Focus 2001.tif




L 

Locu s on 

G.RMANSTUDIES 

EditOrs 

David Prickell 
Monika Hohbein-Deegen 

Published by the German Graduate Srudent Governance 

Association of the University of Oncinnari 



FoolS (11 Germall Studies is published annually by the 
Ge nnan Graduate St1Ide nt Gowmance Assoc iation 

of the University of Gncinnati. 

EDITOR- i N-CH IEF 
David Prickett 
COPY EDITORS 
Flori~ Berg . Susanne Buckesfeld 
Monika Hohbcin-Deegen 
Susanne Lenne . Michael Rice 
Barbel Such 
WE BMASTER 
Dorolhy Young 

ED ITO RI AL BOARD 

BOOK R£ VI E \V EDITOR 
Monika Hohbe:in-Deegen 

SUBSCRI PTIONS & M AILI NGS 
David Prickett · 6 2rbel Such 

LaUr.l Vas 
T ECH NICAL EDIT OR 

Brian J. Powell 

Dr. David N Cou.-v U f w, . "'. 0 wL$COIlSUl-Green Bay 
Dr. Herman J. De Vnes Cal· U· . • ' VIO ruV~rslty 

!vlrs. rony;!. Hampton M A. U of G· . 
D

. . ,., ncmnatl 
r. Bnna Kallin, Georgia Tech 

Mr. David Prickeu M A. U of G· . o ' . , OCIIUUtl 

~~ i~~~g7;t Reddmg. \'<Ilihingmn & Jefferson CoUege 
. ae ce, M .. A., U of GnClllna,,· 

Ms S·mdS . a uch, M.A, U of Gncinnati 
Dr. Jeffrey De.ln Todd, Texas Christian U 

CONT ACf ADDRESS 
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

TIle eighth volume of FootS on German Studies ..... '3.S nude possIble only 
with the continued conunitment of Dr. I Iowa I'd E. Jac kson, Vice Pn!Si~ 
dent for Research and University Dean for Advanced Studies .It the Uni­
versityof Gncinnali, as v.-ell as the University of Gncinl1ati GI'"J.duate 
Student Governance Association. We are deeply indebted lO them fonheir 

ongoing suppan. 
DepanOlent Head P I'ofessor Sa ra Fliccili chsl1lc yer, our FJ.c-

uhy Adviso r P mfessor Richard Schade, and otiter fJ.enity members of 
the Depanmem of Gernunic Languages and Literatures deserve ou r sin­
cere grJ.litude fo r helping in so nuny wa)'S'lO keep Fcx1tS in ope ration. 
~tUly graduate students volunteered their tUlle. to help with this volume. 
\'<'e would especiJ.lly like to tbank Sus.lnne Buckesfeld for extensivl:! copy 
editing, and Barbel Such for her cOlll inued assistance Wlth admirustrJliw 

and editorial questions. 

Speciallh,mks to all members of our 
EOITORlAl. BOARD and uQ.-\RD 01' Rf.V1E~'ERS. 

A rudo cazsiderrd fr 11115 ui'fllJ!tlDt' rrf~ll.ry uJe ftJ/u..:.JJ-gprr{f.SSOIS: 

Dr. Carol Anne Costabile.Hell1ing, Southwest Missou ri State U 
Dr. OJ.vid N Colll1~ U of \'iflSconsin -G rl!en Bay 

Dr. S.lr.l Fried lichslllC}{:r, U of Gnclnnall 
Dr. Rachel Freudenberg, Boston College 

Dr. Katharina Gerstenberge r, U of Gncinnau 
Dr. Jerry Glenn, U of GncumJ.li 

Dr. Todd llenog, U of G ncilmJ.t1 

Or. Paul M. M.llone, U of \'{IaterlOOt un. 
O r. Klaus Mladek, U of Gncinnati 

Or. Pol 6 Oochan.ligh, U of Ulster, UK 
D r. Julian Preece, U of Kent .n Call1erbllry, UK 

