Course:ENGL419/Books/Adolf in Blunderland and Truffle Eater: Children's Literature Parodies of Adolf Hitler

Introduction

In addition to being extremely popular 19th century children's books, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann’s Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures both have something else in common: they have been parodied. Even more specifically, both have been parodied in the 1930s to satirize Adolf Hitler and the rise of Nazi Germany. This article will focus on two items in UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections Library (RBSC): Adolf in Blunderland by James Dyrenforth and Max Kester and Truffle Eater: Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures by Oistros (Humbert Wolfe).

Thomas Jung explains that during “the [19]30s there was a wave of contemporary satirical portrayals of the ‘Fuhrer’”. The “alienating depictions of Hitler served the purpose of making him laughable as well as providing enlightenment about the mechanisms of how power was exercised by a paranoid yet popular petit bourgeois. Hitler figured here as a laughable anomaly in a civilized middle class world" . Adolf in Blunderland and Truffle Eater both portray Hitler with humour and as an object of ridicule, while also commenting on the context that allowed for his rise to power. The books' content and illustrations playfully draw from their source texts, but the decision to use children’s literature as the originator for these satires is deliberate and effective. The children’s genre configures Hitler as immature and inexperienced, but the intersections between the original texts' intentions and that of the satirists creates a sustained critique of European politics in the 1930s.

Historical Context

Adolf in Blunderland and Truffle Eater satirize Hitler at different moments in his political career during the 1930s. Truffle Eater, which was published in 1933, is concerned with Hitler's initial rise to power with the Nazi Party, while Adolf in Blunderland, published in 1939, focuses on the events leading up to the beginning of World War II.

Truffle Eater

Truffle Eater was published in 1933 and its satire is focused on Hitler’s then-recent political movements.

An insignificant political force during the 1920s, Hitler and the Nazis saw a huge rise in popularity in the 1930 election after the Great Depression hit Germany, winning 107 seats in the Reichstag. In 1932, Hitler unsuccessfully ran for President, but the Nazi party continued to gain popularity and influence. On January 30, 1933, Paul von Hindenburg, President of Germany, appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany. Hitler quickly expanded his power over the next couple of months. On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag burned down and Hitler used this event to intimidate his opponents and suspend civil liberties. After failing to win a majority in the March 5, 1933 elections, Hitler manoeuvred his way into passing an “enabling act” that gave him dictatorial powers for four years .

Adolf in Blunderland

Adolf in Blunderland first aired as a radio drama on the BBC on October 6, 1939. The first edition of the text was published in December 1939, with the second and third UK editions both coming out in that same month.

By this time Hitler had further consolidated his power and had made his intentions for Germany’s expansion quite clear. In 1933 he withdrew Germany from the League of Nations, in 1934 he reintroduced military conscriptions, and in 1936 he reoccupied the Rhineland. At the same time, Hitler put forward a large-scale propaganda campaign and fuelled anti-semitism with the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 and Kristallnacht in 1938. After annexing Austria and Czechoslovakia, he invaded Poland in 1939, thus beginning World War Two.

Truffle Eater: Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures

Truffle Eater: Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures was published in Britain in 1933 by Arthur Barker Limited. The author, Humbert Wolfe, used the pseudonym "Oistros". Truffle Eater is a parody of Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter and retells the tales in the context of Nazi Germany, whereby the original characters are replaced by key figures such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.

Struwwelpeter

Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures is a German's children's book by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann. Hoffmann originally wrote and illustrated five stories for his children in 1844 because he was dissatisfied with the existing children's literature. His friends persuaded him to publish his work and in 1845 the five stories were released as Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder (Merry Stories and Funny Pictures). Hoffmann continued working on the text, changing its name to Struwwelpeter for the third edition, and settling on its final form with the fifth edition .

Struwwelpeter contains a series of verses about various children misbehaving and the antics that ensue. Given that it is a book for children, the contents would likely shock modern readers, as the children suffer various forms and violence and death throughout the text. Notable examples include "The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches", in which Harriet plays with matches, set herself on fire, and burns to death, and "The Story of Augustus, who would not have any Soup", in which the boy Augustus refuses to eat soup and thus starves to death .

Creators

Truffle Eater is written by Oistros, whose real name is Humbert Wolfe. Wolfe was born on January 5, 1885 and died on January 5,1940. He was a poet of Jewish heritage and condemned anti-semitism in some of his writings .

