Includes bibliographical references and index Explores the diversity of the post-1990 novel in German through readings of international bestsellers and less familiar texts
mehr
Includes bibliographical references and index Explores the diversity of the post-1990 novel in German through readings of international bestsellers and less familiar texts
"Diversity is one of the defining characteristics of contemporary German-language literature, not just in terms of the variety of authors writing in German today, but also in relation to theme, form, technique and style. However, common themes emerge: the Nazi past, transnationalism, globalisation, migration, religion and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and identity. This book presents the novel in German since 1990 through a set of close readings both of international bestsellers (including Daniel Kehlmann's Measuring the World and W. G. Sebald's Austerlitz) and of less familiar, but important texts (such as Yade; Kara's Selam Berlin). Each novel discussed in the volume has been chosen on account of its aesthetic quality, its impact and its representativeness; the authors featured, among them Nobel Prize winners Günter Grass, Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller demonstrate the energy and quality of contemporary writing in German"-- Provided by publisher
Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction: The novel in German since 1990; The problem with the German novel; From the German novel to the novel in German; The novel in German and the present; The novel in German and the past; The transnational novel in German?; The novel in German since 1990; Notes; Chapter 1 Robert Schindel's Gebürtig (Born-Where); Post-Holocaust Jewish identity in the second generation; Variation I: speaking - (un)inhibitedness; Variation II: writing - coughing up; (Preliminary) finale - fragments; Notes
Chapter 2 Günter Grass's Ein weites Feld (Too Far Afield)Lateness in ein weites feld; Reading late style and constructing celebrity; Günter Grass, late style and literary celebrity; Notes; Chapter 3 Thomas Brussig's Helden wie wir (Heroes Like Us); History as master-narrative; Questionable historical sources; The use of language; The role of literature in writing about history; Notes; Chapter 4 Christa Wolf's Medea. Stimmen (Medea. A Modern Retelling); A post-unification parable: gender and generation; Notes; Chapter 5 Zafer Senocak's Gefährliche Verwandtschaft (Perilous Kinship); Notes
Chapter 6 Monika Maron's Endmoränen (End Moraines)Notes; Chapter 7 Martin Walser's Ein springender Brunnen (A Gushing Fountain); Authorial commentary - presenting the past; Narrative perspective; 'The miracle of Wasserburg' - realism or fantasy?; Anti-Semitism and the German-Jewish relationship; bildungsroman; The end of the novel: Johann and Wolfgang; Notes; Chapter 8 Michael Kleeberg's Ein Garten im Norden (A Garden in the North); Notes; Chapter 9 Christian Kracht's Faserland (Frayed-Land); Notes; chapter 10 Elfriede Jelinek's Gier (Greed); Gier as anti-novel
The natural history of destructionNotes; chapter 11 Karen Duve's Dies ist kein Liebeslied (This Is Not a Love-Song); Notes; chapter 12 Herta Müller's Herztier (The Land of Green Plums); Tereza; Life and literature; The role of Romanian; Conclusion; Notes; chapter 13 W. G. Sebald's Austerlitz; 'Feeling' the Holocaust; Matters of the heart; Notes; chapter 14 Walter Kempowski's Alles umsonst (All for Nothing); Notes; chapter 15 F. C. Delius's Mein Jahr als Mörder (My Year as a Murderer); Resistance narratives in East and West Germany; F. C. Delius's Mein Jahr als Mörder; Notes
chapter 16 Yadé Kara's Selam BerlinNotes; chapter 17 Daniel Kehlmann's Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World); Die Vermessung der Welt; Notes; chapter 18 Günter Grass's Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (Peeling the Onion); Notes; Select bibliography; Index
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