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Knott, Gregory A.: Arnold Stadler – Heimat and Metaphysics
(Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur, Band 169)
ISBN 978-3-89693-267-9 (11/2009)
212 Seiten, 22 x 15 cm,
Kt., EUR 34,00
This book is the first major study on contemporary German writer Arnold Stadler (*1954), the
prize-winning author of numerous novels, poetry, and essays on literature, art, and religion.
This study analyzes Stadler's concept of Heimat (homeland) as a larger German cultural phenomenon, showing the
author's adaptation of the historical construct to contemporary phenomena, including globalism, new technologies, and multiculturalism. The book includes extensive discussion of history, theology, gender
studies, linguistics, literature, and philosophy.
With a focus on Stadler's poetry and his first four novels, the book argues that Stadler views Heimat as a mechanism for understanding larger issues in
contemporary society. For Stadler, Heimat combines the hope of rejuvenation with resignation in the face of death and passing. These feelings of transitoriness and desire simultaneously enable refuge from the larger
world and function as a means for coping with it. In Stadler's works, Heimat is a sign of loss, suggesting a pessimistic view of home, but it is also the object of desire and hope, providing a point of
orientation for people adrift in an increasingly global world.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Heimat in German Culture and Literature
Kontingenzbewältigungspraxis,
or: Stadler’s Lyric Work
The Distraught Soul in Kein Herz und keine Seele. Man muß es singen können
The
Blueness of Gedichte aufs Land
Ich war einmal and the Time of Heimat
The Time of Ich war einmal
The Unspecified Past
The Specific
Past
The Special Past of the Third Reich
The Present
The Future
“Zwischen Sehnsucht und Vergänglichkeit:” Mein Hund, meine Sau, mein Leben
The
Polarized Nature of Heimat in Mein Hund, meine Sau, mein Leben
The Concrete and Concreteness of Heimat
Figures of Departure and Disgust
Longing and Melancholy
“Im Grunde war alles wie zu Hause:” Feuerland and Foreign Lands
Dueling Cultures, Dualing Cultures
Personal and Institutional Alienation
The Trouble with Borders
Heimat, Death and the Limits of Human Existence in Der Tod und ich, wir zwei
On Decline and Depth
The Nature of Death (is Death)
The Ethics and Morals
of Hope and Logic
Conclusion
Bibliography
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