K ulturwissenschaftliches Institut für Europaforschung
- Melanie Fröhlich
Transitional locations in contemporary German literature:
thinking dynamic environments with Bakhtin
In this paper we discuss space as a blind spot in Narratology, referring to the canonical conceptions of Günther Müller, Eberhard Lämmert and Gérard Genette. By emphasising the constitutive function of time in narration, space is banished to a level of content. Obviously this dominance of time has to be explained by an understanding of language and literature stressing the dimension of time like flowing, linearity or chronology. Against these conceptions we proclaim the interrelationship between space and time according to Bakhtin. Due to his dialogical approach, which is also constitutive for the form-content-category of Chronotope, space is no longer reduced to scenery. Instead of, space and time are seen as highly related to one another and constitutive not only for narration, but also for generating identity. To visualise the borders of canonical Narratology and the productivity of the Bakthinian approach, we concentrate on the issue of transitional locations as dynamic environments in contemporary German literature. We refer to actual examples of a young generation born around 1975 in one system, but grown up in another caused by German Reunification: 1. Jana Henselīs (b. 1976) literal essay and national best-seller "Zonenkinder" (2002) and 2. the novella "Verabredungen mit Mattok" (2004) written by Julia Schoch (b. 1974).
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