‘Whose Story?’: Continuities in Contemporary German-Language Literature

These essays by British, German, and Austrian scholars explore the salient features of a literature reviving after a period of de-stabilization which was at once political and aesthetic. German unity coincided with generational changes among writers, reappraisals of the role of literature in an era of ‘post-modern’ challenges, and reassessments of the historical roles of Austria and Switzerland. While writers from the former GDR are shown to be pre-occupied with that past and women writers with women’s status in patriarchal societies, the essays reveal a sophisticated literature of the 1990s which harnesses the aesthetic forces of post-modernism in powerful statements of moral and human commitment. Many of the essays address works which have not previously been the subject of scholarly analysis. The writers discussed include: Ernst Augustin, Jurek Becker, Hermann Burger, Brigitte Burmeister, Friedrich Christian Delius, Lilian Faschinger, Guenter Grass, Peter Handke, Christoph Hein, Wolfgang Hildesheimer, Rolf Hochhuth, Bernd-Dieter Huege, Alexander Kluge, Franz Xaver Kroetz, Reiner Kunze, Monika Maron, Heiner Mueller, Sten Nadolny, Christoph Ransmayr, Gerhard Roth, W.G. Sebald, Verena Stefan, Gabriele Stoetzer, Peter Wawerzinek, Ulrich Woelk.