Dr. Birgit Taut/.. R.lrru.e)~ Lawrence U 
Dr. J. Gregory R.eJdUlg, Washington & Jefferson College 

Dr. Agatll.l Schwanz., U of Ottawa, Can. 
Dr. Jeffrey Dem Todd, Texas Grislian U 
Dr. Manin Wechselblatl , U of Gncinnati 

Or. Alfred D. \'Qhite, Cardiff U UK 



Focus on German Studies 
Volwne 8 

2001 

Contents 
from the edilo r 

articles 

He10 <l Koruosd .1' ld " 
t>. t> 0. IT S enutyas a Gtizen- Red f"" , Me fl.} . . emmg'>e 

<lllUlg 0 neunu U1 the Pos,-l!:"':(' . v 
D IWICatlon lears r. ..... 1\[ .... AtBERGHINI 

Self-Fashioning and G d Co 
Re " en er nstruclion in Franziska zu 

vent ow s A t1nneken 
JUUE KAL."J'JI SWTII ALLEN 

\Xh is! dieser Buchn ) As k 
und seines D . er. pe ae ZlIr Rezeption Buchners 
M B' anun un neunzehmen Jahrhunden 

,>.Rl1N AlA,tEL .... ND STEFAN MANNs 

Diogino Deep" Th PRe"" 
do U n? . e <1st Visited in \'(forks of Elfride le'" k 

an • 'l:;U1er Miiller me 

D . .o.c;"L.>,R,jAEGER 

Colonizing Boer . I bo 
les Ul nge rg Bachmann's "E' S' " 

nach Gomorrha" ill C Inn 

ANCA-ELENA Ltx:A 

~vi~iling Social and Racial Prejudice in the \'Vtlh lmin 
mplIe after the Goldhdgen Comrovers . ..e ~ 

Tendencies in Heinrich t-.1arul'S Der y. Ann~EmanclpalOr)' 
TU,GUE Nln.1S UnIe1tan 

vu 

17 

35 

15 

53 

65 

"Iller kotllm! sowas I1lChl vor"?: Fremdbilder In Theodor 

Fomanes Effi 811e;£ 
BIR1'E Sa-ruu 

Melancholia, Masnll-bation, and Lesesllcbt in A ,WI Rezser 
TOM SlEWART 

Von Kreisen und Briicken:Jeanette Landers EinSam1?Y 
imler U'lo:h>der Irke K 
MARK US Wu)T 

book reviews 

duislOph W Bauer. lY~ wzwi.8I- G«IidJte. 
Michael Braun.jelidJO «fer Das !eul:! Gesic};t ck J-lillmis. 
Volker Br,lUll. Wir Ixfor.len 11(6 sau.eiJ. w:bI. \\7ir suu 

elJtmu am E nie if 1/fenI11f1!1l 

Volker Braun. 0,15 IVzrklitiJf}!'Wilte 
Gion Nt"an.h.ias Gveh y. Qfi/&U aler euX! Reise im 

wl!",kcff'" 
Helene FlOss. SdmiltJ:;qpl 
FranzobeL Sad.'1 Santa aJer Jacfo~ IMl1zllwdX?s Hcheplmk.L 
Anke Gleber. 77Je A n if Tak~a Walk: Flme/"ie, Llterati(/"e, 

ani Film III \Vemnr GJunT!. 
Durs Grtinbein. NadulenSall1Tm 
Dorothea Grunzweig. V Clll £ isJlhi"f'll. 
Kathal"uld H.lCkel". Der Badenruler. 
Manfred J-Lmsmann. Kleine Liebe ZlI A m .. 'Ilka. E I1ljll1"'t,tr 

MarDI sdJierr/e)'l dU'fTh die Staaletl 
Alexander Hausser. Zeppelm! 
\Xfolfgang Hilbig. D,1.S PrmisOI1J11II 

Barbara I-lo nigmalUl. A HI'S, alk5 LiEbd 
}-leLnut Kohl. It/em Tag:bud) 1998·2000. 
Alfred Komarek. PciI1lJ{/w:iren 
Monika MJ.ron. qller iiberdte G/rue Ess«}S, A mkel, 

Zuisd!eJmte 
Tobias 0. Mei~ner. HalbE l1ffl. 

