which was disclosed after her death in 1976, left the bulk of her estate to her only children Rosalind, and Agatha’s husband Max Mallowan. The couple also split a sum of £107,000 dedicated by Agatha (£950,000 or $1.15 million in today’s value), although Agatha Christie’s total earnings were more than $100 million in today’s money.
In addition, Rosalind received a sizeable inheritance from her mother’s company: 36 percent of the stock in Agatha Christie Limited. This corporation owns the commercial and copyright rights to all of Christie’s works, including those based on her original novels and those adapted for television, cinema, radio, and video games. Novels like “Sleeping Murder” and “Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case” were written in the 1930s and 1940s to wrap up the storylines of her most well-known investigators, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. The author has given her husband and daughter the rights to reproduce these works.
Agatha originally decided that “Curtain” would belong to Max and “Sleeping Murder” would go to Rosalind, but she subsequently reversed her mind. These books were published in 1975 and 1976 from original manuscripts that were transported to New York for safekeeping.
Rosalind Worked on Christie’s Autobiography
Christie’s memoirs saw help from the Hicks couple. It was published in 1977, almost two years after the author had passed away. The author’s own words provide a wealth of information about Agatha Christie and her approach to writing. They have become essential tools for any scholar or biographer interested in Christie’s writings.
Christie’s personal notes were also analyzed and organized by Rosalind. They are seen as essential to understanding the development of the storylines in her novels. Rosalind decided on the random and non-chronological order4 in which Agatha’s 73 drafts would be numbered. Agatha and Rosalind’s notebooks make up the bulk of this collection.
Rosalind Hicks preserved her mother’s inheritance with all her might. According to American biographer Richard Hack, “Rosalind zealously watched to ensure that the reputation of Agatha Christie did not spoil poor-quality editions and movies”
Rosalind’s Impact on Her Mother’s Legacy
Even in her latter days, Rosalind defended her mother’s legacy, whether it be her life or her work, with an intensity and vigor that belied her late age. She wrote articles in the newspapers with this aim, and she made an effort to have an impact on Agatha Christie Limited in any way possible. If any of her mother’s letters or notebooks contained sensitive information, she hid them away. Due to Rosalind’s fierce opposition, her mother’s approved biography was finally published by Janet Morgan in 1984. Laura Thompson, yet another biographer, mentioned Rosalind and her son Mathew in her released work.
She also fought against intrusions into her mother’s private life and adaptations that misrepresented her spirit:
— For example, Rosalind disapproved of the Agatha Christie-themed book “Agatha” (1978)5 by journalist and author Kathleen Tynan. The book dealt with the disappearance of Agatha Christie.
The 1979 British drama thriller “Agatha” was the cinematic adaptation of the same book with the same plot. Directed by British filmmaker Michael Apted, Vanessa Redgrave starred as Agatha Christie, Timothy Dalton as Archibald Christie, and Dustin Hoffman as Wally Stanton.
In the plot, Christie is unable to accept the fact that her husband has chosen his mistress over her. She wants to commit suicide to set out to blame her competitor for it. But at the last minute, Agatha changes her mind and accepts the divorce.
In The Times in 1977, Rosalind stated that the movie, made without consultation with anyone from her parents’ families, was contrary to their wishes and would cause them great distress.
Rosalind and the Agatha Christie Foundation both sued to prevent the film’s release in 1979, but the court ruled against them. The reason for this was likely the lack of protest by the public against the film’s distribution; in other words, people didn’t care how accurate the movie would be.
However, she did greenlight certain shows for the little screen. The most famous of them are “Agatha Christie’s Poirot” (1989–2013), with David Suchet as the legendary Hercule Poirot, and “Miss Marple” (1984–1992), starring Joan Hickson as the title character. Their widespread success may be partly attributed to the fact that Christie’s daughter helped create them.
The “Agatha Christie Society,” founded by Rosalind in 1993, aims to preserve the author’s work and name. Rosalind established it, and Joan Hickson and David Suchet served as co-chairs. After extensive renovations were completed and it was opened to the public in 2009, Greenway Estate was donated to the National Trust by Rosalind and Mathew in the early 2000s.
Rosalind Hicks’ Death
In 2004, before her death, Rosalind Hicks had an estimated net worth of $1 billion or £600 million. Most of this net worth was believed to be the value of her Greenway Estate. Mathew Prichard was the primary heir of her estate, and he also controlled the rights to Christie’s groundbreaking play, The Mousetrap.
