Focus Fall 1996.tif S on Sample COpy / Ansichtsexemplar I 10 C U S on LITERATUR Editors Britta Kallin Tonya Hampton T ech nical Manager Michael Shaughnessy Published by [he German Graduate Student Governance Associat ion of the University of Cincinnati FoC//s on Lileralllr is published semiannually (Spring & Fall) by the German Graduate Student Governance Association of the University of Cincinnati. Ed itor Brim Kallin Book Rev iew Editor TonyJ. Hampton Technical Manager Michael Shaughnessy Copy Editors Michael Rice Timothy Straube! Barbel Such Subscriptions and Mailings Pehr Magnus Karlsson Clerical Assistant Julie Rape SUB MISS IONS Focus on Litem/IJr welcomes article submissions from 10-25 pages on topics related ro German literary studies . Submissions are accepted co ntinuously, bUl contributors must be Sludems at the time of submission. Manuscripts must be submitted in triplicJte to the editor and should be prepared accord­ ing to the guidelines of the latest MLA Handbook. A self-addressed postcard should accompany the manuscript (or acknowledgment of its receipl. BOOK R EVIEWS Unsolicited book reviews of 2-5 pages will be considered for publication, yet Fom! on Lilcrawr prefers to work with an established pool of reviewers. Interested persons are encouraged to inform the Book Review Editor. SUBSCRJ PTIONS Annual subscriptions one SI5.00 for individuals and S22.00 for institutions; individuals and institut ions overseas add 55.00 for additional postage. CONTACT ADDRESS Send subscription fees and all other correspondence to FoclI5 on. Literalllr, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Cinci n­ nati, Clncinnali, Ohio 45221 -0372 . Tel: (5 13) 556-2755 Fax: (513) 556-1991. COVER: ~The Book Fool" from Sebastian Brant's Ship oj Fooles, London, 1570, courtesy of the Arch ives and Rare Books Department, University of Cincinnati Libraries. Cover design by Giana Morrell. We reserve the right to make any necessary editing changes without the express written consent of the authors. Member § Council of Editors of Learned Journals IS$N 1076-5697 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS T he seco nd installment of th e third volume of FOCl/.5 on Lileral lt t was possible only with the continued commitment of Dr. Judith Trent, Associate Vice P resident fOI' Researc h and Advanced Studies .md the o fficers o f rhe Unive rsity o f C incinnati Graduate Studelll Governance Association. W e arc deeply indebted for their support in getti ng a new co mputer whi ch fac ilitates the publi cati on process . Our sincere lhanks go \ 0 Department H ead Sara Friedrichs­ meyer, our Faculty Advisor Professor Ri chard Schade and o ther fac­ ulty members of the Depanmelll of German ic Languages and Litera­ tures who have been very support ive of this publ ication. We are also grateful fo r the volunta ry work offered by the graduate students of the German depanmelll. Special thanks to .Iii members of our board of reviewers. Ar­ t icles for this issue were refereed by th e fo llowi ng pro fessors: Bet h Bjorklund (U of Virginia), Sara Fricdrichsmeye r (U of Cincinnati), Erhard Friedrichsmeyer (U of Cincinnati), Kat han na Gerstenberger (U of Ci ncinnati) , Jerry G lenn (U of Ci ncinnati), C layton Koelb (U of North Carolina , C hapel H ill), Heidi Rauscher-T ilghman (Knox College) and Richard Schade (U of Ci ncinnati). FoClts on Literatur frolll the ed iror arcides Volume 3, Number 2 Fall 1996 Contents Die Suche oach der schrecklichen Poesie. Zur iirerarischen Programmatik und SpTJ.chthematik in Ingeborg Bachmanns Dey Fall Franza RALF E. WERNER Erzahler im Brechtschen Kreidekreimiick: Eine Analyse der momienen theatralischen Perspektiven PETERJ. YANG Adorno's 'Ban' on Poetry after Auschwitz JEFF D. T ODD book reviews VI 9 1 III 147 Karlhejnz Barwasser. Mlltterkorn 159 Elazar Benyoc:tz. Briiderhchkell: Das tiitesce Spiel nile dem Fetter 160 Marcel Beyer. FtugJmnde 162 Hans C hris[Oph Buch. Traum amJnihen Morgen 168 Marti n Grzimek. Von emem, der verzweiJeh verslichc, s/Ch zu verheben 173 Thomas Heuche. Nox 175 Uwe Kolbe. NIchE wlrklich plalolllscb Hermann Lenz. Zwel Frauen Monik.l t ... broo. Ammal TrUle Geriurd R. Schade. Verse emes AmeTlk:I-Deum.ben: 71N German and English Poelry o/Gerhard R. Schade Bernhard Schlink. Der Vor/eser C hrista Wolf. Medea· Sllmmell in terv iew Wir moclncn sc hone, geh.lh volle Bucher flir geislvolle Kopfc her~usgeben GESPRACI I MIT DEl'vt VERLEGER ALBERT VOLKMANN contributors announcements 179 lSI IS4 IS7 IS9 19 1 197 20 1 202 \I From the Editor The ReclJlScbreibrefonn is an important issue for graduate students in