NARRATING THE FAMILY PAST EMPATHETICALLY: A COMPARISON OF EUGEN RUGE'S IN ZEITEN DES ABNEHMENDEN LICHTS AND MAXIM LEO'S HALTET EUER HERZ BEREIT. (4th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stewart, Amanda
• Is Part Of: German life and letters. Volume 72:Number 2(2019)
• Page Start: 230
• Page End: 244
• Publication Date: 2019-03-04
• Subjects: German literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Germany -- Periodicals; Germany -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals; Germany -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 830.9
• DOI: 10.1111/glal.12229
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-8777

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In recent years, the family novel has re‐emerged as a popular form for representing, and remembering, the German past. By comparing Maxim Leo's Haltet euer Herz bereit (2009) and Eugen Ruge's In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts (2011), I argue that narrative empathy is a key feature of contemporary generational writing. Narrating through various characters' own perspectives allows the family past to be narrated with a greater sense of empathy in comparison to the 'Väterliteratur' of the 1970s and 80s, which foregrounded intergenerational confrontation. Although Eugen Ruge and Maxim Leo belong to different generations (Ruge was born in 1954 in the Soviet Union and Leo in 1970 in East Berlin), there are marked similarities between their approaches to narrativising their family histories. I suggest that these similarities can be attributed to the texts' dates of publication; twenty years after reunification, authors and readers alike are better positioned to attempt to understand past generations' experiences with empathy.