Gedächtnis Und Erinnerung in Der Wendeliteratur Am Beispiel Von Jana Hensels Wenderoman Zonenkinder

Abstract

Memory in Literary studies has been an area of interest in German Literature. The underlying study presents results from an analysis of memory and remembrance in Jana Hensel’s novel, Zonenkinder. The aim of the project was to analyze the presentation of memory and remembrance about the DDR and the Wende (the turning point) in the novel. The novel was chosen as an area of study because it is a collection of childhood memories of the DDR and also gives a vivid picture of the effects of the Wende through the narration of the first-person narrator. Through the perspective of the first-person narrator and various aesthetic devices such as intermediality, for example the audio tapes at the train station in Leipzig, the book depicts life in the DDR as well as in the reunified Germany. The study focuses on three questions, what memories are depicted in the book? What aesthetic means does the author use to represent memory and remembrance? And To what extent can the novel be read as a memory of the Wende and the DDR? In order to answer these questions, the theory of Memory studies is used. Additionally, I. A. Richards and William Empson method of close reading is employed with the intention of getting a detailed and closer understanding and therefore analysis of the novel. The analysis of the novel showed that the novel, to a large extent can be read as a memory of the DDR and Wende.