Agatha Christie Limited was first run by Rosalind’s son Mathew, and then by James Prichard, Rosalind’s grandson. Mathew reflected on his mother’s “enthusiasm, devotion, and understanding” in promoting Agatha Christie’s works, saying, “The continued popularity and success of Agatha Christie’s books in recent years is largely the result of my mother’s hard work.”
Since their marriage in 1949, Rosalind Hicks and her husband Anthony Arthur Hicks were longtime residents of the Greenway Estate until Rosalind’s death on October 28, 2004, at the age of 85, in Torbay. Her husband passed just six months after her. Rosalind only left behind a single child, Mathew Prichard (b. 1943), who has been working as a philanthropist to this day.
Hitler had an extensive personal library with over 16,000 books.
Hitler’s reading interests were diverse, including military books and philosophical works.
Hitler was influenced by esoteric and obscure writings, not just mainstream literature.
Adolf Hitler had a voracious reading habit. While still a young man, he would often read every book in the library. In Vienna, he spent much of his time reading. He read thousands of books, and he memorized large portions of his favorites. Odd enough, Hitler probably read more books than anybody else in history. Adolf Hitler even neglected Eva Braun because of his reading obsession. More than 16,000 books lined the shelves of the dictator’s personal library. In 2003, Timothy W. Ryback, a historian, analyzed the books Hitler read. Hitler read the writings of Karl May, Wilhelm Busch, Karl Marx, and many more.
Adolf Hitler was a bookworm. Even as a World War I soldier, he chose to spend what little money he had on books rather than on hookers and cigarettes. While stationed in the trenches, Hitler read the tract of an architectural critic who railed against the “over-alienation” of Berlin by non-Prussian structures.
Hitler, the mass murderer, was either unaware or unconcerned that this German nationalist architecture critic was Jewish. His reading binge had a meticulous quality to it; he read the books diligently, sometimes till the small hours of the morning. Even after Hitler became dictator of the German Reich, he continued to be a bookworm.
Hitler’s holidays in early August 1933. (Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2004-1202-502 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)
Hitler wasn’t concerned about illiteracy, which plays a major part in Bernhard Schlink‘s international blockbuster “The Reader.” Once, as Hitler was enjoying a cup of tea and some books in the “Berghof” in the Berchtesgadener Land, he was suddenly interrupted by Eva Braun. After he sent her out with a scathing monologue, Eva stumbled down the steps outside his room as her face flushed with anger.
After spending the night buried in a book, Hitler would come out the next morning and give a comprehensive explanation of what he had read. As a reader, Hitler favored books with reference sources and encyclopedias. As the story goes, there was a time when a debate arose about just how magnificent Napoleon Bonaparte really was as a leader. Hitler mysteriously walked into the next room, retrieved the “Großer Brockhaus,” and then returned with the right answer he was looking for.
Some of the books that Hitler is believed to have read:
“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”
“The Will to Power” by Friedrich Nietzsche
“The Decline of the West” by Oswald Spengler
“The World as Will and Representation” by Arthur Schopenhauer
“Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Friedrich Nietzsche
“The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century” by Houston Stewart Chamberlain.
How Many Books Did Hitler Have?
However, Hitler was not only an avid reader but also a collector. In 1935, Janet Flanner of the “New Yorker” reported that Hitler had 6,000 books in his personal collection. A decade later, there were 16,300 books in his library collection. In the end, only around 1,200 volumes were recovered from Hitler’s private collection that was dispersed among homes in Munich, Berlin, and Berchtesgaden. Hitler’s books are stored today at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, on standard steel shelving.
Timothy W. Ryback, a historian, paid Hitler’s library a visit. He has cleaned off the book spines, combed through the pages for notes and drawings, and later written a literary biography of Hitler: “Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life.“
We know from Dante that anybody attempting to go into the Inferno must be accompanied by a guide, a Cicerone. Timothy Ryback’s guide down into the monster’s head was a German-Jewish scholar named Walter Benjamin. He killed himself at Portbou, France, in 1940, with the Gestapo on his heels and an impassable border in front of him.
Even Hitler’s love of books couldn’t compete with that of German philosopher Walter Benjamin. He believed that someone’s personal library was like a window into her or his whole being, and a person’s personality could be “read” by the collection of books he or she amasses over the course of a lifetime.
But just as Hegel claims that the owl of Minerva doesn’t take to the air until nightfall, one can only accurately assess the spirit of a given era once it has passed into obsolescence, so too can the soul of a bookworm be understood only after he has passed away. And this is the case with Hitler.
In What Ways is Hitler Portrayed in the Books He Read?