85 

97 

109 

129 
131 
IH 

135 
140 

1-12 
144 
HS 

151 
154 
157 

159 
162 
164 
167 
170 
173 
175 

180 



vi 

FelL ... Miaerer. TiXIliche Sibrlen 
Adolf Muschg. Slitters Gliir.k. 
Alexander Osang. cUe md»iciJten 
Andreas Steinh6fel. DI2Mztteder Wdc. 
:Marlene Streeruwitz. Jfa;akQlUkm~. 

imerviews 

[NTERVTEWMIT TI-fOMAS C BREUER 

[NTERVTEW \VlTI-! DR STEPHEN BROCKH""-'N 

[NTERVTEWMIT HANS STEMPEL UND MARllN RIPKINS 

contributors 

announcemen ts 

IS) 
188 
19 I 
19) 
194 

199 

207 

22 1 

227 

230 

\'11 

F rom the Edi tor 

In WUller Quarter of tillS P.l.st academic year, I panicipated in h1al1.in 
~chselblatt's literary theory course, "Testimony, Narrative, Memory" The 
course title and the va riety of texts and genres that we encountered (in­
duding Morrison's Pfa)mg in tbe Dmk, Spiegelmann's Malt5 dnd MaliS II, 
Sebald's Die E ml7'111ten, and Friedlef's NakfXi New YOlk), seemed to refleCt 
current research trends in the field of German Studies. Increasingly, schol.us 
are investigating the interrelationship between liter.l.ry and JocumemJry 
texts and how both playa crucial role in"the construction of narrntive: 
fi ctional text as narrative, (auto)biogmphy as narr-ative, case study as na r­
rJtive. For bener or for worse, the trnditional bounddries th,1l once sep.l­
mted the disciplines continue lO dissolve. Tbe liternry critic now trust:. 
him-I herself to analyze textS that we re once reserved for the biston.lIl, 
the laW)er, the ps~hologi st, dnd the physician, all the while keeping one 
foot firmly pLtnted in the literary CJnOIl. The transform.nion of FootS 011 

Lilera{Ur to FootS (1/ Germfl Jl Studies, aptly subtitled "A JOllrnal On all:1 
Be)ori German Language Literature," exemplifies this new !iceme of the 
lilerarycntic. 

The diversiryof the papers which complised the Fifth AlliluJI 
Graduate Conference also teSliiies to the ever-increasing role of German 
Studies within German de partments at universities throughout the ...... ,orld. 
Held on October 13 and 14, 2000 in the Max Kade Gernun GJllllrJl 
Center 31 the University of Gncinnati, the twelve papers covered topic~ 
rangi.ng from German literature to German film; from leners and ,mlobi­
ogrJphy to Ge rman culturnl topics. Stephen Brocknunll of Carnegie 
Mellon delivered the keynOle address "Locating the Nation, Locating Lit­
erature": a discussion of the changing role of literature in establishing 
national identi~ especially in post- Wel1deGermanr An interview ...... ith Dr. 
BrockInallll held prior to the conference appears in this volume. Confer­
ence panicipants as weU as members of the communil y gathered on the 
first evening of the confe rence in the Kade Center for J Cab-i l~l evening 
with Thomas C Breuer, cabaret anist and author. FoolS Book Review Edi­
tor Monika Hohbein·Deegen conducted the interview with Mr. Breuer 
that appears in this volume. 



