RUINS AND VISIONS: STEPHEN SPENDER IN OCCUPIED GERMANY

Stephen Spender's testimony on post-war Germany constitutes an original, informed account of living conditions in the British occupation zone.. e English poet's nuanced narrative combines detailed portraits with aphorisms, and non-fiction with representative, semi-fictional episodes, thereby disrupting the illusion of objective reportage, while still adhering to the ethics of witnessing. A staunch liberal, Spender criticizes book censorship and the theory of collective guilt. He also provides a literary analysis of Goebbels's works, though he fails to attend to Nazi propaganda techniques. Pessimistic over Germany's future, Spender nevertheless wishes that the defeated nation would reintegrate into the European family.