Hitler read anything that caught his eye, which made him an extremely diverse reader. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of mundane details too, including the fact that half of Hitler’s book was devoted to military books. It has also long been known that Hitler adored Karl May‘s Native American works. As the tides of battle turned against him, Hitler sought solace in May’s Wild West fancies, perhaps hoping that at the last minute, battalions of Old Shatterhands would rescue his Nazi Germany with a cunning plan of attack against the red Comanches and Yankee bombers.
Adolf Hitler read the books of the Jew-hater Paul de Lagarde with great perseverance. The film director Leni Riefenstahl suggested to Hitler the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s volume of books, who taught Völkisch socialism (a German ethno-nationalist movement) and was a fanatical Jew-hater. While the German philosopher Nietzsche was also more often linked with the Nazis, he was a Jewish critic but not a Jew-hater.
Hitler liked Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s books, which were full of hatred for Jews and taught Völkisch socialism, a German ethno-nationalist movement.
The book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” written by Nietzsche, enthralled Hitler immensely. The ideals of self-mastery, self-cultivation, self-direction, and self-overcoming, as well as the idea of the “Übermensch” or “superman,” inspired him in particular. Hitler was particularly taken by the book’s repeating themes of accepting one’s destiny by embracing all of life’s tragedies and joys and perpetual recurrence—the belief that all events in one’s life would happen again and again, indefinitely. Also, the book “God is Dead,” the prediction of the Übermensch, and another of his books, “The Will to Power,” which is essential to human nature, all inspired Hitler’s thoughts.
Among the books Hitler owned is a beautifully bound copy of the “Words of Christ,” but it is hard to interpret from this that Hitler was a devout Bible reader. He cherished the books, not only “Robinson Crusoe,” but also “Don Quixote” and “Gulliver’s Travels.” It’s true that Shakespeare was one of Hitler’s favorite authors, as he often quoted the poet. The 1925 edition of Shakespeare’s works, translated by Georg Müller, was found in his possession. Shakespeare was responsible for several turning points in his country’s history. On the other hand, the possible books of Goethe, Schiller, Dante, and Schopenhauer were probably destroyed during the Allied bombardment.
Hitler often recited lines from “Julius Caesar” and “Hamlet,” such as “Thou shalt see me at Philippi” or “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
This all can be quite humiliating to find out. Because Adolf Hitler is not the kind of person you want to share a love of Shakespeare,Miguel de Cervantes, or even Jonathan Swift‘s Gulliver’s Travels with.
But Thomas Mann’s famous article “Bruder Hitler” is one antidote that does calm our annoyance about the books Hitler read and liked. Timothy Rybeck probably did not know about this article, otherwise he would certainly have cited it. Before World War II broke out, author Thomas Mann saw something of a kindred artist in Hitler, whom he both despised and was captivated by.
He writes, “It’s all there, in a shameful way: the difficulty, laziness, and miserable indefinability of childhood; the inability to be accommodated; the half-stupid vegetating in deepest social and mental bohemia; the fundamentally haughty; the fundamentally thinking oneself too good; the rejection of any reasonable and honorable activity.”
Many Obscure and Occult Writings
It is sad that this avid reader turned out to be a murderer. Many of the books in Hitler’s collection have esoteric or otherwise hard-to-find subjects. An obscure author called Ernst Schertel reflects Hitler’s mind better than Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, or Gottlieb Fichte.
Riedel, in his work titled “The Law of the World: The Coming Religion,” criticizes the materialism and goal-orientedness of the average European by pointing out that they base their beliefs on facts rather than on anything internal to themselves. According to the book, the real genius is “ectropic” in the sense that it can create an entire universe from nothing via the application of its devilish will.
Hitler put several thick and passionate pencil notes of approval on the book. The “ectropic” was the term that defined his leadership.
Hitler’s ideas were influenced by an after theory from a cheap, sensationalized booklet rather than Martin Luther or German idealism. For years, it has been known that the “Ostara” series booklets, written by Austrian “racial theorist” Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, had a significant impact on young Adolf Hitler. This information was revealed in Wilfried Daim’s book “Der Mann, der Hitler die Ideen gab,” (The Man Who Gave Hitler The Ideas) which also highlights the pornographic elements of these booklets.
At the end of reading Timothy Rybeck’s thorough investigation, one is left feeling unsatisfied. Even with Walter Benjamin as a guide, it is impossible to fully understand the mind of the mass murderer, and this is likely because there is no real mystery to uncover.
Hitler, in his core, was empty and void. Attempting to comprehend him leads to nothingness. He was a blank slate who enjoyed reading.