Arthur Barker Limited was founded in London in 1932 and went out of business in 1991. They focused on fiction, but published a range of general titles. During the Second World War, founder Arthur Barker became a Japanese prisoner-of-war and publishing was suspended from 1939 to 1946. The company was purchased in 1946 by printing company Morrison and Gibb and was later sold to George Weidenfeld in 1959, becoming an imprint of Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Format

Truffle Eater is a very similar book to Struwwelpeter. The formatting, including the verse structure and illustration aesthetic, is reproduced. Struwwelpeter is comprised of 24 leaves, whereas Truffle Eater is 19 leaves. The Truffle Eater cover features an updated version of Struwwelpeter: Shock-Troop Headed Adolf. The image shows Hitler standing in a similar position to Struwwelpeter, upright with hands outstretched. The introduction to the text is framed with illustrations, just like Struwwelpeter, but whereas Struwwelpeter features Christmas imagery, Truffle Eater uses swastikas and other Nazi images.

Subjects of Parody

Truffle Eater does not focus exclusively on Adolf Hitler, but instead parodies various figures in, and elements, of Nazi Germany. Wolfe replicates each tale in Struwwelpeter with a satirical twist. The tales change as follows:

Struwwelpeter	Truffle Eater	Notable Changes
Introduction	Introduction	Originally, Hoffmann presents the book as a Christmas present for good children. Wolfe reframes the book as a gift for Nazi children.
Struwwelpeter	Shock-Troop Headed Adolf	As the name suggests, the title character Struwwelpeter, who is explicitly framed as unpleasant, is replaced with Adolf Hitler.
Cruel Frederick	The Story of Cruel Heines	In the original, Frederick whips his dog who retaliates by biting Frederick. Frederick is then bedridden while the dog enjoys sitting in Frederick's old chair and eating his food. The character of Frederick is replaced with Edmund Heines, a Nazi leader who became the head of police in Breslau in 1933. In Wolfe's version, Heines whips Nazi enemies, such as communists, and is lauded as "Nazi's Galahad" before being named Germany's chief constable.
The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches	The Dreadful Story of Goebbels and the Matches	Harriet is replaced with Joseph Goebbels, who, despite warnings from his mother, plays with matches. Rather than set himself on fire, Goebbels burns down the Reichstag.
The Story of the Inky Boys	The Story of the Inky Boys	Originally, white boys tease a "Black-a-moor" and their teacher tries to stop them. The boys don't listen so their teacher dips them in ink, making them darker than the person they were originally bullying. Rather than focus on racism, Wolfe reframes the concept of "Inky Boys" as the Press. Journalists who do not publish Nazi propaganda drown in their own ink.
The Story of the Man that went out Shooting	The Story of the Boy who went out to Burn the Books	The man who goes shooting accidentally falls asleep so a hare steals his glasses and gun. The hare tries to shoot the man, but the man falls into a well and the hare misses its shot. In Wolfe's version, a boy tries to burn books, but they are seemingly saved by gods who take the books to their "predestined shelves" in heaven, while the boy disappears off the face of the earth.
The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb	The Story of Little Cock-a-Snook	Hoffmann tells the story of Conrad, who sucks his thumb against his mother's orders. As punishment, a man cuts off Conrad's thumbs. Wolfe's Conrad is asked not to taunt the Austrians. Conrad does not listen to his mother and thus prevents general disarmament by vexing the French, Brits, Slavs, and Czechs.
The Story of Augustus who would not have any soup	The Story of Goering who would not have the Jews	In the original, Augustus refuses to eat soup and dies of starvation. In the parody, Goering expresses extreme anti-semitism, though no explicit punishment happens.
The Story of Fidgety Philip	The Story of Fidgety Wilhelm	The plot of a small child who cannot sit at the dinner table properly and ends up upsetting the whole dinner party remains the same, but Philip is replaced by Wilhelm in parody of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor.
The Story of Johnny Head-in-Air	The Story of Adolf Head-in-Air	Both stories follow a character who is disconnected from reality. Adolf Head-in-Air is so focused on being "Europe's Man of Destiny" that he is no longer aware of the daily actions of Ernst Roehm and Joseph Goebbels.
The Story of Flying Robert	The Story of Baby Goering	This portion of Wolfe's parody is notable because it deviates quite significantly from the original. Wolfe's text is shorter and the content, about Goering's father hunting Jews, does not draw from Hoffmann's original story.

