Abstract:

Abstractde This paper argues that recent dystopian novels in German literature mirror and explore the possibilities and problems of utopian narration, not only providing a critical counterpart to ideal societies, but also experimenting with forms and conventions of the original genre. The perspective proposed is therefore more interested in new ways of telling utopian or dystopian stories than in their social, political, and technological visions. Three exemplary readings can illustrate the individual measures that allow contemporary dystopian fiction to comment on basic conditions of literary utopias. 1) Julie Zeh’s Corpus Delicti introduces an imaginary character – the so-called „ideal mistress“ – to embody the kind of imaginative criticism that should be indispensable for texts writing about either perfect or pessimistic alternatives to our actual world. 2) Dietmar Dath’s Die Abschaffung der Arten deals with a paradox: presenting multiple settings even though ‚utopia‘, by definition of that term, does not exist any place but nowhere. 3) With Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten Christian Kracht focuses on history, specifically the need for a historical position in order to judge in present times whether the future might turn out better or worse.  

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