Struwwelpeter is one of the most popular children’s books ever written. And this original Christmas gift has spawned many humorous imitations. In Frankfurt in 1844, Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann was searching for a Christmas gift for his son Carl. Children at that age cannot yet read, hence a picture book was chosen.
After searching the city’s bookshops, Hoffmann (1809–1894) was left with only long novels or comical picture collections, realistic illustrations, and plain morals, as he later reflected.
After another futile hunt, Hoffmann eventually went home, this time with an empty notepad. He started doodling and making up rhymes, eventually coming up with the basic concept for “Struwwelpeter.”
“Struwwelpeter” is sometimes referred to as “shock literature” because of its vivid and at times, gruesome consequences for the misbehaving children. It aimed to shock children into good behavior through these cautionary tales.
Laugh-Out-Loud Anecdotes and Cartoons
Nikolas, just before he drowns three little boys in his inkwell, 1917.
Formerly known as “Funny Stories and Droll Pictures,” this term is now used as the book’s subtitle. Despite mounting pressure from a variety of quarters, Hoffmann remained unconvinced that he should make the booklet accessible to the public. But his family worried that his small son might eventually rip up the pamphlet anyway. Hoffmann was a member of a group called Tutti Frutti that gathered weekly to hear inspiring speeches and/or musical creations, and they were also pushing for Hoffmann’s work to be published.
In the middle of January 1845, only a few weeks after Hoffmann had delivered the gift to his son, the Tutti Frutti (Italian for “all the fruits”) got together again. Zwiebel, as Hoffmann was known in this community, read his writing, and the fruits were thrilled.
One of them, known by a pen name, Spargel (“Asparagus”), had just co-founded a publishing enterprise with a business partner. He proposed 80 guilders to Hoffmann for the text. Hoffmann concurred. This deal had transformed him into a literary celebrity among teenagers practically overnight.
Struwwelpeter Ruled the Globe
The first print run of 1500 copies was quickly depleted. Depending on the source, the edition sold out anywhere from one to two months after its release. In short order, the original six were joined by others, such as the tales of Paulinchen, who plays with matches, The Story of Fidgety Philip, and The Story of Flying Robert. Internationally, the piece was likewise met with great acclaim.
The American adaptation, named “Slovenly Peter,” was penned by none other than the great humorist Mark Twain.
What Made Struwwelpeter So Popular?
Slovenly Peter by Mark Twain.
But what made this book such a hit with readers? The two most important explanations have to do with technology and cultural shifts, respectively. By the middle of the 19th century, industrialization had made it feasible to duplicate books at much lower costs. Lithography made it possible to print books without the once-expensive practice of hand-coloring their illustrations.
As a result of societal changes that started at the tail end of the 18th century, middle-class women also had greater time for what we now term “leisure” activities. Furthermore, a larger percentage of adults started to see childhood as a distinct phase of development. This resulted in the publishing industry taking notice of mothers and their children as a new target demographic. This marked the official introduction of children’s books to the mainstream reading public.
There was a newfound focus on writing and publishing children’s literature. Why, however, did “Struwwelpeter” stand out and become so well-liked? The tales in “Struwwelpeter” presumably struck a chord with readers because they reflected common observations about children at the time and today, such as the refusal of certain children to sit still or eat what is put in front of them or the harassment and intimidation of others, like in the case of The Story of the Inky Boys.
Both the original “Struwwelpeter” and its updated “Struwwelpaula” were featured in a Berlin exhibition back in 1994. Struwwelpaula is an example of a punk character.
However, it’s not just that. Even though they were intended for youngsters, Hoffmann’s illustrations and narrative were designed mainly for adults. The tales’ potential educational value is now a matter of debate. Since the original publication, a sizable body of literature has amassed, and with it, a wide range of opinions and valuations.
The underlying depravity, melancholy, and suffering, according to some, make the work unsuitable for young readers. However, there is another group of people that highlight the chaos, ostentation, and fun that result from Struwwelpeter. Thus, it is not surprising that Struwwelpeter has been the subject of not just countless translations since its inception, but also innumerable parodies and fresh interpretations.
An “Egyptian Struwwelpeter” was in use by the late 19th century. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) had an unauthorized print of the book, which was originally written by the three Viennese siblings. Truwwelpeter’s many incarnations are a mirror of society’s shifting mores. For instance, the “Struwwelliese” was written in the 1950s, and the “Struwwelpaula” in the 1990s; in both, a young girl dresses as a punk and travels the nation spraying subway cars with graffiti.
