Learning from France: Ludwig Börne in the 1830s

This chapter considers Ludwig Borne’s key contribution to political and literary debates about German national identity in the 1830s. In a similar way to Heinrich Heine, his intellectual colleague and rival, Borne sets out a cosmopolitan agenda for German liberals, calling on them to learn from the progressive politics of the French. He therefore represents a German patriotism that rejects nationalism, seeing France as an example for Germany to follow. Through a close reading of Borne’s two masterworks Briefe aus Paris [Letters from Paris, 1832–1834] and Menzel der Franzosenfresser [Menzel: He Eats French People, 1837], this chapter shows how Borne advocates an enlightened form of patriotism that emphasises political rights and reasoned debate, in contrast to Wolfgang Menzel’s Romantic, organic conception of German nationhood.