Throughout Truffle Eater, Wolfe draws from a slew of German cultural and political references. From the Valkyries and Walther von der Vogelweid, a poet from the Middle Ages, to Erich Ludendorff, the Prussian general responsible for Germany's World War One military strategy, Wolfe's references clearly suggest that he is writing for a knowing audience. Though Truffle Eater is based off of a children's book, the audience of this text is much different. The success of Wolfe's satire relies on a reader that is already familiar with Struwwelpeter. One of the most notable differences in Wolfe's text is the surprising lack of negative consequences. Whereas Hoffmann's text centres on the horrible and violent results that happen when children act badly, Wolfe's text portrays the equally atrocious actions of the Nazi party without punishment. This is not to say that Wolfe's text is sympathetic to the Nazi agenda. Basing his satire off of a children's book allows him to portray figures like Hitler and Goebbels as childish and immature, but the true power of his work comes from the disconnect between readers' expectations and the reality of the text. The intentional deviation from Hoffmann's material reflects the real political situation; no one is stopping the Nazis and thus the impetus for resisting their regime shifts away from Wolfe and back to the reader.

Adolf in Blunderland

As the name implies, Adolf in Blunderland is a parody of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Framed as a Communist Russian fairy tale, the story follows Adolf as he wanders through Blunderland and grows in power. Adolf in Blunderland is written by James Dyrenforth and Max Kester and is illustrated by Norman Mansbridge. Rare Books and Special Collections has the second and third UK editions, both published in December 1939, and the first Canadian edition, published in 1940. Frederick Muller published the UK editions and McClelland and Stewart published the Canadian edition.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is written by Lewis Carroll and was published in 1865. This literary classic follows Alice as she discovers the topsy-turvy world of Wonderland and its unique characters. Illustrator John Tenniel provided 42 woodcut images for the original text. The visuality of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is evident throughout its editions. Carroll blends prose with verse and plays with typography and typesetting. The most striking example is “The Mouse’s Tale” in Chapter 3 (“A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale”), in which the text zigzags downwards in increasingly small type so that the mouse's "tale" looks like his "tail".

UBC Rare Books and Special Collections has an extensive array of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland editions, adaptations, and ephemera in the Alice 100 Collection.

Creators

James Dyrenforth was born on January 31, 1895 in Chicago, Illinois and died on December 26, 1973 in London, England. He is most well known as an actor, but he also has credits as a songwriter and composer .

Max Kester was born on December 11, 1901 in England and died on December 14, 1991. Like Dyrenforth, Kester wrote for television and also worked as a songwriter .

Norman Mansbridge was born in Essex on July 22, 1911 and died on March 6, 1993. His father, Arthur Mansbridge, was a children's book author and illustrator. Norman Mansbridge worked in advertising before becoming a freelance cartoonist. His first published comic was in Punch in 1937. During the Second World War he served in the Auxiliary Fire Service (1939) and as a wireless operator for the Merchant Navy (1940). He also had "a roving commission as a war artist" at this time . After 1945, he continued to appear in Punch and many other publications. He worked first in pencil and then with a fountain pen and black ink.

Frederick Muller Limited was an independent publishing house founded in the 1930s that went out of business in 2008. In 1978 it was bought by Harlech Television and then sold in 1983 to merge with Blond & Briggs Ltd., becoming Muller, Blond, & White Ltd. They were then purchased by Century Hutchinson in 1987 and became a part of Random House UK..

McClelland and Stewart is a publishing company that was founded by John McClelland and Frederick Goodchild as McClelland and Goodchild Limited. In 1914 George Stewart joined the firm and after he left in 1918 the present company name was adopted. They were originally a library supply house that represented British and American firms, hence their publication of Adolf in Blunderland, but they later changed their focus to Canadian authors. After a series of sales and loans from the Ontario government, McClelland and Stewart was donated to the University of Toronto in 2000. The University owned 75 percent of the company and the other 25 percent was sold to Random House of Canada. In 2012, the University of Toronto sold majority ownership to Random House and they continue to publish work today.

Format

Adolf in Blunderland first aired on the BBC as a radio drama on October 6, 1939. The first UK print edition was published in December 1939, as were the second and third editions. RBSC owns the second and third editions, which are consistent in their content and pagination. RBSC's copy of the second edition has a built-in cloth bookmark and no dust jacket. The third edition has a dust jacket, but no bookmark. The dust jacket states that "[r]evisions and additions necessitated by the march of events have been carried out". Given that there are no changes in content between the second and third edition, the revisions and additions are likely in relation to the radio broadcast, or in comparison to the first edition. The first Canadian edition also has the same content, but no bookmark or dust jacket. It has different pagination than the UK editions; the UK editions are 60 pages, while the Canadian edition is 64 pages. There is also an interesting printing error in the first Canadian edition: the order of the Caterpillar and Mad Flatterer illustrations are reversed.