The Political Versions of Struwwelpeter
Struwwelhitler.
Most notably, there was a flood of political parodies. In 1848, the year of the French revolution, there was, for instance, the proper Struwwelpeter in the role of a revolutionary. The “New Reichstag Struwwelpeter” appeared in print in 1903. The Soup Kaspar’s lines, “Don’t let them in. We don’t need a soci, no!” are meant to represent the concerns of the Social Democratic Party’s seasoned political guard after the party’s electoral victory.
The English brothers Robert and Philip Spence published “Struwwelhitler” under the pen name “Dr.
Schrecklichkeit” in 1941, and in 1914 they released “Swollen-Headed William” to mock the German Kaiser Wilhelm II for propaganda reasons. In this book, two writers lampoon Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goring, Joseph Goebbels, and Benito Mussolini.
Before British troops were sent to the mainland, they were handed this book, which had been quickly and inexpensively printed.
The Continued Relevance of Struwwelpeter
The Struwwelpeter Museum.
Even though “Struwwelpeter” has taken a lot of heat over the years for making some dubious moral claims, many people still know and enjoy the tales. A new edition was released, and an exhibition was presented at the Museum of Cultural History in Germany in 2022.
Additionally, the Struwwelpeter Museum in Hoffmann’s birthplace of Frankfurt remains a popular destination among visitors. According to a study report written in 2020 by a philologist at the University of Krakow, Struwwelpeter’s continued relevance may be attributed to the work’s ambivalence and ambiguity.
If you continue to read in the dark, your eyes will be permanently damaged. This reprimand was most likely shared with many people when they were children. But should a parent even be concerned about anything like this? Could reading in inadequate light truly cause nearsightedness or other refractive errors?
People believed that genetics were the primary factor in determining nearsightedness and that environmental factors had only a very small role. This belief existed as late as fifty years ago. Experiments conducted with monkeys and birds showed, however, that this kind of impaired eyesight could be purposefully created.
For instance, hens were outfitted with specially designed matte glasses that obscured their eyesight. As a direct consequence of this, the chicks’ eyeballs started to grow. Because of this, the picture that was created by the eye lens was no longer projected precisely onto the retina, which caused the chicks to develop nearsightedness.
Vision Impairment Leads to an Increase in Eyeball Size
The trials demonstrated that it is necessary to have fine details on the retina in focus, to avoid excessive expansion of the eyeball. This also applies to human beings. For instance, if a child’s eye lens is cloudy when they are young, there is a chance that they may develop nearsightedness as they become older. This is because the eye will attempt to remedy the apparent farsightedness.
But a lack of light may also cause this effect. When scientists placed a form of sunglasses on chicks, they forced them to live in perpetual low light. They did this so they could study the impact of a lack of light. These chickens also acquired myopia, but to a far lower degree than their contemporaries who wore matte glasses.
Myopia Is Spreading Like Wildfire Among the Student Population
The question is, what does this imply for humans? Does reading in the dark corner of the room or beneath the blankets cause long-term harm to the eyes? The consensus is that “no” is the most appropriate response to this question. Because several studies have shown that the prevalence of myopia, or nearsightedness, has substantially grown over the last few years and decades, particularly among students.
There is a strong connection between the total number of hours spent in education and impaired vision. For instance, there has been a substantial increase in the number of youngsters suffering from myopia in Asia as the education levels in that region increased and children spent more time in school and on their homework.
Dopamine Triggered by Sunlight
But to what extent is reading the fault of impaired vision like myopia? The results are inconclusive. But experts believe it’s more probable that the culprit is youngsters spending more time sitting at home than the amount of time they spend reading. Recent research has indicated that encouraging youngsters to spend more time outside may help to reduce the risk of nearsightedness in childhood.
Because exposure to strong sunlight stimulates the neurotransmitter dopamine to be produced in the eye. This, in turn, stops the eyeball from expanding to an unhealthy degree. If youngsters spend more time outside and less time inside, there will be less of a negative impact.
People From Cities vs. Rural Areas
According to the study, this connection also explains why children living in cities have a higher risk of having nearsightedness than children living in rural regions: children living in cities spend less time playing outdoors than their counterparts living in rural areas.
There are experimental initiatives already underway in China and Singapore to encourage families to participate in more outdoor leisure activities. It is safe to say that bookworms who spend more time outdoors won’t be causing any damage to their eyes.
The findings of the study indicate that there is strong evidence that this may at least partly compensate for the strain that is placed on the eyes as a result of close-up vision.
