Seminars: 'Berlin in der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur'
Susanne Ledanff (University of Canterbury, Christchurch)
Michaelmas 2013, Tuesdays 4-5.30pm weeks 4,5,6,7
In these seminars we will explore examples and themes of New Berlin literature
written after the fall of the Wall and German unification. It is no surprise that
unification and the turbulent urban changes have inspired a mass of fictional
texts on the city - something that gave rise to the expectation of the revival of the
"metropolitan novel" - the Berliner Metropolenroman.
The seminars will focus on two main issues of new Berlin literature: firstly, the
question of with which forms and themes something akin to avantgarde-garde
metropolitan novels, i.e. those that follow a modernist or a postmodernist
aesthetics, were indeed realised in new German literature reflecting the new
Berlin. The authors and novels to be examined for this question are Reinhard
Jirgl: Die atlantische Mauer, and Georg Klein: Barbar Rosa. The second focus will
be an investigation of examples of the thematic broadness of Berlin literature
since the 1990s. Here two focal areas are selected: 1) the literature which was
received in the late 90s under the label of "young Berlin literature": We will look
at a few representatives of the young Berlin generation: Judith Hermann,
Wladimir Kaminer and Inka Parei. 2) Another trend can be understood as a
revival of the social or society novel in a metropolitan setting: the example
chosen is Uwe Timm's artfully composed novel Rot which also reflects on the
leftist past of the protagonist and the monument of the Victory Column as a
symbol of the history of Berlin.
The seminars are in German. The texts (extracts from novels or short stories) are
in German.
Reading list
Reinhard Jirgl: Die atlantische Mauer (2000) and a sidelook at Abtrünnig.Roman
aus der nervösen Zeit (2005)
Georg Klein: Barbar Rosa. Eine Detektivgeschichte (2001)
Judith Hermann: "Sommerhaus, später", from Sommerhaus, später. Erzählungen
(1998)
Wladimir Kaminer: selected stories from Russendisko (2000) and Schönhauser
Allee (2001)
Inka Parei: Inka Parei: Die Schattenboxerin (1999)
Uwe Timm: Rot (2001)
Brief overview of the authors, texts and topics to be studied
Note: Some PDFs come from my publication: Hauptstadtphantasien. Berliner
Stadtlektüren in der Gegenwartsliteratur 1989-2008. Bielefeld: Aisthesis, 2009
Topic 1: Reinhard Jirgl: born 1953 in Berlin (East). Received many literary
awards (Büchner Preis 2011), wrote modernist and GDR critical prose during
the GDR but published his "difficult" prose texts only after unification. Some of
his novels: Abschied von den Feinden (1995), Hundsnächte (1997); Die
atlantische Mauer (2000); Die Unvollendeten (2003); Abtrünning. Roman aus
einer nervösen Zeit (2005), Die Stille (2009).
Brief summary of Die atlantische Mauer:
The novel is supposed to reflect on the return of the "Wall" in the age of
globalisation. This is demonstrated through the attempt of two protagonists to
break out from the old continent and go to New York where they become
disillusioned. One of the protagonists is a nurse from East Berlin, the other a
West German writer who visits his son in New York. In the thoughts and feelings
of the former, who is originally from Dresden, Berlin appears a nightmarish
prison. The depiction of Berlin and Germany in bombastic negative visions and
metaphors stems from the attitudes of the former East Germans. The climax of
these visions is to found in the monologue of the mad former husband of the East
Berlin nurse. (further summaries in PDF)
Abtrünnig. We will also have a side-look at the continuation of the theme of anticapitalistic Berlin condemnation in Jirgl's more recent novel Abtrünning. Here
the criticism seems generalised and is no longer linked to the quasi-mythical life
experience of East Germans in the GDR dictatorship. One of the two main
protagonists, who is clearly at the center of the novel, is a West German
journalist who moves from Hamburg to Berlin. His humiliations in his
professional and private life create the background for a discourse on
antagonistic human relationships in late capitalism and in Berlin in particular.
Topic 2: Georg Klein: born 1958 in Augsburg, moved to (West) Berlin in 1982.
Started publishing rather late in his career: Some of his novels and short story
collections are: Libidissi.Roman (1998); Anrufung des Blinden Fisches.
Erzählungen (1999), Barbar Rosa. Eine Detektivgeschichte (2001); Von den
Deutschen. Erzählungen (2002); Die Sonne scheint uns. Roman (2004); Roman
unserer Kindheit (2010).