The book itself is printed as if it were a play, with a cast list, interludes, scenes, and character dialogue. However, Adolf in Blunderland also adheres to certain visual elements of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, namely by using illustrations and keeping the distinct typesetting for the Mouse's Tale. Mansbridge's illustrations mimic the style of Tenniel's original images with an updated, more cartoony feel. Just as with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Mouse's Tale is typeset in the shrinking, zigzag style.

The visuality of the text is particularly interesting given that Adolf in Blunderland was originally a radio broadcast. In the "Foreword of Sorts", Dyrenforth and Kester write, "We...felt...that the time had come to poke a little fun at those odd people who seem to have such peculiar ideas about England and the English. Cartoonists had been doing it, and we thought the airwaves might also be used...We're grateful to the British Broadcasting Corporation for permitting us to do so and to include the bits which they had deemed a trifle injudicious in the other medium. And also we're now having the extra fun of seeing our characters come to life in Mr. Mansbridge's delightful drawings". Dyrenforth and Kester are aware of the effects the medium has on their work. While the radio allowed them to use sound in a particular way, using a textual medium provides its own opportunities. The book allows Dyrenforth and Kester to provide visual cues that connect their work with Carroll's original story. Mansbridge's illustrations draw from Tenniel's woodcuts and typesetting the Mouse's Tail emphasizes the link between the two narratives.

Subjects of Parody

Adolf in Blunderland parodies both Hitler himself and the situations that allowed him to come to power. The narrative is framed as a Russian fairy-tale and begins with "little Adolf" in Blunderland, who is initially frequently confused and belittled. Just like Alice, Adolf encounters a cast of characters who further his adventures in this new world. Carroll's original characters each have their satirical counterparts, who are listed in the opening character list. Some notable figures include:

• The Mouse: In Blunderland the mouse is now Jewish. Its tale (with the tail typesetting) is quite similar to Carroll's text. The story of being unfairly condemned to death by Fury is now the story of a Jew unfairly condemned to death by the "Fuehrer".
• The Caterpillar: Neville Chamberlain is the hookah-smoking caterpillar who sits on a mushroom that now looks like a map of the world. The Caterpillar tells Adolf to eat some of the mushroom, one half of which will make him bigger and one half smaller.
• The March Hare and the Mad Hatter become the March Into and the Mad Flatterer. As with Alice and the Mad Hatter, Adolf and the Mad Flatterer debate semantics. The Mad Flatterer tells Adolf, "you don’t say what you mean", to which Adolf replies, "I don’t mean what I say". The Mad Flatterer and March Into invite Adolf to tea, but food is for party members only.
• The King and Queen of Hearts are replaced with the King and Queen of Heartlessness. In their realm, the tree of truth is whitewashed and the roses are painted red to please Russia. The Queen of Hearts expresses her displeasure by screaming "off with his swastika!". Dyrenforth and Kester maintain the deck of cards imagery: party leaders wear diamonds, the Gestapo carry clubs, the Labour Youth Movement carries spades, and the German people have heavy hearts.

Additionally, the White Rabbit becomes White von Ribbit, while the Mock Turtle and Gryphon become the Mock Gurbles and Grafuan, who now dance the Polish lancers, which is a series of battle formations.

Dyrenforth and Kester remain loyal to Carroll's original plot, including the trial at the text's conclusion. Adolf is summoned to a "trial of strength" in the "Hall of Justice". During the trial, the other characters begin to fight amongst themselves and Adolf continues to grow larger and larger. However, whereas Alice leaves Wonderland, Adolf declares his desire for personal glory and is subsequently attacked by guinea pigs, who represent the women bearing German children. This scene ends with the statement that there is very little left of little Adolf, and in the Epilogue the Russian mother tells her son that the world doesn't like tyrants, and never will. She ends by saying that tyrants cannot survive.

