The Power of Language and Silence: Reinhard Jirgl’s Die Stille

Osborne, Dora

Abstract

Reinhard Jirgl (1953–) is an emphatically German author. He insists that German is “die Sprache in der ich denke, spreche und schreibe,”¹ and the award of several prestigious prizes (including the Büchner Prize in 2010) has confirmed his place in the German literary tradition. Yet Jirgl uses the German language in consistently and characteristically iconoclastic ways to challenge the authority of historical, political, and institutional discourse. Precisely because his work went against the ideological prescriptions of the East German state, it remained unpublished in the GDR, where Jirgl lived and worked. Since unification he has become a prolific author,...

Citation

Osborne, D. (2014). The Power of Language and Silence: Reinhard Jirgl’s Die Stille. In P. Davies, & A. Hammel (Eds.), New literary and linguistic perspectives on the German language, National Socialism, and the Shoah (159-174). Camden House

• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 8, 2015
• Pages: 159-174
• Series Title: Edinburgh German yearbook
• Book Title: New literary and linguistic perspectives on the German language, National Socialism, and the Shoah.
• Chapter Number: 10
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1673972
• Publisher URL: https://boydellandbrewer.com/edinburgh-german-yearbook-8-hb.html