| dc.description.abstract | Literature museums, as writer’s house museums, have caught many literary scholars’ attention. Less has been said on them from a historical perspective. In this text I am looking at how two museums exhibit their protagonists, that is Charles Dickens in the museum of the same name in Doughty Street, London, and Thomas and Heinrich Mann in the Buddenbrookhaus in Lübeck, or its current exhibition in the close-by Behnhaus. I am particularly considering the representation of these writers’ interference in international affairs, of their cosmopolitan side. Subsequently I will assess how Dickens and Mann are integrated into national remembrance cultures in the museums, and what interplay can be observed between museal exhibition and remembrance culture. My focus lies on the current permanent exhibitions and the analysis is inspired mainly by museological theory, as by more specific research on writer’s house museums. Special attention is paid to the cultural integration of the writers. I argue that Charles Dickens Museum and Buddenbrookhaus have different emphases: While the Buddenbrookhaus is a highly structured, “museum-like” museum with a humorous but intellectual touch, the Dickens Museum shows characteristics of a literary memorial as well and makes strong use of the authenticity of its house. It has a more light-hearted tone and frames Dickens as a hero while making him come across as a local and national spokesperson. The Buddenbrookhaus on the other hand is orientated strongly towards Europeanism. I also tentatively question if all writer’s house museums that have a physical connection to the writer’s biography (i.e. used to be inhabited or at least frequented by the writer) are intent to create a magical place built around the mystery of the author and his aura. The case studies here show that there are very different ways to deal with and exhibit in authentic places. | eng |