Ästhetischer Radikalismus in der Posthistoire. Zum literarischen Bild der Geschichte in Reinhard Jirgls Hundsnächte

Ward, Simon

Ästhetischer Radikalismus in der Posthistoire. Zum literarischen Bild der Geschichte in Reinhard Jirgls Hundsnächte

Ward, Simon

Authors

Dr Simon Ward simon.ward2@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Contributors

David Clarke
Editor

Arne De Winde
Editor

Abstract

This chapter constitutes a socio-semiotic investigation of the representation of three topoi – the ruin, the railway and the desert – in Reinhard Jirgl's novel Hundsnächte. The analysis highlights Jirgl's diagnosis of a 'posthistorical' society, which links back to the mood that dominated his earliest texts written in the GDR. Identifying some of the cultural determinants of Jirgl's 'posthistorical' literary aesthetic, such as Nietzsche, it shows how his post-unification engagement with the GDR past and the German present is to be read within a 'Zivilisationskritik' that is rooted in posthistorical analyses of society. The chapter concludes by historicising Jirgl's literary strategies through demonstrating affinities with the 'aesthetic radicalism' of Wolfgang Koeppen in his 'posthistorical' diagnosis of the state of the nascent Federal Republic in the 1950s.

Citation

Ward, S. (2007). Ästhetischer Radikalismus in der Posthistoire. Zum literarischen Bild der Geschichte in Reinhard Jirgls Hundsnächte. In D. Clarke, & A. De Winde (Eds.), Reinhard Jirgl : Perspektiven, Lesarten, Kontexte (151-177). Rodopi

Publication Date	Jan 1, 2007
Deposit Date	Jan 13, 2014
Publicly Available Date	May 8, 2015
Pages	151-177
Series Title	German monitor
Book Title	Reinhard Jirgl : Perspektiven, Lesarten, Kontexte.
Publisher URL	http://www.brill.com/products/book/reinhard-jirgl