POLITISCHE MACHTSTELLUNG ODER KULTURELLE INSELLAGE DER LITERATUR. LEIDLICH KÄMPFT PLENZDORFS JUNGER W. UM SEINE CHARLIE
POLITICAL POSITION OF POWER OR CULTURAL INSULARITY OF LITERATURE. PLENZDORF’S YOUNG W. FIGHTS PASSABLY FOR HIS CHARLIE.

Summary/Abstract: In 1973, at the time the novel Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. by Ulrich Plenzdorf was published in both German states, the Wall and Barbed wire fence were already an integral part of everyday live. If the German-German division is considered to be a result of a cultural revolution, an exemplary and symbolical function of the book title is granted. The former is being confirmed by intertextual connections that are recognizable in the title, the quotations as well as in the content. The focus is set on the identification features. But just the second determination was the trigger for the furor the work was setting of. By referring to historical core areas of German culture both features turn towards taking a function of cultural policy. The paper starts with setting against in short strokes the two different social systems established in one German state each, in order to come to a conclusion on the conditions for cultural practices. On the one hand Plenzdorf’s work addressed ideas of cultural seclusion in the East part while on the other hand a loss of identity was discerned in the West.

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