Germ'!'n depan:ments throughout the country. It is a reform which is radic.ll and will affect all of us using the language. ot ooly the spell~ IIlg of some words will change bUl also capitalization, hyphenation of words dnd punctuation will be different. Even though the Kuftusmmmer of Germany, Austria and Swilurland ha\'e ,lgreed to J.ccept the latest version, it is still debatable what changes will make their way into books and textbooks published after 1998. FJ.ll1ous examples are changes from PhliosophJe to Fliosofie or POrWIOr/1lale to POTtr1l0nee. Some of the new rules are convincing while others Me outright ridiculous. The Imrilltl fiiT delIlsche Spr.:lche put a complete list of changes and updated information on the reform J.t the follow­ ing Web site: Imp:// ",ww.ids-manoheim.de. Those of us in the aCJdemic J.renJ. or in the professional world involved with the German language will have to watch the reform closely. Every publisher has to decide whether 10 adopt the new rules immediately or wait fo r public accepl.lnce. Some people are convinced there is no way to Stop il; others believe thai it will fade away (even though the new rules are already being laught in elementary schools and the new Duden and other dictionaries h.lve been pr1lned with the new rules). For those of us who ;are graduate students, who might be teachers or professors in the future, the decision is of imporunce. We will be affected by its outcome becaUSe! we use language in reading, writing and teach ing. Incidentally, the language use of th is issue is nOt yet in line with the new rules! Ma)'be the difference w ill be easy to ignore and as insignificant as the old spelling of "Thur" with a "th" or "bey" wi th a "y." Language i:, always ch.lnging through everyday usage and graduaJ assimilation. This reform is more complex and more imposed on the people than previous ones. Maybe speakers of German wi ll adJ.pl as easily to the new rules as they did lO rhe introduction of the S-digit Posrleirzahlen, which WJ.S intensely debated by the media. For now we adopt a wait and see attitude. Let me turn to other business: This year's Focus mJ Literatltr Conference, held on October 11-12, 1996, was a big sliccess. 20th cen- \11 lUry German, Austri.m and Swiss lilerature \\'.t5 the lopic of Ollf first annual graduate student confe rence. Aher QlIr keynote speake r, 1-i.l rJy Friedrichsmeyer, spoke on Grass's Eill wclles Feld. we he.lrd morc papers on Grass's work. There were pdpt:rs JC.llmg ~I(h Chnstoph !-Ieill's novels; Olhers dealt with literature by Schnitzler, Tankred Dont, Jurek Becker and Monik.l ?>.ldron. One p.1per discus.sed Tho­ mas Bernhard's work and another one focllsed on Elfriede Jelinek's prose. A bonus was dn evening with the author Klaus r..lodick.who read from his latest manuscript. The pJ.pers of :Ill speakers will be considered for public;uion in the Spring :lIld Fall '97 issues. Tlunks again La the organizers, the session c1uirs, the dcp.u-tment and .111 g~'ad swdents who m.lde this conference possible. For next year's topu;s, please see the conference announcement at the back of this issue. This issue stJns with .l1l interesting arucle by Ralf Werner 011 langu.lge use in Bachn1.lnn's Dt!r Fall Franza. It gives an insight into Bachll1.1nn's way of estahbshll1g a dialog between I he llJ.rr.l[Qr .llld the reader of the Story. There.tfter, Pet~r Yang fO(USCi on dIe tunCIIOIl of \-arious narrators in Brecht's De.,. ktwk.1SIM:lJe Kr~uk:k)"jNS. He discu:.ses the acting narrator, tbe firs t person narrator, slinul.lleJ perspeclin;:~ of the ciramatls personae and perspectives of l.h.ll"ar.:len in detail. Jeff Todd's ~lrtide deals with Adorno's 'B.lIl' on poet l'y after the! 1010- causl. Todd describes what a difference it i> to ullderstand AJorno's statement in the origina l context r.llher than out of context. In the book revil!" section, WI! renew books whu.h werl! published between 199 .. J.nd 1996 by well~known J.uthors such.ls t-l.1ns Christoph Buch, I lermann Lenz, jo.·lonikJ tvl.lron ,lilt! Chrisl.1 \Volf. Orher aut hors included are Karlheinz Barwasser, Einar Benyoi!lz, Marcel Beyer, Marlin Grz imek, Thomas H enche, Uwe Kolbe, Gerh ard Schade and Bcrnkll·d Sch link. In the bst part of this issue you will find J.1l imerview wllh Alben Volkmann, who is the head of the sn1.1l1, yet interesting A I Verlag in Munich. He was interviewed on issues deJ.bng with du~ pub­ lication of contemporlry fiction. We enCOHflge you to send us your papers for the journal ,HId your J.bstracts for next year's FoCl1.5 on Litcrtllllr graou.ne student I.:on­ ference. Brltta Kallm