Germans Going Global

Contemporary Literature and Cultural Globalization

Anke S. Biendarra

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9783110282818
• eBook ISBN: 9783110282917
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: German Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Germans Going Global is the first monograph in English to address in depth the interrelatedness between contemporary German literature and globalization. In an interdisciplinary framework and through detailed readings of a wide variety of texts, the study shows how the challenges globalization has posed for Germany over the last two decades have been manifested and reimagined in aesthetic production. Analyses of the literary marketplace and public debates illuminate the more material sides of this development. The study also analyzes the ways in which German-language writers born between 1955 and 1975, such as Chr. Kracht, Th. Meinecke, J. Hermann, S. Berg, F. Illies, K. Röggla, J. v. Düffel, and G. Hens, respond to the pressures of globalizing factors, and how these have influenced notions of authorship and literary aesthetics. It shows how narratives dealing with the neoliberal work world, global travel, and the aftermath of 09/11 implicitly comment on contemporary debates on globalization, its socio-economic nature, and the impact for local culture. By presenting a literary history of the present, Germans Going Global deepens the reader's understanding of contemporary Germany and its cultural production.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgements
• 1 Effects of Globalization on the Literary Marketplace and Contemporary Authorship
• 2 Globalizing German Literature: Literary Debates around the Millennium
• 3 Brave New Work World: Narratives of the New Economy
• 4 Forms of Social Realism: Unemployment in Contemporary Narratives
• 5 Traveling Without Moving? Narratives of (Im)Mobility
• 6 Coda: Piles of Authenticity: Narrating 09/11
• Works Cited
• Index