Focus Spring 1997.tif


VOL. 4 NO. 1 

SPRING 1997 

o c U S on 

Sample Copy / Ansichtsexemplar 



10 C U S on 

LITERATUR 

Editors 
Britta Kallin 

Tonya Hampton 

Technical Manager 
Michael Shaughnessy 

Published by the German Graduate Student Governance 
A ssociat ion of the U niversity of Cincinnati 



Focus on Literalilr is published semiannually (Spring & Fall) by the German 
Graduate Student Governance Association of the Univenity of Cincinnati. 

Editor 
Brim Kallin 
Book Review Editor 
Tonya Hampton 
Technic .. 1 Manage r 
Michael Shaughnessy 

Copy Ed irors 
Mlch.ael Rice Timothy Str.aubel Barbel Such 

Subscriptions and Mailings 
Pehr Magnus Karlsson 

Clerica l Assistant 
Julie Rape 

SUBM ISS IONS 
Focus on Literatllr welcomes article submissions from 10-25 pages on topics 
related to German literary studies. Submissions are accepted continuously, 
but contributors must be students at the time of submission. Manuscripts 
must be submitted in triplicOlte to the editor and should be prepared accord­
ing to the guideli nes of the btest f..1LA Handbook. A self-addressed postcard 
should accompany the manuscript for acknowledgment of its receipt. 

BOOK REVIEWS 
Unsolicited book revIews of 2-5 p.ages will be considered for publication, yet 
Focus on Literatllr prefers to work \Vith an established pool of reviewers. 
Interested persons are encouraged to inform the Book Review Editor. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS 
Annu.al subscriptions;He $15.00 for IIldividuals .and $22.00 for institutions; 
individu.als .and institutions oversus .add $5.00 for additional posuge. 

CONT ACT ADDRESS 
Send subscription fees and all other correspondence to FoClI.S on Literatllr, 
DepOlrtmem of Germ'lIlic Languages and Literatures, University of Cincin­
nati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0372. Tel: (5\3) ;56-2755 FdX: (513) 556-1991. 

COVER: ~The Book Fool" from Sebastian Brant's Ship of Foo/es, London, 
1570, COUrtesy of the ArchIVes :lIld Rare Books Department, UniverSllY of 
Cincinnati Libraries. Cover design by Giana Morrell. 

We reserve the right to make any necessary editing changes without the 
express wriuen consent of the authors. 

Member 

c§) 
Council of Editors of Learned Journals 

ISSN 1076-5697 

ACKNOWLEDGM ENT S 

The first insullmenl of the fOllrth volume of FoClts 011 Literalllr was 
made possible only w ith the continued commitment of Dr. Judith 
Trent Associate Vice President for Research and Advdnce:d Studies 
and d;e officers of the University of C incinnati Graduate Student 
Governance Associalion. We are deeply indebted £0 them for their 

SuppOIl . 
Our sincere thanks go to Depa rt ment Head Sara Friedrichs­

meye r, our Facuhy Advisor Professor Richard Schade and other fac­
ul ty members of the Depa rtment o f Germ:;l.Il ic Languages and Litera­
tures w ho have been very supportive of th is publicdrion. We arc dlso 
grateful for the volun tary work offered by the grd<iuale students of 

the German department. 
Special thanks to all members of our board of reviewers. Ar­

t icles for th is issue were refe reed by the follow ing professors: David 
Coury (U of Wisconsin-Green Bay), Sara Friedrichsmeyer (U of Cin­
cinn:ni), Erhard Friedrichsmeyer (U of Cincinnati), Katharin.l 
Gerstenberger (U of CincinnatQ,Jerry G lenn (U of Cincinn:uQ, Phillip 
McKnight (U of Kelll ucky, Lexington) and Richard Schdde (U of Cin­

ci nnati). 



from the editor 

articles 

Focus on Literatur 
Volume 4, Nu mber 1 

Spring 1997 

Contents 

"Mauern haben sich iiberlebt": Die Unmoglichkeit der 
Ideotitatsbildung durch Andere in Grass' Kopfgeburlen 
odeT die Deu£schen sterben ails 
SILKE R . FALKNER 

Li fe under the Table: An Investi gation into t he Themes 
and Insecurity in Gunter Grass's Die BlechtTommel 
JENNIFER MARSTON WILLIAM 

"Friederike, Martha, Hilde"; Christoph Heins 
' Kleinaufnahmen' aus der deutschen Gesc hichte 
MARIA KROL 