Unlike Truffle Eater, Adolf in Blunderland clearly depicts the demise of Hitler. This change is perhaps due to the fact that Dyrenforth and Kester are writing a few years after Wolfe and are now dealing with the beginning of World War Two. While both books are political, Adolf in Blunderland is also a piece of British World War Two propaganda. However, Dyrenforth and Kester do not simply mock Hitler to boost British morale; by using Alice in Wonderland specifically, they critique Britain's role in enabling the war, as well as the sphere of international politics as a whole. Just as with Truffle Eater, parodying a children's book frames characters, such as Hitler and Chamberlain, as immature children. Adapting Carroll is also effective because there is a key difference between Wonderland and Blunderland: Wonderland is a dream world that is separate from Alice's reality, whereby Blunderland represents real-world events, with the exception of the ending, from which there is no escape. Dyrenforth and Kester reframe the political movements that lead to the Second World War as events that could only take place in the bizarre world of Blunderland. Setting the narrative in a version of Carroll's psychadelic and surreal space comments upon the world of real politicians who did not, or were not able to, stop Hitler from gaining power.

References

Sources

• "Arthur Barker." Austlit. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
• Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass. New York: Bantam, 1981. Print.
• Dyrenforth, James, and Max Kester. Adolf in Blunderland. 2nd ed. London: Frederick Muller, 1939. Print. (RBSC Call No. Alice.book 327)
• Dyrenforth, James, and Max Kester. Adolf in Blunderland. 3rd ed. London: Frederick Muller, 1939. Print. (RBSC Call No. Alice.book 328)
• Dyrenforth, James, and Max Kester. Adolf in Blunderland. 1st ed. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1940. Print. (RBSC Call No. Alice.book 329)
• "Firms Out of Business." Harry Ransom Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• Hoffmann, Heinrich. Struwwelpeter: Merry Tales and Funny Pictures. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Project Gutenberg. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• Hunt, Richard M. "Hitler, Adolf (1889–1945)." The Oxford Companion to International Relations. 2014. Oxford Reference Online. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• "James Dyrenforth." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• Jung, Thomas. "More Than a House-Painter? Brecht's Hitler." Unmasking Hitler: Cultural Representations of Hitler from the Weimar Republic to the Present. Ed. Klaus L. Berghahn and Jost Hermand. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2005. 237-58. Print.
• "Max Kester." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• "McClelland & Stewart Inc." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• "Norman Mansbridge." The British Cartoon Archive. University of Kent, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• Oistros. Truffle Eater: Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures. London: Arthur Barker, 1933. Print. (RBSC Call No. PR6045.O62T78 1933)
• Seymour-Smith, Martin. "Wolfe, Humbert." The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. 1st ed. 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
• Sherefkin, Jack. "The Influence of Struwwelpeter." New York Public Library Blog. New York Public Library, 15 May 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.

Further Reading and Sites of Interest

Alice in the Internet

• Alice in the Internet is a blog by a microbiologist who is collecting Alice texts and memorabilia. There is a brief post on Adolf in Blunderland here.

Begbie, Harold. The Political Struwwelpeter. London: Grand Richards, 1899. Print.

• Written by Harold Begbie and illustrated by F. Carruthers Gould, The Political Struwwelpeter is another parody of Struwwelpeter, but rather than satirize Hitler, Begbie focuses on British politics at the end of the 19th century. As of 1899, two editions of 5,000 copies each had been run in June and July respectively. This copy features a publishers note advertising a limited edition 250-copy run that will be printed on Japanese vellum and be signed by the author and the illustrator. (RBSC Call No. DA566.8.B4)

Brooker, Will. Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll and Alice in Popular Culture. New York: Continuum, 2004. Print.

• Will Booker's book provides a useful overview of how Lewis Carroll's story has been understood and adapted since its original publication. Booker specifically references Adolf in Blunderland in relation to Maggie Parham's essay "What We Choose it to Mean". (RBSC Call No. PR4611.A73 B75 2004)

The Feminist Report - Veronica K. Clark - Adolf in Blunderland

• This YouTube video is a reading of Adolf in Blunderland by Veronica K. Clark. It is not the original BBC radio broadcast from October 6, 1939.

Hoffmann, Heinrich. Struwwelpeter Or: Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures. London: Routledge, n.d. Print.

• This article uses Project's Gutenberg online edition of Struwwelpeter as the basis for talking about Hoffmann's text and RBSC has many copies of Struwwelpeter, but this was the in-print edition I looked at originally. It is linen-mounted and has a second cover page printed between pages 16 and 17. (RBSC Call No. PZ6 1900z H635)

Klein, A. M. The Hitleriad. New York: New Directions, 1944. Print.

• The Hiterliad is another Hitler parody from the World War Two era, but rather than draw from children's literature, Klein parodies Homer's The Iliad. (RBSC Call No. DD247.H5 K55)