Counter-Image, Role Model, and Specter

In the 1855 novel Der Amerikamüde by the Austrian author Ferdinand Kürnberger, the hero, a German poet traveling the USA, is lectured by a native about the idiosyncrasies of the Americans: We are a nation of sovereigns. What we need to know about each other is our political convictions. This is why we wear our party badges. What we do not need to know, however, and what no one ever asks in good company, is how someone earns his livelihood. 1 This novel, which revolves around the question of emigration and the sense behind it, mainly speaks of the strangeness of the other country; the circumstance that party-political affiliation was deemed more important than social status was noteworthy because German audiences would have perceived it as odd. It is thus testimony to the bewilderment that the political culture of the USA aroused among the German public.