VIII 

Tills years call for submissions was met with a very enthusiastic 
response: we received 25 papers from graduate studems from Canada, 
Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. All sub­
missions were refereed bymemben: of Our board of reviewers, whom v,'e 
sincerely thank Although the papers' themes were not necessarily a Con­
sideration for selection, all nine papers do indeed deal with questions of 
testimony, narrative, and/ or memof}~ In the anicle that follows, Diana 
Alberghini discusses the "idemitYVdcuum" of East Germln writer Helga 
Konigsdorf, and how "Writing helped construct her "German" identityfo!_ 
lowing German unificacion. Julie Kalan.i Smith Allen investigates aUlohi­
ographyas "vehicle for self.fashioning" vis-a-vis Franziska Zu Reventlow's 
A rrCJumken Allen argues that the auro- biographical nature of Revemlows 
epistolary novel, A nCXt11!SkerL' VGtl Pald Zit Pe:Iro. simultaneously celebr.ues 
Revemlow's unconvemionallove life and subvens prescribed gender roles 
in \Vtlhelmiruan Germany 

In their co-authored paper, .Manin Baumel and Stephan Manns 
discuss the relationship betv.;een history and life in the works of Georg 
Buchner. Baumel and MalUls place Buchner both as an historicist and .IS 

an ami-histoliclst and cite rhis ambiguity as one of the reaSOns for Jus 
rediscovery at the end of rhe nineteenth century History- and the prob­
lems surrounding "true" representation of the past- are key 
issues in Dagmar Jaeger's lInicie. Jaeger proposes thal questions 
surrounding pen:onal and national idemityin Elfride Jelinek's WdkenHezm 
and Heiner MUllers GemUnl..7 To:i in !3e.,{Ul reanimate a "Suppressed and 
repressed collective memory" surrounding Gerrnanyand AUStria's fascist 
past. Anca-Elena Luca considen: rhe link between past and present in 
Bachmann's "Ein Schritt nach Gomorrha." In her anide, Luca suggests 
dlat the Story pointS "at the uncomfortable traces of colon.ialis

m
, politics, 

and poWEr from the former Austro-Hungarian Habsburg Empire, [which 
are] still present in the culture and politics of evelJuay AUStrian life in the 
early 50s." Links between the anti-Semitism in Wrlhelrnine Germany and 
the Holocaust are the target of Teague Min1S's srudyof Heinrich Manns 
Der UlIteJtan In addition to diSCUSSing the theolies of Daniel Jonah 
Goldhagen and Shulamit Volkov, Mirns brings the "cuJrura! polarization" 
between ami·Sernilic and Jewish emancipatory movements in \Vuhemme 
Germany to the foreground. According to Mlms, Der Unlertan illustrares 
that not one single mode of thought, but rather that many <;intercon_ 
necred attitudes and practices" a.re "relevant to COntinuing e([ons of his­
LOricaJ interpretacion" of the period, 

ix 

.. examines the question of the racial 
In her artIcle, Bme Schulz ny previ.ous studies, Sd1Ulz. • Effi B . 1. In contrast to ma I 

Other in Fomane s 1115 . . ges of the Ot.her; rat 1er, " ., ·on to negative mu . 
does not lirl11t her I!wesllgau r " hings foreign" Schuh. mam-

> I . - orrr,l.yals 0 t . ((> she also outlines t le pos/Uve p . _.I L_
t 

lUlderstand not only E I 
h belookedatmoluertoL.JC;:l> h. 

tains that bOt must " . h I TomStew,l.n also concerns Im­
BneSl's- but also PrusSia 5- P~)t: .oogy., wi. h investigates the causes 

> 11· I· esmhISanlce, ue 
self WIth psyc 10 oglca ISSU, _ , I a Foucatudian lens, Stewan ana­
of Amon Reiser's mdanc~lo~a. nll OUg

l 
'I hool) at work that control 

f d' line (name y t 1e se .. " 
lyLeS lhe systems 0 lSClP, , b annal Lesesll(iJt., which StewJ.n reads and thereby norm Amon RelSer san 

as a form of mas1urbauon. . I M'1I1-us W'ust offers the reader 
In t.he final anide of thIS vo ume, S . der \l1o:1~(t.'r like K . r Lander's novel, E {ll wrrel m . b> 

