The Novel in German since 1990

by Edited by Stuart Taberner

• ISBN13: 9780521192378
• ISBN10: 0521192374
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-17
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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 Yadé 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.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. viii
Introduction: The novel in German since 1990	p. 1
Robert Schindel's Gebürtig (Born-Where)	p. 19
Günter Grass's Ein weites Feld (Too Far Afield)	p. 35
Thomas Brussig's Helden wie wir (Heroes Like Us)	p. 50
Christa Wolf's Medea. Stimmen (Medea. A Modern Retelling)	p. 64
Zafer Şenocak's Gefährliche Verwandtschaft (Perilous Kinship)	p. 79
Monika Maron's Endmoränen (End Moraines)	p. 94
Martin Walser's Ein springender Brunnen (A Gushing Fountain)	p. 108
Michael Kleeberg's Ein Garten im Norden (A Garden in the North)	p. 123
Christian Kracht's Faserland (Frayed-Land)	p. 136
Elfriede Jelinek's Gier (Greed)	p. 151
Karen Duve's Dies ist kein Liebeslied (This Is Not a Love-Song)	p. 165
Herta Müller's Herztier (The Land of Green Plums)	p. 180
W. G. Sebald's Austerlitz	p. 195
Walter Kempowski's Alles umsonst (All for Nothing)	p. 211
F. C. Delius's Mein Jahr als Mörder (My Year as a Murderer)	p. 226
Yadé Kara's Selam Berlin	p. 241
Daniel Kehlmann's Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World)	p. 255
Günter Grass's Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (Peeling the Onion)	p. 270
Select bibliography	p. 284
Index	p. 302
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