| My dissertation examines the development of Uwe Timm's mode of narration from the early 1970s to his most recent novels. Using one of his earliest theoretical texts (Zwischen Unterhaltung and Aufklarung, 1972) as a point of departure, the dissertation shows that principles presented in that essay---though constantly re-evaluated and re-worked---shaped all of his works. In the essay he claims two major functions for a literary text: on the one hand it should offer insights into historical and political contexts, yet it should also appeal to the reader's senses, emotions, and fantasies.;In detailed analyses of the early novels Heisser Sommer (1974), Morenga (1978), Kerbels Flucht (1980), Mann auf dem Hochrad (1984), and the autobiographical narrative Vogel, friss die Feige nicht (1989), the dissertation examines how Timm developed a unique fusion of essayistic and fictional elements, combining the two aspects mentioned above that he considered essential for literary texts. While all of his texts are based on historical events and persons, he also implements writing techniques typical for fiction, drawing from the author's imagination. Thus, he does not claim to present events as they happened, but as they could have happened. In a later collection of poetological essays (Erzahlen and kein Ende, 1993) he termed this narrative approach "Poetik des Alltags." His montage technique allows him to re-present events and historical actors that are barely remembered due to fragmented or distorted documentation, to question historical research, and to complement the accounts using his imagination.;In the final chapter, the dissertation investigates how Timm utilizes this writing style to write about his older brother, who died as an SS-soldier during WWII (Am Beispiel meines Bruders, 2003). The fact that the author was only three years old when his brother died made it almost impossible for him to access his brother's conflicted past. His parents conveyed a presence of absence through their narrations, yet they refrained from talking about his brother's involvement in the SS. The chapter discusses how Timm's writing techniques offer a means of connecting to conflicted or distorted memory without suspending either historical research or the author's imagination. |
