German Literature in the Age of Globalisation [Paperback]

Literary fiction in Germany has long been a medium for contemplation of the 'nation' and questions of national identity. From the mid-1990s, in the wake of heated debates on the future direction of culture, politics and society in a more 'normal', united country, German literature has become increasingly diverse and seemingly disparate - at the one extreme, it represents the attempt to 'reinvent' German traditions, at the other, the unmistakable influence of Anglo-American forms and pop literature. A shared concern of almost all of recent German fiction, however, is the contemporary debate on globalisation, its nature, impact and consequences for 'local culture'. In its engagement with globalisation the literature of the Berlin Republic continues the long-established practice of reflection on what it is to be 'German'.

This book investigates literary responses to the phenomenon of globalisation. The subject is approached from a wide range of thematic and theoretical perspectives in twelve chapters which, taken together, also provide an overview of German fiction from the mid-1990s to the present. The book serves both as an introduction to contemporary German literature for university students of German and as a resource for scholars interested in culture and society in the Berlin Republic.

ContributorsAcknowledgements1. Introduction: German Literature in the Age of Globalisation; Stuart Taberner2. East German Writing in the Age of Globalisation; Paul Cooke3. 'Was will ich denn als Westdeutscher erzahlen?': The 'Old' West and Globalisation in Recent German Prose; Andrew Plowman4. Germany as Background: Global Concerns in Recent Women's Writing In German; Beth Linklater5. The German Province in the Age of Globalisation: Botho StrauB, Arnold Stradler and Hans-Ulrich Treichel; Stuart Taberner6. A Matter of Perspective: Prose Debuts in Contemporary German Literature; Dieter Stolz7. Not Top of the Pops? - Martin Walser's Writing since 1990; Stuart Parkesl£Š