Individuum vs. Gesellschaft – Schattenlosigkeit als Anlass zur Fremdstigmatisierung in Adelbert von Chamissos "Peter Schlehmils wundersame Geschichte"
Individual vs Society: Shadowlessness as a Reason for the Stigmatisation of Foreigners in Adelbert von Chamisso’s "Peter Schlemihl’s Wondrous Story"

Author(s): Andrey Kotin
Subject(s): Language studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, German Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: fairy tale; Romanticism; Chamisso; shadow; society
Summary/Abstract: In this article, the confrontation between the individual and society is discussed on the basis of "Peter Schlemihl’s Wondrous Story" by Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838), a German poet and novelist of the late Romantic era. This dramatic conflict is presented through the symbolic prism of a vendable shadow, the sale of which results not only in the protagonist losing his social status, but even his very belonging to the human race. Such a reading is found to be coherent with the common psychoanalytic interpretation of Chamisso’s text.

• Details
• Contents