Theory and Interpretation of Narrative James Phelan, Peter J
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THEORY AND INTERPRETATION OF NARRATIVE James Phelan, Peter J. Rabinowitz, and Robyn Warhol, Series Editors An Aesthetics of Narrative Performance TRANSNATIONAL THEATER, LITERATURE, AND FILM IN CONTEMPORARY GERMANY CLAUDIA BREGER THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS \ COLUMBUS Copyright © 2012 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Breger, Claudia. Aesthetics of narrative performance : transnational theater, literature, and film in contemporary Germany / Claudia Breger. p. cm. —(Theory and interpretation of narrative) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8142-1197-7 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8142-9298-3 (cd) 1. Discourse analysis, Narrative—Germany. 2. Aesthetics, German. 3. Narration (Rhetoric) 4. Trans- nationalism. I. Title. II. Series: Theory and interpretation of narrative series. P302.15.G3B74 2012 401’.410943—dc23 2012030284 Cover design by Hans Hetrick Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Adobe Minion Pro and Rotis Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Chapter I Toward an Aesthetics of Narrative Performance 1 The Starting Point: Overlapping ‘Performative’ and ‘Narrative Turns’ 1 An Aesthetics of Narrative Performance 7 Narratological Drama 12 Antinarrative Acts: Performance Theory 24 The Aesthetics of Narrative Performance at ‘Location Germany’ 40 Chapter II Theatrical Narratives: Film ‘Made in Germany’ Around 2000 49 Camp Reconfigurations: Lola und Bilidikid 50 Performing Subversion through Narrative: Sonnenallee 67 Historical Integration: Good Bye, Lenin! 79 Conclusion 89 Chapter III Evoking Presence—in Mediation: Literary Scenarios at the Turn of the Century 91 Managing New Media Snapshots: Goetz’s Abfall für alle 93 Posing for Presence: The Voices of Zaimoğlu’s Kanakstas 103 Presentification-at-a-Distance:Özdamar’s Seltsame Sterne starren zur Erde 112 Epic Recording: Zeh’s Eagles and Angels 124 Conclusion 132 vi \ CONTENTS Chapter IV Epic Commentary and Affective Presencing: Contemporary Theater 135 Evoking Community in Onstage Narration: “This is not about sadness” 137 From Self-Reflexive Testimonial to Housewife Spectacle: I Am My Own Wife 145 Orientalist Camp: Der Leopard von Singapur 157 Pablo’s Stories, or Complexity Soap in Telefavela and Plusfiliale 169 Conclusion 182 Chapter V Like God’s Voice? The Return of Authoritative Narration 184 The Quest for Heavenly Guidance: Zeh’s Spieltrieb 187 Jesus W. Bush and His Embedded Couch Potatoes: In Bambiland (with The Persians) 200 Smart(ass), Nerdy, and Google-powered: Earthly Sense-Making in Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 214 Conclusion 224 Chapter VI A New Aesthetics of Proximity: The Turn to Presence 227 First-Person Spectacle: Schwarze Jungfrauen 231 Humanist Close-Ups: Der Kick 239 Phenomenological Bracketing: Yella 249 Bringing the War Affectively Home: A Hero’s Welcome 258 Conclusion 265 In Summary Gestures of Closure 268 Works Cited 275 Index 302 Illustrations Chapter II Figure 1 Film still, Lola und Bilidikid. Copyright Martin Hagemann; zero fiction film GmbH. 58 Figure 2 Film still, Lola und Bilidikid. Copyright Martin Hagemann; zero fiction film GmbH. 60 Figure 3 Film still, Good Bye, Lenin! Copyright Wolfgang Becker, X Filme Creative Pool GmbH. 83 Figure 4 Film still, Good Bye, Lenin! Copyright Wolfgang Becker, X Filme Creative Pool GmbH. 85 Chapter IV Figure 5 Production photo, I Am My Own Wife (Jefferson Mays in the Playwrights Horizons production of I Am My Own Wife. Photos by Joan Marcus). 151 Figure 6 Production photo, Ich mach ja doch, was ich will (also reprinted on center page of program booklet, Renaissance Theater Berlin). Copyright Barbara Braun/drama-berlin.de. 156 Figure 7 Production photos, Der Leopard von Singapur, as printed in Zeltsaga 14–15. Copyright LSD-Bilderdienst (Leonore Blievernicht). 166 Figure 8 Production photo, Telefavela, as printed in Zeltsaga 60–61. Copyright LSD-Bilderdienst (Leonore Blievernicht). 174 Figure 9 Production photo, Pablo in der Plusfiliale, as printed in Zeltsaga 148–49. Copyright LSD-Bilderdienst (Leonore Blievernicht). 178 vii viii \ ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter V Figure 10 Production photo, Bambiland. Burgtheater, Wien. Copyright Christian Brachwitz. 209 Figure 11 Production photo, Die Perser. Deutsches Theater Berlin. Copyright Iko Freese/drama-berlin.de. 213 Chapter VI Figure 12 Production photo, Schwarze Jungfrauen. HAU Berlin. Copyright Ute Langkafel/Maifoto. 235 Figure 13 Production photo, Der Kick. Maxim Gorki Theater/Gewerbehof in der alten Königsstadt. Copyright Wilfried Böing Nachlaß. 