"Herta Muller is one of the leading figures in the new generation of German writers. The first book in English to be devoted exclusively to Herta Muller, this collection of essays is intended both as an introduction for the general reader and a resource for the specialist. It contains ten previously unpublished short texts by Muller, together with a revealing interview and a biographical outline. Six essays by British and German academics interpret key texts in detail and assess vital aspects of Muller's entire oeuvre. The essays are complemented by the fullest bibliography on Muller published since 1991"--Jacket
The papers, the appreciation and the poem that are collected in this volume were delivered at the conference, Aesthetics and Politics in Modern German Culture, which was held from 31 August to 2 September 2008 at the University of Wales Conference Centre, Gregynog Hall, in honour of Professor Rhys W. Williams upon his retirement from the Chair of German at Swansea University. The contributions focus on broad themes in modern German culture, all of which reflect Rhys Williams’ research interests: Expressionism and Neue Sachlichkeit; Representing/Resisting National Socialism; West German Writing; GDR Spaces and Voices; Exploring Masculinities in Fiction; Performing Politics, Performing Humour; Intertexts and Difference; and Lives and Letters.
The novelist and essayist Libuše Moníková (1945-1998) made a unique contribution to German, Czech and world literature, writing in German from a distinctly Czech perspective in a manner which can best be described as encyclopaedic and highly intertextual. Positively received abroad, particularly in Germany and the US, her works remained until recently relatively unknown in the land of her birth. This volume, whose appearance marks what would have been the sixtieth anniversary of her birth, is the first in-depth study of the work of this truly European writer. It contains specially commissioned articles by Czech, German, US and British scholars, as well as an appreciation by her friend and fellow writer F.C. Delius, an English translation of one of her last interviews, and the first comprehensive bibliography. The essays range from close readings of a single text, in particular the satirical, picaresque novel Die Fassade and the posthumously published Der Taumel, to surveys of themes, techniques or motifs within her œuvre, for example nation, exile, history and myth, and studies of Moníková’s intertextual references, particularly to film and the work of Arno Schmidt. The contributions emphasise the comic, the personal and the ambiguity in her works, as well as the sheer breadth of Moníková’s interests and sources.
Six key texts by contemporary women writers are read afresh by leading critics, using insights from poststructuralist and new materialist feminist theory. Ingeborg Bachmann, Christa Wolf, and Elfriede Jelinek have long been prominent in the fields of Austrian modernism, GDR writing, and avant-garde Austrian literature. The innovative work of Anne Duden, Herta Muller, and Emine Sevgi Ozdamar sets out to challenge dominant models of German identity. Focusing on the body and suffering, theyexplore textual representations of trauma, national identity, and displacement. Haines and Littler's readings of these distinguished and complex female authors offer new avenues for discussion. Both critics and their subjects cast a sceptical eye over existing notions of subjectivity in relation to language, gender, and race. Together, they spark controversy and comment, in an increasingly important debate.
