The Short Story in German in the Twenty-First Century
Title Details

354 Pages

22.8 x 15.2 cm

3 b/w illus.

Series: Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture

Series Vol. Number: 216

Imprint: Camden House

The Short Story in German in the Twenty-First Century

Edited by Lyn Marven, Andrew Plowman and Kate Roy

  • Description
  • Contents
  • Author
Offers readings of key contemporary trends and themes in the vibrant genre of short-story writing in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with attention to major practitioners and translations of two representative stories.



Since the 1990s, the short story has re-emerged in the German-speaking world as a vibrant literary genre, serving as a medium for both literary experimentation and popular forms. Authors like Judith Hermann and Peter Stamm have had a significant impact on German-language literary culture and, in translation, on literary culture in the UK and USA. This volume analyzes German-language short-story writing in the twenty-first century, aiming to establish a framework for further research into individual authors as well as key themes and formal concerns.
An introduction discusses theories of the short-story form and literary-aesthetic questions. A combination of thematic and author-focused chapters then discuss key developments in the contemporary German-language context, examining performance and performativity, Berlin and crime stories, and the openendness, fragmentation, liminality, and formal experimentations that characterize short stories in the twenty-first century. Together the chapters present the rich field of short-story writing in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, offering a variety of theoretical approaches to individual stories and collections, as well as exploring connections with storytelling, modernist short prose, and the novella. The volume concludes with a survey of broad trends, and three original translations exemplifying the breadth of contemporary German-language short-story writing.
List of Illustrations
Note on Translations
Introduction to the Contemporary Short Story in German - Andrew Plowman, Lyn Marven, and Kate Roy
Chapter 1: Berlin Shorts: The German Capital in the Short Story of the Twenty-First Century - Katharina Gerstenberger
Chapter 2: The German Crime Story in the Twenty-First Century - Todd Herzog
Chapter 3: Performance, Performativity, and the Contemporary German Kurzgeschichte - Emily Spiers
Chapter 4: Cramped Spaces, Creative Bottlenecks: Sudabeh Mohafez's das zehn-zeilen-buch and the Short-Short - Kate Roy
Chapter 5: Bodo Kirchhoff's Widerfahrnis: A Novelle for Our Time? - Helmut Schmitz
Chapter 6: The Liminal Space of the Short Story: Clemens Meyer's Die Nacht, die Lichter and Die stillen Trabanten - Gillian Pye
Chapter 7: Framing the Presence: Judith Hermann's Lettipark - Leonhard Herrmann
Chapter 8: Of Unhomed Subjects and Unsettled Voices: Alois Hotschnig's Die Kinder beruhigte das nicht - Heide Kunzelmann
Chapter 9: Literary Development and Rewriting Spaces in the "Complete Stories": Peter Stamm's Der Lauf der Dinge - Andrew Plowman
Chapter 10: On Disappearing: Reading Ulrike Almut Sandig with Sylvia Bovenschen - Heike Bartel and Elizabeth Boa
Chapter 11: Metamorphic Becomings: Yoko Tawada's Opium für Ovid: Ein Kopfkissenbuch von 22 Frauen - Áine McMurtry
Chapter 12: Melinda Nadj Abonji and Jurczok 1001: Performance, Politics, and Poetry - Rafaël Newman and Caroline Wiedmer
Chapter 13: Rhizomatic Wanderings: The Writings of Gabriele Petricek - Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger
Chapter 14: Trends and Issues in the Contemporary German-Language Short Story - Lyn Marven
Appendix: Contemporary German-Language Short Stories in Translation
Sudabeh Mohafez, A Short-Short Selection - Translated by Kate Roy
Roman Ehrlich, "Engineers of Time" - Translated by Lyn Marven
Saša Stanišić, "The Factory" - Translated by Lyn Marven
Bibliography of Primary Texts
Notes on Contributors

LYN MARVEN is Senior Lecturer in German at the University of Liverpool.

Andrew Plowman is Senior Lecturer in
German at the University of Liverpool.

Kate Roy is Adjunct Professor in Literature and Modern Languages (German) at Franklin University, Switzerland.

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December 2020

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Title Details

354 Pages

2.28 x 1.52 cm

3 b/w illus.

Series: Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture

Series Vol. Number: 216

Imprint: Camden House