The complex of meanings and perspectives synthesized in the term Identität has become a central axis in the recent development of German-language literature and academic research. In its function as an aesthetic figure, a critical principle, and a category of the Literaturbetrieb, this concept, which is paradoxically never identical with itself, has over time shown its application limits. On the one hand, they have to do with the width of such a perspective, which, especially in its more recent theoretical elaborations, hinges on notions of fluidity and hybridity that are difficult to translate into an analytical approach. On the other hand, the exclusive centrality of identity in the conceptualization – theoretical and institutional – of cultural differences risks generating exclusionary dynamics, an aspect currently debated in the field of Identitätspolitik. Literary research, already influenced by the theoretical perspectives of cultural anthropology since the so-called anthropologische Wende, cannot avoid a confrontation with the dark sides of this concept – this is the perspective adopted by this article. Reviewing the fortunes and problems of the category of identity in literary research and dwelling on an analysis of Terézia Mora’s novel Alle Tage (2004), which is rooted in a deconstructive process of the identity dimension, this article aims to initiate a reflection around the potentialities and limitations of this concept. Thus, it is not so much to propose solutions as to share doubts and problems that the next pages aim at.
Oltre l'identità? Decostruzione di un concetto centrale della Germanistik sull'esempio di Alle Tage
Beatrice Occhini
2023-01-01
Abstract
The complex of meanings and perspectives synthesized in the term Identität has become a central axis in the recent development of German-language literature and academic research. In its function as an aesthetic figure, a critical principle, and a category of the Literaturbetrieb, this concept, which is paradoxically never identical with itself, has over time shown its application limits. On the one hand, they have to do with the width of such a perspective, which, especially in its more recent theoretical elaborations, hinges on notions of fluidity and hybridity that are difficult to translate into an analytical approach. On the other hand, the exclusive centrality of identity in the conceptualization – theoretical and institutional – of cultural differences risks generating exclusionary dynamics, an aspect currently debated in the field of Identitätspolitik. Literary research, already influenced by the theoretical perspectives of cultural anthropology since the so-called anthropologische Wende, cannot avoid a confrontation with the dark sides of this concept – this is the perspective adopted by this article. Reviewing the fortunes and problems of the category of identity in literary research and dwelling on an analysis of Terézia Mora’s novel Alle Tage (2004), which is rooted in a deconstructive process of the identity dimension, this article aims to initiate a reflection around the potentialities and limitations of this concept. Thus, it is not so much to propose solutions as to share doubts and problems that the next pages aim at.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