The Beau ALmand and Armand: 
Simplicissimus and Felix Krull in Paris 
CHRlSTfNA L. BO NNER 

book reviews 

Tankred Dorsl. Die Legende vom armen HeinTich 
Barbara Frischmuth. Hexenherz 

v, 

13 

21 

35 

53 
55 

Peter Handke. Eine wincerliche Reise 211 den Hiissen 57 
Donall, Save, Morawa Imd Drilla Oller 
Gerechtigkeit /iir Serblen 

H anna Johansen. Ku movelle 61 
Gunther Kunert. Mein Go/em 64 
Jeannette Lander. Eine Ulllerbrochene Reise 66 
Thomas Strittmatter. MilchmuSlk 68 
Gabriele Wohmann. A be, das war noch nicht das 72 

Schlimmste 

interviews 

Die besten Ideen und die ' unverhofften Bekannten ' 77 

kommen beim Schreiben 
INTERVIEW MIT D EM AUTO REN KLAUS MO DICK 

Ein knall roter Umschlag ware mir fur Ruth Kliigers 93 
Buell unpassend erschienen . 
INTERVI EW MIT DEM VERLEGER 
THEDEL VON WALLMO DEN 

con tribu tors 105 

an nouncements 106 



vi 

From the Editor 

Wit~ (hi.s issue, the Focus on Literalllr journal enters its fou rt h year of 
pubhcau on. Focus on Literalllr is one of only two journals published 
by graduate students in t he U.S. We have published papers in Ger­
Ill all and English, with topics ranging from literatu re of the Middle 
Ages to contemporary German-language literatu re dealing with all 
g.enres. O ur pool of book reviewers is constantly growin g. In addi­
ti on , we have seen a signi ficant increase in subscriptions. Many o f our 
past authors ha ve given liS feedback that their publicati on in our jour­
nal has provided them with an advantage in job applicatio ns. 
. . We nOt only o ffer a platform for new scholarship by publish­
JO g a Journal but are happy to extend this platform by o rganiz. ing 
conferences at which futu re scho lars can meet and exchange their ideas 
on cu rrent issues in Ge rman literary studies. The First Ann Ul i Gradu­
ate Student Confe rence WlS organized by Focus on Literatltr and held 
in October 1996. This volume ooens with three an icles that were 
presented at that conference. T hey are not primed as proceedings of 
the confe rence, but simi lar to other submiued anicles, we re refereed 
by our discerning panel of reviewers. 
. In the first anicle, Silke Falkner analyzes concepts of the O ther 
III Grass's Kopfgeburten. She demonstrates how a constructi on of iden­
tit y is impossible by simply constructing the Other. Her anicle is 
parr of the current debate on post-colonial criticism of G rnss's work 
and the neocolonial, eurocentric standpoint that can be traced in books 
such as Kop(g~bjl rcen and Zunge zeigen. In the next articl e, Jennife r 
Marston Wdllam argues that the idea of insecurity in G rass's Die 
~/echtromme~ is underlined by the use of language, especiall y expres­
sions of I OC~tl~ l1 , often seen frolll the protagonist's lower perspecti ve. 
Marston Wilham shows how the usage of Im ter reveals mo tifs of fear 
and insecurity. In the fo llowing article by Maria Krol, the author 
con~ends t~at the lin~ between literature and history, or the making 
of history, IS of great Importance when examilling Christoph H ein 's 
st.o~ '" Friederike, ~ la rt ha, Hilde." KIol exempli fies how H ein 's defi­
IlItlo n of Chronik is significant for the understanding of his work. 
Hein's id:~ of the :-v riter'~ task deviates from t he o fficial concept o f 
G DR-poltucs. Unlike mamSlream GDR-literature, th is story serves 

VII 

as an example of how the socialist Sl a te d id n Ol improve the persoll al 
development of indi viduals. 

In addiljon to t he Focus on Literatur con ference, Professo r 
K:nharina Gerstenberger (U niversity o f Cincinnati) organized a Mm;­
Kon!erenz at the end of a seminar on Bddlmgsromanc. A shorter ver­
sion of C hristina Bonner's article was presented at that conference 
Ian May. Bonner develops a detailed analysis of similarilies between 
th e characters Feli x Krull and Simplicissi mus. She focuses all rhe Paris 
episode in Thomas Mann 's and Grimmelshausen 's work s. Bonner 
ex plores. fo r example. similarities in t he use of language, clothing and 
t reatme nt b y o th er c ha ract ers. She concludes tha t wh ereas 
Sim plicissim us is judged by G rimmelshausen as having a sinfu l na­
lU re, Mann does not use the same religious fra mework blll rather 
evaluates KrulJ in aesthetic terms. ' , 

