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Monatshefte

Volume 114, Number 4, Winter 2022
Table of Contents

ARTICLES

Fabian Bauer

The Limitation of Bildung—On the Relation of Reason and Dis/Order in Franz Kafka’s Der Verschollene

In Der Verschollene, Franz Kafka examines whether the concept of self-realization, as developed in the tradition of the Bildungsroman since Goethe, can still exist in the complex world of the 20th century. My article reflects on metaphors of order and disorder that permeate the novel and are contrasted in different social spaces along Karl Roßmann’s educational path. By means of this tension, Kafka focuses on the crisis of free individuality experienced in modern civilization, in which repressive principles of reason determine the social order. My goal is to show how Kafka updates the genre tradition by formulating a modern but grim idea of ‘Bildung.’ (FB)

 

Eva B. Revesz

Islamophobia and Constructions of Otherness in Monika Maron’s Munin oder Chaos im Kopf

Presented against the backdrop of the New Right movement in Germany, this analysis of Monika Maron’s novel Munin oder Chaos im Kopf (2018) is aimed at uncovering the problematic Islamophobic aspects of the novel. By comparing Maron’s recent work with the platform of the extremist AfD party and the Pegida movement, I argue that her protagonist’s fear of a hostile Islamic takeover ultimately becomes irresponsible fearmongering. The novel participates, I claim, in cultivating Islamophobia as a form of cultural racism, what Etienne Balibar refers to as neo-racism or “differentialist racism.” I conclude with a comparison between anti-Muslim racism and antisemitism, whereby in both cases a racialized Other represents a threat to the putative German Leitkultur. (EBR)

 

Anke S. Biendarra

Die Welt als Dorf: Neue Heimatromane von Dörte Hansen und Juli Zeh aus ecocritical Perspektive

This essay focuses on the question of how relationships between humans and nature, Heimat and the provinces are negotiated narratively and aesthetically in Mittagsstunde (2018) by Dörte Hansen and Unterleuten (2016) by Juli Zeh. I read both novels as part of a new Rural Criticism that seeks to problematize human life in the Anthropocene and is committed to the critical interpretation of contemporary histories and realities. Both texts illustrate the urgent ecocritical problems that the process of our civilizing nature, its economic utilization, and the climate crisis have engendered. I show that in the novels, weather, natural spaces, the protection of the environment, and alternative energies serve as catalysts for moving the plot forward. At the same time, these phenomena illustrate the close enmeshment of the characters with the surrounding natural world and the way it shapes their identity. Ultimately, I argue that while both texts can be read as manifestations of solastalgia, they also represent aesthetic approaches to climate change and environmental destruction that could aid in the establishment of a New Climatic Regime (Bruno Latour). (ASB, in German)

 

Dante S. Prado

Laughing with Bergson: Vital Laughter in Thomas Mann’s “Der kleine Herr Friedemann”

Laughter has a prominent position in “Der kleine Herr Friedemann” (1897). While quantitatively scarce, laughter appears in the narrative climax and conclusion, signalling the end of the titular character and the novella. Despite being a distinctive feature of crucial scenes in the novella and an important topic in the period, laughter has not yet been analyzed in the novella nor, in turn, this novella in modernist studies on laughter. Addressing this gap in Thomas Mann scholarship and expanding our understanding of the similarities and differences between laughter in German modernism and contemporary theories of laughter, I analyze laughter in “Der kleine Herr Friedemann” in the light of Henri Bergson’s Le Rire (1900). The novella parallels Henri Bergson’s contemporary theory of laughter. Specifically, the novella characterizes laughter in relation to vitalism and superiority and in opposition to rigidity, relations and concepts that occupy a central place in Bergson’s book. (DSP)

 

PERSONALIA

 

REVIEW ARTICLE

Rochelle Tobias

Celan’s Punctum

(Buck, Theo, Paul Celan (1920–1970). Ein jüdischer Dichter deutscher Sprache aus der Bukowina. Die Biographie, 2020. — Redfield, Marc, Shibboleth: Judges, Derrida, Celan, 2021. — Levine, Michael G., Atomzertrümmerung. Zu einem Gedicht von Paul Celan, 2018. — Bogumil-Notz, Sieghild, Paul Celan. Die fortschreitende Erschließung der Wirklichkeit beim Schreiben, 2020. — Eskin, Michael, Karen Leeder and Marko Pajević, eds., Paul Celan Today: A Companion, 2021.)

