Thematization of children’s books as irony with a deeper meaning – With a particular focus on Arno Geiger’s Es geht uns gut [We Are Doing Fine] and Barbara Frischmuth’s Verschüttete Milch [Spilt Milk]

Authors

  • Ernst Seibert

Keywords:

Arno Geiger, Barbara Frischmuth, interdependencies, intertextualities between children’s and general literature, strategies of childhood reflection

Abstract

In the interplay between mainstream literature and children’s literature, a conspicuous phenomenon has been observed in Austria for some time now, which in its diverse presence can probably be described as specifically Austrian. It has virtually become a topos to not only whimsically embellish novels of general literature with associations from children’s literature, but to actually structure them along the lines of these associations. Obviously, this phenomenon involves a collective compensation, in which the longstanding strict separation of the two bodies of literature is addressed in a playful but also challenging way. Two examples, novels by Arno Geiger and Barbara Frischmuth, will be discussed here.

Author Biography

Ernst Seibert

Studium der Germanistik, Philosophie und Psychologie. 1997–99 Mitarbeit am DFG-Projekt „Handbuch zur Kinder- und Jugendliteratur“ an der Univ. zu Köln, 1999 Begründung der „Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendliteraturforschung“ sowie der Fachzeitschrift „libri liberorum“ und der Schriftenreihe „Kinder- und Jugendliteratur- Forschung in Österreich“. 2005 Habilitation für Neuere deutsche Literatur an der Universität Wien; zahlreiche Vorträge und Publikationen im In- und Ausland. 2008 Auszeichnung mit dem Wissenschaftspreis der „Deutschen Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur“, Mitglied der „Österreichischen Goethe-Gesellschaft“ und der „Grillparzer-Gesellschaft Wien“

Additional Files

Published

2020-05-13