'Ich Weiß, Was Sie Von Mir Denken. Aber Sie Täuschen Sich.'Ich
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University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Modern Languages ‘Ich weiß, was Sie von mir denken. Aber Sie täuschen sich.’ Ich- Diskurse in Maxim Billers Prosa. by Bettina Adrienne Codrai Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2013 2 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Modern Languages Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ‚ICH WEISS, WAS SIE VON MIR DENKEN. ABER SIE TAEUSCHEN SICH.’ ICH-DISKURSE IN MAXIM BILLERS PROSA Bettina Adrienne Codrai My thesis examines the work of the German-Jewish writer and intellectual Maxim Biller. It focuses on his literary self- representations in his prose texts between 1990 and 2009. Jewish life in Germany has changed significantly since the political events of 1989. This is largely the product of migration and generational shifts within German Jewish communities, coinciding with shifting German identity discourses. The Jewish communities have subsequently become more diverse and ‘visible’. Despite this striking reestablishment of Jewish life and culture in Germany, it is still regarded an inexplicable phenomenon by many Jews from Israel and the US. It is also debatable as to whether this new Jewish plurality has really changed the German perceptions of Jews – or their attitudes and behaviours towards them. Young Jewish writers such as Maxim Biller face the challenge of redefining what it means to be a German Jew and of battling persisting stereotypical perceptions of Jewish identity. In their texts, they are creating spaces of negotiation and representation for their complex Jewish experiences. I argue that Maxim Biller, who has critically commented on German-Jewish discourse for about 25 years, publicly performs and establishes his own identity discourse. As a journalist for big German newspapers and magazines, Biller wrote provocative and controversial articles. Whether willingly or not, through his articles, he helped the German majority to define the Jews as ‘the Other’. He soon grew tired of this role and instead turned to experimental and self-reflexive autobiographical prose in order to emancipate himself from this merely illustrative position. This prose is the subject of my analysis: I focus on his latest autobiographical novel, Der gebrauchte Jude (2009), his controversial and now banned first novel Esra (2003), his early short stories from 1990 and 1994 and his first novel Die Tochter (2000). To show how Biller establishes new ways of speaking about the self, I apply both a performative understanding of identity and a hybrid definition of the genre of autobiography as these concepts succeed in representing minority discourse. I want to show how Maxim Biller’s work helps to understand the new German-Jewish self-perceptions and illustrates that Jewish plurality has returned to Germany. Through his autobiographical writing, Biller actively contributes to a broader counter-discourse to tendencies of particularism and essentialism as reactions to globalization and migration. 3 4 Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................. 3 Contents ............................................................................... 5 Declaration of Authorship ...................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................... 9 1. Wer ist Maxim Biller, und warum ist er interessant? .......... 11 1.1. Gegenstand und Ziel .................................................. 11 1.2. Deutsch-jüdische Identität zwischen ‚Unsichtbarkeit‘ und ‚Sichtbarkeit‘ ............................................................. 13 1.3. Biographie und Werk ................................................. 26 1.4. Journalistische und wissenschaftliche Rezeption ........ 32 1.5. Argumentation und Aufbau meiner Untersuchung ...... 46 2. Biller, ‚der Jude’? Ich-Diskurse in der Diaspora .................. 51 2.1. Einleitung .................................................................. 51 2.2. Diskurs, Identität, Macht: die Anderen ....................... 52 2.3. Diaspora, Galut, ‚Negative Symbiose‘: ein Update? ..... 63 2.4. Vorführen, Demaskieren, Handeln: Billers Erzählstrategien ............................................................... 75 2.4.1. Hybridität ............................................................... 78 2.4.2. Fakt und Fiktion ..................................................... 85 2.4.3. Autobiographie ...................................................... 87 2.4.4. Leser und Effekte .................................................... 90 3. Zwischen den Zuschreibungen: das Erzählen von jüdischer Identität in Der gebrauchte Jude .......................................... 97 3.1. Einleitung .................................................................. 97 3.2. Der deutsche Literaturkanon: vom deutschen zum jüdischen Autor .............................................................. 103 3.3. Anknüpfungspunkte für Billers zeitgenössische, jüdische Literatur: die USA oder Deutschland? ................. 124 3.4. Das Erschreiben von Heimat: Marcel Reich-Ranicki und die Emigranten ............................................................... 137 3.5. Die Tempojahre: der gebrauchte Jude in den deutschen Medien ........................................................................... 153 3.6. Außenseiter in der eigenen ‚In-Group‘: Biller und die Frankfurter Juden ........................................................... 162 3.7. Zu Hause in der Diaspora: Billers Israel-Bild .............. 173 4. ‚Unheimliche’ Selbstbilder: das Eigene und das Andere in Esra ................................................................................... 181 4.1. Einleitung ................................................................ 181 4.2. Gibt es eine Version von Identität? Der Gerichtsprozess zu Esra ........................................................................... 187 4.3. Adams Esra-Geschichte: Selbstdarstellung über das Andere ........................................................................... 196 4.3.1. Der Doppelgänger und das ‚Unheimliche‘ in uns ... 196 4.3.2. Adams und Esras kulturelle Zugehörigkeit im Vergleich ........................................................................ 201 4.3.3. Kulturelle Hybridität im Test: Maskulinität und jüdische Identität ............................................................ 220 4.3.4. Der Doppelgänger als Agent ungelebten Lebens ... 228 5 5. Die ‚Negative Symbiose‘ – eine Fiktion: Billers frühe Erzählungen und Die Tochter ............................................. 233 5.1. Einleitung ................................................................ 233 5.2. Erzählungen von Erzählungen von ...: jüdische und deutsche Identität in ‚Harlem Holocaust‘ und ‚Finkelsteins Finger‘ ........................................................................... 242 5.2.1. Erfundene Authentizität in ‚Harlem Holocaust‘ ...... 242 5.2.2. Trügerische Identitätsdiskurse in ‚Finkelsteins Finger‘ ...................................................................................... 257 5.3. ‚[U]topia of love’ in Die Tochter? .............................. 270 5.3.1. Der gepackte Koffer - eine Never Ending Story ....... 274 5.3.2. ‚Unmögliche‘ Verbindungen – Jüdische Männer, deutsche Frauen und ihre Kinder .................................... 283 6. Fazit und Ausblick ......................................................... 301 Bibliographie ..................................................................... 311 6 Declaration of Authorship 7 8 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my incredibly supportive, inspiring and kind supervisor Dr. Andrea Reiter for all her input, help and patience, which have been absolutely invaluable to me. Also, I would like to thank my advisor Prof. Dr. Mary Orr for her great help, support and feedback throughout this process as well as my examiners Dr. Heidi Armbruster and Dr. Cathy Gelbin for all their much appreciated time and effort. My friend Henriette von Münchhausen kindly helped me with the proofreading. So did my father Michael Köhler, who has also been a really good advisor on all law related questions concerning my thesis. My mother Hanne Köhler-Roos has been so interested in my work from the start and has always lent me an ear. Thanks to both of them! My father-in-law Colin Codrai has made much appreciated trips to the printers and the graduate office for me, which I am very grateful for – not to mention the babysitting. Thank you Colin and Eugenie! Last but not least, I cannot thank my husband Phil enough for being so immensely supportive and helpful in any possible way, always interested