The Novel in German since 1990

Stuart Taberner

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780521192378
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139119450
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Critica letteraria europea

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

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: The novel in German since 1990
• Chapter 1 Robert Schindel’s Gebürtig (Born-Where)
• Chapter 2 Günter Grass’s Ein weites Feld (Too Far Afield)
• Chapter 3 Thomas Brussig’s Helden wie wir (Heroes Like Us)
• Chapter 4 Christa Wolf’s Medea. Stimmen (Medea. A Modern Retelling)
• Chapter 5 Zafer Senocak’s Gefährliche Verwandtschaft (Perilous Kinship)
• Chapter 6 Monika Maron’s Endmoränen (End Moraines)
• Chapter 7 Martin Walser’s Ein springender Brunnen (A Gushing Fountain)
• Chapter 8 Michael Kleeberg’s Ein Garten im Norden (A Garden in the North)
• Chapter 9 Christian Kracht’s Faserland (Frayed-Land)
• chapter 10 Elfriede Jelinek’s Gier (Greed)
• chapter 11 Karen Duve’s Dies ist kein Liebeslied (This Is Not a Love-Song)
• chapter 12 Herta Müller’s Herztier (The Land of Green Plums)
• chapter 13 W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz
• chapter 14 Walter Kempowski’s Alles umsonst (All for Nothing)
• chapter 15 F. C. Delius’s Mein Jahr als Mörder (My Year as a Murderer)
• chapter 16 Yadé Kara’s Selam Berlin
• chapter 17 Daniel Kehlmann’s Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World)
• chapter 18 Günter Grass’s Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (Peeling the Onion)
• Select bibliography
• Index