Spiel Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empirischen Literaturwissenschaft spiel Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empirischen Literaturwissenschaft Jg.. 30 (2011), Heft 1 Peter Lang Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Bern · Bruxelles · New York · Oxford · Wien Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISSN 2199-8078 © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main 2012 Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. www.peterlang.de spiel Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empirischen Literaturwissenschaft Jg. 30 (2011), Heft 1 Auf dem Weg zu einer Narratologie der „Geschichtsschreibung“ Towards a Historiographic Narratology Herausgegeben von / edited by Julia Nitz (Halle) & Sandra Harbert Petrulionis (Altoona) Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empirischen Literaturwissenschaft Herausgeber dieses Heftes / Editors of this issue: Julia Nitz & Sandra Harbert Petrulionis Inhalt / Contents SPIEL 30 (2011), H. 1 Julia Nitz, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis (Halle/Altoona) Towards a Historiographic Narratology: Résumé 1 Penelope Frangakis (Athens) The Role of the Historian as an Author/Narrator: The Case of Herodotus’s The Histories 7 Stephan Jaeger (Winnipeg) Poietic Worlds and Experientiality in Historiographic Narrative 29 Hanna Meretoja (Turku) An Inquiry into Historical Experience and Its Narration: The Case of Günter Grass 51 Alun Munslow (Dodsleigh) The Historian as Author 73 Julia Nitz (Halle) In Fact No Fiction: Historiographic Paratext 89 Yair Seltenreich (Upper Galilee) Personal Diaries as Historical Narratives: Yossef Nachmani and the Galilee, 1935-1941 113 Beverley Southgate (London) “All their Feet on the Ground”?: Tidy (Hi)stories in Question 131 RUBRIC Norbert Groeben (Heidelberg) Empirisierung (in) der Literaturwissenschaft: wissenschaftsinterne und -externe Dynamiken 151 Thomas Wilke (Halle) Mashup-Kultur und Musikvideos. Aktuelle Entwicklungen audiovisueller Auflösung und Verdichtung in Mashup-Videos 159 SPIEL 30 (2011) H. 1, 89–111 10.3726/80121_89 Julia Nitz (née Lippert) (Halle, GER) In Fact No Fiction: Historiographic Paratext Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht die Bedeutung und Funktion von historiographischen Paratexten für medial vermittelte Geschichte. Er legt dar, welche große Rolle Rezensionen, Trailer, Poster, Ankündigungen, Interviews und andere Formen von Werkbesprechungen für das Verständ- nis und die Bewertung von Geschichtswerken (Biographien, Fernsehdokumentationen, Aus- stellungen, Geschichtsdramen etc.) durch die jeweiligen Rezipienten spielen. Gleichzeitig wird verdeutlicht, wie mediale „Beitexte“ dieser Art die Wahrnehmung der geschichtlichen Phänomene selbst stark prägen können, und sogar stellvertretend für den eigentlichen Geschichtstext auftreten, nämlich dann, wenn zum Beispiel auf das Lesen einer Rezension zu einem historischen Spielfilm nicht das Anschauen des eigentlichen Films folgt. Die Autorin illustriert, welche entscheidende Rolle Paratexte in der Unterscheidung von Fakt und Fiktion spielen, da sie in der Regel ein Werk als z.B. Dokumentation oder Roman ankündigen. Die theoretische Auseinandersetzung mit Para- texten und ihren Funktionen zeigt auf, dass 1) Paratexte integrale Bestandteile textlicher Bedeu- tungsgenerierung sind, 2) Paratexte die Rezeption ihrer Bezugswerke über die Initiierung bestimmter kognitiver Erwartungsrahmen prägen, und 3) eine Untersuchung der Bedeutungs- stiftung von Texten innerhalb einer Gesellschaft immer auch ihre Paratexte berücksichtigen muss. Kern der Studie bildet eine funktionale Typologie der Paratexte für biographische Geschichts- werke, die paradigmatisch auf die Beiwerke zu Alan Bennetts Theaterstück The Madness of George III zur Anwendung kommt. Die Analyse der Paratexte zu Bennetts Drama illustriert, wie diese das Stück als historisch fundiertes Geschichtswerk (als Infotainment) rahmen und damit Bennetts Darstellung Georgs III und seine (fiktive) Diagnose, dass der König nicht an Wahnsinn, sondern an einer Stoffwechselkrankheit litt, fest in der kollektiven Wahrnehmung der Briten verankerten. Introduction George III’s behavior was often odd, but now he is deranged, rumoured to have even addressed a tree as the King of Prussia. Doctors are brought in, the government wavers and the Prince Regent takes over. This play explores the court of the mad king. […]. (Amazon 2010) This is how an Amazon review describes Alan Bennett’s theatre play, The Madness of George III, which was staged at the National Theatre in 1991 and again in 2003, and published in print by Faber and Faber (1992/1995).1 By using the present tense with “now he is deranged,” and “doctors are brought in,” the review plunges us into the events of George III’s life at the beginning of the Regency period. Such a rhetorical strategy conveys an immediacy of the historical past, and thereby creates the impression that the play brings history back to life. The notion that we are dealing with an excursion into 1 For a summary of the play, its main themes and characterization of George III see Lippert/Nitz 2010b, 147–48. 