Ius analySIS 0 jeaIUleue n1. as Lander's qUllSI-al!tO 10' 
I I vel not 0 ysenes . b \'<'ust proposes. t 1.1.1 t Ie no (J > I d Black cooperation, llt 
. f -world 0 e"WlS 1 an . 

gmphica! recreation 0 a I'" ts in her memory. Accordmg to 
also portrays a world that now on yLteXls e stands as a textual represen­
Wust, the novel, v.rith its richnes~~ ngJua~ h nd Black societal "circles" 
tauon of the interaction of the '\ ute, eWlS, a 

in 1940s GeorgiJ.. b f Monika J-Johbein-Oeegell, 
Tills ye~r has ~en a very u~~:\ ~;er effons, lhe book review 

FOO6 Book Review Edllor. Largely tb g I. . e but also provides the 
. . . ! ' t only su stamm m SIZ ~ . . 

Sectl0l1111 this vo ume IS no I ge b,erJ.lure including all1ohl-
> (I I t German- anglla , 

reader reVle\\'S 0 11e ates (~ > h Bauer Volker Br,nlll, Ours 
1m K hI) poetry ,-. .JInstOp , 

ogrJ.phy (He ut 0 '" .g) drJ.ma (Feli.-..: t..1inerel), eSSJ)S .lnd Sto­
Grunbein, Dorothea Grun2v,'e1 'd Hiusser MOll.ik.1 M,lron), novels 
nes (Manfred I-L.usmann, ~exan ler 1"-1 \; Io··ss Framobel Katharul,\ 

G · bo1a bias Cave t] u; ene, , . 
I't..A:chaei Bmun, Ion u -10' . Allred Komarek, TohJas ''' .. Hilb' B ham I mOlnalUl, 
Hacker, Wolfgang Ig. ar d Os Andreas Sleinhofel, and 
MeiBner, Adolf Muschg, Alexan er

d 
'In, g:..,uce (Anke Gleber), It has 

» d even secon ary I e." r 
tV1J.rlene Streenl"Wl[z '. an, .ka and the FOO6 sl.lff thanks her or 
been a pleasure workin~ .... Vlth Moru , 
her commitment to the Journal, 



x 

k mentioned earlier, the interview section includes imerviev.'S 
",ith Stephen Brockmann and Thomas C Breuer. The third of the three 
interviews is with Hms Stempel and Martin Ripkens. whose combined 
autobiography Die L ib isc kein Hausner: £ ue L~rezse was published this 
year bydtv. Their 'MJrk is a testimony of their lives; their lives a testimony 
o f their work. It was the highlight of my academic }ear in 1999 in MWllCh 
when I had the opportunity to meet them. The interview centers around 
their anthology of poet~ Ad)Keri, uhknegDuh nirhc altS m .. >uY!TnKcp/ (dtv, 
1998), and how gay German-language poetry and literature fiLS (or does 
not fit) within the literary cJ.oan. 

The introduction to tills volume serves both as my introduction 
J.nd as my farewell as editor of Focus 0'1 GemUl1 SlIm. Next ~ar, Susanne 
Leone will be editor-in-chief, and 110nika Hohbein-Deegen's position will 
be filled by Susanne Buckesfeld. I wish them bOlh much sllccess nOl only 
with Volume 9, but ilio with 01 am Bey::nl Gemnn Luermure, Focus on 
German Studies' Sixth Annual GrJ.duate Conference. lbe Conference will 
be held in the Univenityof Gncmmu .Ma." Kade Gerrrun GJlturai Cen­
ter on ()ctober 12 and 13,2001. For more inforrrution, pledse see our 
website. 

In closing, I would like to express my appreciation to the 
Department of Germanic Languages and UlerJ.tures at the University of 
Gncinnati for trusting me with the position of Editor, and my thanks to 
myfellowgradu.nestudents of the Universttyof Gncinnati Gernun Grddu­
ate Srudent Governmce Association for their enthusiastic support of last 
r~ar's conference and of the journal itself.