Zeitgeist

The term "Zeitgeist" is a German word that translates to "spirit of the time." It refers to the defining intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of a particular era.12

The concept is often associated with the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Novels, in particular, can serve as powerful expressions of the Zeitgeist, capturing the inchoate thoughts and feelings of a society and providing a summation of a historical period in retrospect. For example, works by authors like Thomas Mann and Günter Grass diagnosed the societal issues in Germany that preceded Hitler's rise, while novels from the Jazz Age or the post-World War II era reflect the specific spirits of those times.13