Barbar Rosa. The novel was received just as the previously published novel
Libidissi as a break through of a postmodern story telling in new German
literature. Klein was praised in the German feuilleton for this "Ästhetik des
Bösen" or the "Ästhetik des Ekels", his numerous borrowing from genres such as
the "Agententhriller" and the detective novel and a number of literary traditions
of the aesthetics of evil or the uncanny from ETA. Hoffmann and Kafka to
postmodern American novelists such as Thomas Pynchon.The novel Barbar Rosa,
indeed, adopts the genre of the detective story but is multilayered through the
insertion of disgusting experiences and associations of the absurd and the
neurotic. Berlin appears in the novel in a "mystifying" system of vague references.
Further summaries and interpretations on PDF.
Topic 3: Berlin - capital of Young German literature
This label came from the media and the feuilleton as a consequence of the
successes on the book market of young Berlin authors such as Judith Hermann,
Julia Franck, Wladimir Kaminer and Inka Parei, Katrin Röggla. The climax of this
phenomenon was around 2010/11 and it certainly cannot claim a continuity in
contemporary German literature. However, the label also hints at a real
phenomenon to be seen in the changes of the cultural mechanism in Berlin: the
immigration of young authors to Berlin and its emergence as a literary capital.
The label also hints at new literary styles in the way Berlin is described by the
young authors: generational portraits imbued with melancholia and narcism are
the flavor of the day, but also a new laconism and an artful psychological realism
are emerging. Further information from my book chapter on PDF. Authors
selected:
Judith Hermann: born 1970 in Berlin (West). The collection of short stories
Sommerhaus, später. Erzählungen (1998) was Hermann's literary break-through.
She became the voice of the young Berlin generation and was praised for her
melancholic-minimalistic style. Two more story collections followed: Nichts als
Gespenster (2003) and Alice (2009) (PDF: Title story "Sommerhaus, später").
Inka Parei: born 1967 in Frankfurt/Main, moved to Berlin in 1987. Her literary
debut Die Schattenboxerin (1999) was discovered as a novel of yet another
"Fräuleinwunder". It is shows literary professionalism through the depiction of
an urban nomad, a young woman who - after traumatizing events - lives an
isolated life in a Berlin apartment house destined for demolition. The novel was
translated in various languages.
Wladimir Kaminer: born 1967 in Moscow. Came to the GDR in 1990 and later
settled in East Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg. Kaminer emerged as an author of satirical
short stories of the daily life experience of Russian immigrants and their Berlin
friends and neighbours in the so-called "Lesebühnenbewegung". He was for
many years a member of the poets' club "Heim&Welt". He created and organised
the famous event in Berlin's nightlife: the Russendisko in the Kaffee Burger in
Mitte. His short story collections are bestsellers, namely his first collection
Russendisko (2000). Further story collections with a Berlin setting are: Frische
Goldjungs (2001) and Schönhauser Allee (2001).
Topic 4: Uwe Timm: Rot
Uwe Timm: born 1940 in Hamburg, one of the most successful contemporary
authors in contemporary Germany, latest award: Heinrich Böll-Preis, 2000.
Became famous through his writing on the 68s generation (Heisser Sommer,
1974, Morenga 1978)). His literary fame is based on his everyday story telling
and his reflections on crucial periods of the German such as the leftist
movements and National Socialism and the war. Some of his novels and prose
texts are: Die Entdeckung der Currywurst (1993); Johannisnacht (1996); Rot
(2001); Am Beispiel meines Bruders (2003); Der Freund und der Fremde (2005).
Rot: Thomas Linde, born1945, now at the turn of the millennium in his fifties was
once a dedicated leftist activist. Now he lives in Berlin and makes his money as a
"Begräbnisredner", a secular funeral orator. He is confronted with the radical
political convictions of his past when a former comrade requests him in his will
as his "Leichenredner". Ultimately Linde understands what the former friend
was planning to do: blow up the Siegessäule which was for him the symbol of
German militarism and nationalism. Will Linde become his "Wiedergänger" and
execute the plan? The novel is filled with philosophical and political reflections
as Linde has a much younger lover who knows about the “68s movement” only
from hearsay but is curious to get a grasp of these now very remote ideologies
and beliefs. Linde himself has to confront his disillusions and also grieve the loss
of his "Unbedingtheit", his previous absoluteness of his understanding of life and
society.
Further summary and interpretation of the novel in PDF. See also extracts from
my book chapter "Das Renouveau des Gesellschaftsromans".