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Speaking the Taboo
A study of the work of Wolfgang Hilbig
Series: - Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur, Volume: 141
Author:
Wolfgang Hilbig is a writer who is widely acknowledged as one of the most important to have emerged from the former GDR. In this study, the first in English, Paul Cooke explores the interplay of aesthetic and social âtaboosâ, as defined by the official discourse of the GDR, in a cross-section of Hilbigâs critical writing, poetry and prose. The protagonists in Hilbigâs texts suffer from a profound crisis of identity due to the disparity between the stateâs official presentation of life in the East and their own experience. Cooke argues that through their exploration of the âtabooâ, i.e. that which is excluded from the stateâs official discourse, Hilbigâs characters attempt to break through the banal rhetoric of the ruling elite in order to realise an authentic sense of self.
"He [Cooke] shows an exemplary knowledge, not only of Hilbigâs work, but also of the relevant secondary literature. ⦠an authoritative piece of scholarship which will undoubtedly be required reading for anyone interested in one of the most original writers to emerge from the GDR." - in: MLR, 97.4 (2002), pp. 1040-1041
"Commendable throughout is the accuracy and sophistication of the textual analysisâ¦" - in: Seminar, Vol. XL, No. 2 (May 2004), pp.184-186
"Commendable throughout is the accuracy and sophistication of the textual analysisâ¦" - in: Seminar, Vol. XL, No. 2 (May 2004), pp.184-186
Acknowledgements. List of Abbreviations for Works by Hilbig. Introduction. 1 Countering âRealitätsverlust': The Role of the Writer and the Use of the Unsägliche in Hilbig's Critical Writing. 2 The âTaboo' of Modernism in Hilbig's Poetry. 3 Literary Tradition in Hilbig's Prose: the Problem of âObjectivity' in âDer Brief'. 4 The Pornographer as Historian: Sexual Repression and Vergangenheitsbewältigung in Die Weiber. 5 The Krimi and the Criminal State in Eine Ãbertragung. 6 No More Taboos? the Stasi, Beckett and the Continuing Search for Identity in »Ich«. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.