 

BOOK REVIEWS

Almasy, Karin, Heinrich Pfandl und Eva Tropper, Hrsg., Bildspuren – Sprachspuren. Postkarten als Quellen zur Mehrsprachigkeit in der späten Habsburger Monarchie (Katherine Arens)

Ashkenazi, Ofer, Anti-Heimat Cinema: The Jewish Invention of the German Landscape (Brad Prager)

Brockmann, Stephen, ed., Bertolt Brecht in Context (Ralf Remshardt)

Butz, Ursula, Habsburg als Touristenmagnet. Monarchie und Fremdenverkehr in den Ostalpen 1820–1910 (Gundolf Graml)

Detering, Heinrich, Holzfrevel und Heilsverlust. Die ökologische Dichtung der Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (Vance Byrd)

Frick, Julia und Oliver Grütter, Hrsg., abbreviatio. Historische Perspektiven auf ein rhetorisch-poetisches Prinzip (Björn Hambsch)

Gloor, Lukas, Prekäres Erzählen. Narrative Ordnungen bei Robert Walser, Franz Kafka und Theodor Fontane (Samuel Frederick)

Gloor, Lukas und Rebecca Lötscher, Hrsg., Goldenes Anfängliches. Neue Beiträge zur Robert Walser-Forschung (Samuel Frederick)

Hodkinson, James R. and Benedict Schofield, eds., German in the World: The Transnational and Global Contexts of German Studies (Elke Segelcke)

Höllein, Dagobert, Nils Lehnert und Felix Woitkowski, Hrsg., Rap – Text – Analyse. Deutschsprachiger Rap seit 2000. 20 Einzeltextanalysen (Brenna Reinhart Byrd)

Hommer, Gerhard H., Attraktionen der Straße. Eine Berliner Literaturgeschichte 1927–1932 (Erhard Schütz)

Hottner, Wolfgang, Kristallisationen. Ästhetik und Poetik des Anorganischen im späten 18. Jahrhundert (Nicole Fischer)

Mandt, Isabell, Das Genre der Kaffeehausliteratur im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. Eine literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Studie zu einem urbanen europäischen Schreibort und dessen Atmosphäre (Margaret Lamb-Faffelberger)

Maurer, Golo, Heimreisen. Goethe, Italien und die Suche der Deutschen nach sich selbst (Rolf J. Goebel)

Riedl, Peter Philipp, Gelassene Teilnahme. Formen urbaner Muße im Werk Goethes (Rolf J. Goebel)

Ronzheimer, Elisa, Poetologien des Rhythmus um 1800. Metrum und Versform bei Klopstock, Hölderlin, Novalis, Tieck und Goethe (Hannah V. Eldridge)

Schmidt, Florian, Rechtsgefühl. Subjektivierung in Recht und Literatur um 1800 (Ralph Grunewald)

Sina, Kai, Hrsg. unter Mitarbeit von Tanita Kraaz, Im Kopf von Maxim Biller. Essays zum Werk (Richard Block)

Tobias, Rochelle, ed., Hölderlin’s Philosophy of Nature (Gabriel Trop)

Vaßen, Florian, „einfach zerschmeißen“. Brecht Material: Lyrik – Prosa – Theater – Lehrstück. Mit einem Blick auf Heiner Müller (Ralf Remshardt)

 

INDEX VOLUME 114 (2022)