Virgin Father and Prodigal Son

Brockmann, Stephen

doi:10.1353/phl.2003.0040

Cited by 3 publications

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“…German authors have often played an active role in the field of memory politics 46 , as can be seen in the memory debates inspired by authors such as Martin Walser, WG Sebald,and Günter Grass 47 . Literature is an important contributor 46 On the subject of German authors as public intellectuals and political figures generally, see Bullivant, Keith The Future of German Literature Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1994;Brockmann, Stephen Literature and German Reunification Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. In relation to the position in East Germany specifically, see Bathrick, David The Powers of Speech: The Politics of Culture in the GDR Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.…”

Section: Literary Reflections Of the Perpetrator/victim Dichotomymentioning

confidence: 99%

The version that wanted to be written

Giblett¹

2021

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The unification of Germany in 1990 set in train a number of dramatic changes in Germany’s political, social and cultural landscape which gave rise to a series of hotly debated memory contests centred on the newly unified nation’s approach to its common Nazi past. As an important medium of cultural memory, literature played a significant part in the controversy and novels dealing with the Nazi past enjoyed widespread popularity and influence in the 20 years following 1990. But what "version" of the Nazi past did the authors of these novels choose to tell? Using the perpetrator/victim dichotomy around which much of the debate crystallised, this book seeks to answer this question via a close textual analysis of works by Bernhard Schlink, Ulla Hahn, Tanja Dückers, and Marcel Beyer. In particular, this book analyses these novels as historiographic metafiction, a significantly under-explored angle which raises important questions concerning our ability to know the “truth” about the past and destabilises the basis on which we judge guilt or innocence. In providing a deeper understanding of the approach of fiction authors to the Nazi past in the post-1990 period, this book aims to enrich our understanding of its legacy in contemporary German society today.

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Section: Literary Reflections Of the Perpetrator/victim Dichotomymentioning

confidence: 99%