Even though the book review secti on is organiz.ed acco rdin g 
to the author's last name, it is int eresting to note that wo rks by male 
and female authors alternate. We are delighted lhal more and more 
women authors are being published and reviewed. Th is section in­
cludes reviews on a collection of sto ries by Barbara Frischmuth . a 
novel by Gabriele Wohmann and reviews on novels by the less fa­
mous authors Hanna Jo hanse n and Jeannette Lander. Furthermore, 
we introduce a new play by T ankred Dorst . a new coll ection of po­
ems by Gunther Kunert as well as the cO lll roversial CSSdY by H andke 
on the Se rbian role in the Balkan war. T he book by Striuman er was 
pu t together after the author's death from fragments o f his work. 

The final sectio n includes an interview with author Klaus 
Modick that was held last October du ri ng the FOCIIS on Lileralllr co n­
ference: It gives a good insight into the author's ideas on develop­
ments 111 contempo rary German-language literature. T he second in­
tervi ew wit h Thedel vo n Wallmodcn w.ts held last November by a 
group of studen ts incl uding Michael Rice, who will be next year's 
editor for Fows on Literatur. Herr von Wallmoden published Rmh 
Kluger's bestseller weller leben . eme Jllgend. He has recently become 
the Koordinator for the Subrkamp Verlag. 

Working as the editor o f this journ al has given me a wonder­
ful insight into the world o f publishing, scholarship, nerworking with 
graduate students and p ro fessors from other univers it ies, autho rs, 
editors and many other in teresting people. It is very impon.ant for 



VIII 

graduate students-who are about to enter the "real professional" 
world-to have scholarly forums slich as journals and conferences dedi­
cated to their needs, where ideas can be exchanged and discussed among 
peers. I am certain that this year's Second Annual Graduate Student 
Conference organized by Focus on LiteratllY, to be held on October 
10-11, 1997, in the newly opened Max Kade German Cultural Cen­
ter, will be a great success. It is open to the public and I would like to 

encourage graduate students from all over the country and in Ger­
man-speaking countries to participate in such conferences. 

Britla Kallin 

"Mauern haben sich iiberlebt": 
Die Unmoglichkeit der Identitatsbi ldung 
durch A ndere in Grass' Kopfgeburten oder 

Die Deutschen sterben aus1 

Silke R. Falkner 

O n Orienta/ism zeigt Edward Said, daB "the development and 
maintenance of every culture require the existence of another, 

different and competing alter ego . The construction of identity. 
involves the construction of opposites and 'others' whose actuality is 
always subject to the continuous interpretation and re-interpretation 
of their d ifferences from 'us'" (A fterword 331-332). Mit dem 
leitmotivischen Satz. "Asien ist anders" (169) setzt Gunter Grass' 1980 
erschienenes Kopfgeburten eine Konstruktion des Eige-aerl anhand des 
Anderen in Szene. Doch inwiefern gelingt diese Konstruktion? Kann 
hier durch diesen Mechanismus Identitat geschaffen we rden? Diese 
Frage soli im Zentrum der Diskussion des einer Vorlage zu einem 
Filmmanuskript alllllich konzipienen Textes stehcn. 

Ahnl ich wie bei dem von Jiirgen Rothenberg mit: "Nichts 
scheim hoffnungsloser als der Versuch, den Inhalt des 'Tagebuchs' 
referieren zu wollen" (In) kommentiene Aus dem Tagebuch einer 
Schnecke, lassen sich die verschiedenen Hand!ungsebenen von 
Kopfgeburten, das wir auch als Reflexion tiber einen moglichen Roman 
bezeichnen konnen, kallm zusammenfassen. Es geht unter anderem 
um Dorte und Harm PeLers, Lehrerehepaar aus Itzehoe, die sich im 
Sommer 1980 auf eine Studienreise nach Indien (Bombay und Manari), 
Thailand (Bangkok) und Tndonesien (Java, Bali) begeben. Von der 
Obernachtung bei einer zwolfkopfigen Slum-Familie in Bombay bis 
zu Dones Annahme naturreligioser Fruchtbarkeitsriten au f Bali 
befindet sieh im Reisegepack der beiden sowohl die Sorge um den 
bevorstehenden Wahlkampf um die Kanz lerschaft in der 
Bundesrepublik, als auch die Frage nach einer Emscheidung fiir oder 
gegen ein Kind. Politische und personliche Diskussionen verkniipfen 

FOCII> on Li/cralur Vol. 4, N o. 1 (1997)