The Author, The Novel, The Reader and The Perils of ‘Neue Lesbarkeit’
A Comparative Analysis of Bernhard Schlink's Selbs Justiz and Der Vorleser
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9853534 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Katharina Hall (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 446-467 |
| Publication date | 2006-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | German Life and Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-8777 • E-ISSN: 1468-0483 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.0016-8777.2006.00360.x |
| OpenAlex | W2092507293 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
Ten years after the publication of Der Vorleser , this article argues that Schlink's work can only be fully understood when viewed in the commercial contexts that currently shape both German and global literatures. By undertaking a comparative analysis of Schlink's debut detective novel, Selbs Justiz (1987) and his international best‐seller Der Vorleser (1995), the article explores the problematic tensions generated within these texts by the commercial demands of the literary market‐place, and, in a specifically German context, the influence of ‘neue Lesbarkeit’. Special consideration is given to the dynamic between Schlink's works and the reader/consumer, with particular emphasis on the impact of the popular literary codes within the texts. These are explored in conjunction with the reception theory of Wolfgang Iser and Umberto Eco, and through the lens of over two hundred reader responses. The article breaks new ground through its comparative approach, which traces the continuities or ‘narrative patterns’ in Schlink's detective writing and Der Vorleser for the first time. It also offers the first exploration of ‘general’, non‐academic reader responses to the works, allowing new insights into the texts’ operations and the tensions these create in relation to the novels’ treatment of the National Socialist past
Art · Comparative literature · Context (archaeology · German · German Literature · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Relation (database · Sociology · Computer Science · German Literature and Culture Studies · History · Literature and Cultural Memory · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.09 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2015 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |