Constructions of Melancholy in Contemporary German and Austrian Literature (Cultural History and Literary Imagination)

Melancholy has become a central theme of German literature since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The rapidly changing sociopolitical circumstances of the post-1989 period and the continued burden of the Nazi past have directly contributed to this upsurge in melancholy themes. This book traces the complex discourse of melancholy in contemporary literature in the work of Monika Maron, Christoph Hein, Arno Geiger and Alois Hotschnig. Focusing on key concepts of melancholy – time, transience, historical dislocation and posthistoire – the author’s readings reveal the close connection between the body and melancholy from ageing to our gendered relationships with history. This study also emphasizes the relevance of melancholy for current theoretical issues in German Studies, including Heimat discourse, genealogy and transgenerational memory, and postmemory. Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Melancholy Subjectivity in Monika Maron’s Endmoränen and Ach Glück Chapter 3 Christoph Hein’s Frau Paula Trousseau: Art as Refuge in the GDR Chapter 4 Arno Geiger’s Es geht uns gut: A Posthistoire Narrative? Chapter 5 Alois Hotschnig’s Ludwigs Zimmer: Evidence of a Pre-Psychological Melancholy Paradigm Conclusion Bibliography Index Melancholy has become a central theme of German literature since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This book traces the complex discourse of melancholy in contemporary literature in the work of Monika Maron, Christoph Hein, Arno Geiger and Alois Hotschnig with a focus on themes such as time, transcience, the body, gender and postmemory. ±Anna O'Driscoll reveals her talent for evoking the melancholy dead zones of the Austro-German literary landscape in her study Constructions of Melancholy in Contemporary German and Austrian Literature.? C.E. Findley, Journal of Austrian Studies 49:1-2)