Negotiating Positions: Literature, Identity and Social Critique in the Works of Wolfgang Koeppen

Ward, Simon

Abstract

This book offers new perspectives on Wolfgang Koeppen, a writer too often consigned to the margins of post-1945 literary history. Examining the interaction of the personal and the social in Koeppen's writings, this book demonstrates that the politics of his works are inherent to their form. The book explores the positive and negative aspects of liminality, a dominant trope in his oeuvre. Stressing the thematic and formal continuities of Koeppen's work, the book's first section illustrates how Koeppen's protagonists perpetually establish a space for themselves 'in between' states. The second section examines how his writings negotiate with the discourse of 'the nation' during two central periods of his career. It shows how Koeppen's experiences in the Third Reich, in connection with his re-reading of the years prior to 1933, determine his perspective on modernity, modernism and the German nation after 1945. Having defined the location of culture in his works, the book concludes by reconsidering the location of Koeppen's writings within post-war West German literary culture.

Citation

Ward, S. (2001). Negotiating Positions: Literature, Identity and Social Critique in the Works of Wolfgang Koeppen. Rodopi

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Publication Date: 2001
• Deposit Date: Jan 13, 2014
• Series Title: Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur