Humor, Satire, and Identity

Jill Twark

ISBN 10: 3110195992 / ISBN 13: 9783110195996

Editore: De Gruyter, De Gruyter Saur Sep 2007, 2007

Riguardo questo articolo

Neuware -This is the first book in English to survey the Eastern German literary trend of employing humor and satire to come to terms with experiences in the German Democratic Republic and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. As sophisticated attempts to make sense of socialism¿s failure and a difficult unification process, these contemporary texts help define Germany today from a specific, Eastern German perspective. Grounded in politics and history, ten humorous and satirical novels are analyzed for their literary aesthetics and language, cultural critiques, and socio-political insights. The texts include popular novels such as Thomas Brussig¿s Helden wie wir, Ingo Schulze¿s Simple Storys, and Jens Sparschuh¿s Der Zimmerspringbrunnen, as well as lesser-known but equally relevant works like Schlehweins Giraffe by Bernd Schirmer and Katerfrühstück by Erich Loest. A broad spectrum of humor and satire theories is applied to probe texts from various angles and suggest multi-layered answers to the question of how these literary modes function in postwall Germany to construct a specifically Eastern German identity. Interviews the author conducted with five of the satirists are appended as primary sources and contribute to the interpretation of the texts.Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Genthiner Strasse 13, 10785 Berlin 484 pp. Englisch.

Codice articolo 9783110195996

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Humor, Satire, and Identity
• Editore: De Gruyter, De Gruyter Saur Sep 2007
• Data di pubblicazione: 2007
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 3110195992
• ISBN 13: 9783110195996
• Rilegatura: Buch
• Condizione: Neu

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

This is the first book in English to explore the Eastern German literary trend of the 1990s employing humor and satire to come to terms with socialism´s failure and a difficult unification process. The ten novels in this survey include works by Brussig, Schulze, and Hensel. These popular, contemporary texts help define Germany today from a specific, East German perspective. Grounded in politics and history, the texts are analyzed for their literary aesthetics, cultural critiques, and socio-political insights. Several original author interviews are appended as primary sources.

Informazioni sugli autori

Jill E. Twark, East Carolina University, Greenville, USA.

Jill E. Twark, East Carolina University, Greenville,USA.