90 Julia Nitz history is further emphasised by the statement: “This play explores the court of the mad king.” The play is clearly marked as more than merely a piece of imagination; it rather poses as an inquiry into what was going on at the court of George III at a specific point in time. Finally, the review characterises George III as oddly behaved and as rumoured to talk to trees, and quite openly calls him “mad.” All in all, the commentary assesses the play as well as its main protagonist, the impersonation of a real-world historical person- age, George III – king of Great Britain from 1760–1820. The review is posted on the Amazon webpage as part of the article description of the Faber and Faber edition of the drama, The Madness of George III. It also figures on the back of the actual book publication. Thus, potential customers are likely to read it before buying the book and, consequently, before perusing the drama itself. Texts such as this review, which prepare audiences for another text, are what Jonathan Gray calls “entry- way paratexts” (Gray 2010, 18). They raise expectations as to what, for example, a novel, drama, TV-show, or film is going to be like and construct early frames for reception, such as genre, tone, and themes. Further, they help us to make sense of texts a-priori, guiding our reception and meaning-making processes. Paratexts may occur in the form of ads, previews, book or DVD-covers, trailers, posters, Internet discussion, merchandising, and fan creations, to name only the most prominent ones. According to Gray, they form [...] the streets, bridges, and trading routes of the media world, but also many of its parks, beaches, and leisure sites. They tell us about the media world around us, prepare us for that world, and guide us between its structures, but they also fill it with meaning, take up much of our viewing and thinking time, and give us the resources with which we will both interpret and discuss that world. (2010, 1) Gray is pointing out here that every media text is accompanied by “textual proliferation,” or what Genette termed “le paratext de l’œuvre” or “l’accompagnement” (Genette [1987] 2002, 7–8). Usually, such additional texts either announce the existence of the “target text,” criticize it, or, as is now most common, advertise it. By and large, in our media saturated environment, there is a need for ever more paratext if only to proclaim the actual texts’ presence in the world (cf. Gray 2010, 39). As a consequence, we need to look at texts and their textual proliferations, or, as Genette put it, their “epitexts” and “peritexts,” in order to understand how a text creates meaning in popular culture and society more generally. Such an approach that explores both text and paratext is even more vital for an understanding of historiographic texts (that purport to present some version of “real” or “authentic” truth) and of their impact on our collective effort at (re)- constructing the past. Examining the paratexts, and separating them from, the actual version of their target text’s presentation, is all the more important if we are to reach any “true” conclusion of the extent to which a historiographic text is considered historically accurate by the audience. The Amazon review quoted above is one of 30 of its kind that I located when researching The Madness of George III on the Internet, in newspapers, and in magazines. Apart from reviews I found numerous other forms of paratexts such as posters, magazine ads, interviews with the author and creative personnel on radio and TV, fan commentary on webpages, and newspaper articles discussing the play and its subsequent filmic adaptation. While some audience members may actually read the drama or watch the play In Fact No Fiction 91 or film, those who do not can still gain an idea of its contents by encountering the para- texts. For these audience members, paratexts thus stand in for Bennett’s work. As a result, paratexts on