245 Figure 14 Yella. Production still. Copyright Schramm Film Körner & Weber. 252 Figure 15 Yella. Production still. Copyright Schramm Film Körner & Weber. 255 Acknowledgments MY INVESTIGATIONS toward and the writing of this book have been supported by more people than I can acknowledge here. Ever since my move to the Midwest, Indiana University has provided a stimulating intellectual environment. Over the years my local community has grown, but, thanks to the wonders of the digital age and much-cherished travel privileges, I have joined my Bloomington connections to my friendship ties in Berlin, the rela- tionship with my family in Germany and the Netherlands, and the transna- tional networks in and beyond German studies, gender studies, and, more recently, narrative theory. As I proceed to specifically mention those most directly involved in the development of these pages, I am no less endlessly grateful for (and happily reminiscing about) the indirect support by many others, including shared food, drinks, or coffee, cinema outings, hikes and lake adventures, vacations, long email threads, or analytic phone conversa- tions that have sustained me daily and weekly. For direct writing support—comments on chapter drafts and related mate- rials—I owe much gratitude to Fritz Breithaupt, Kate Brooks, Tanja Nusser, Ben Robinson, Johannes Turk, Shane Vogel, and Marc Weiner. With amazing speed and conscientiousness, Olivia Landry performed a last-minute round of linguistic and style sheet corrections on the first draft of the manuscript. At The Ohio State University Press, Sandy Crooms’s positive response to my initial inquiry was very encouraging, and the reviews, by Irene Kacandes, Jim Phelan, and Robyn Warhol, were tremendously to the point in targeting the ix x \ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS moments of argumentation that needed further development as well as imper- fections in style, organization, and presentation. (Needless to say, only I am to blame for the remaining flaws.) More generally, I profited from the chance to present and discuss indi- vidual readings in a range of contexts, including, early on, the interdisciplin- ary IU faculty seminar “Variations on Blackness” and, later, invitations to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, to Bonn, Germany, Humboldt University Berlin, the Midwest Symposium 2009 in Missouri, the Univer- sity of Toronto, and the Freie Universität Berlin (both the fall 2008 Hum- boldt colloquium and the 2009 “Before Orientalism” conference). Thank you (among others) to Matt Guterl and Vivian Halloran, Gaby Pailer and Geof- frey Winthrop-Young, Eva Geulen and Michael Auer, Bettina Bock v. Wülfin- gen, Carsten Strathausen and the entire Missouri team, Erol Boran, Gabriele Brandstetter, and Sabine Schülting. On the research side of things, I am indebted to the following archives, theaters, and distributors: Burgtheater Wien, Deutsches Theater Berlin, East- West Filmdistribution, Maxim Gorki Theater, Thalia Theater, Theater am Halleschen Ufer (HAU), and the Volksbühne Berlin. I am also grateful to Heitor Martins and Olumide Popoola for their assistance with fact checking and for providing me with access to unpublished materials. Financially, the project has been generously supported by West European Studies and the College of Arts and Humanities Institute at Indiana Univer- sity and a year-long fellowship by the Humboldt Foundation. In this con- text, I would like to particularly thank Gabriele Brandstetter, once again, for hosting me in Berlin and Leslie Adelson, Mike Lützeler, and Inge Stephan for their support in getting me there. Finally, the additional writing time provided by my fall 2009 sabbatical allowed me to (almost!) finish a full draft of the manuscript. Parts or earlier versions of individual readings have been previously pub- lished in the following contexts (see works cited for full references): “‘Ange- bissene Bockwurst mit gefrorenem Ketchup’: Zur Poetik der Essensreste in Emine S. Özdamars Seltsame Sterne starren zur Erde” presents a differently framed German version of the Özdamar reading (chapter III); and “Moral Play? Poetics, Ethics and Politics in Juli Zeh’s Spieltrieb” an early, also differ- ently framed version of the Zeh reading in chapter V. A German version of the Der Kick reading in chapter VI first appeared as “Ästhetische Erkundungen von Empathie und Identifizierung in Andres Veiel’s Der Kick.” Finally, “After Orientalism? Performing Post–September 11 Culturalist Discourses” provides a variation—again, in a different context—on the Bambiland/Perser readings of chapter V. All of this material has been significantly revised for this book. I Toward an Aesthetics of Narrative Performance The prestige of the theater