The Deprecation of the Non-German Other in Sabine Thiesler's Novels: Representational Ethics and Popular Literature

Europe's North-South divide transcends the fact of divergent economic performances in Northern and Southern European countries; it also steps into the realm of national identities, intra-European perceptions and, ultimately, accountability. A close examination of Sabine Thiesler's multiple...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critique - Bolingbroke Society 2023-08, Vol.64 (4), p.699-711
Main Authors: Alemany, David, Parra-Membrives, Eva
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ethics
German literature
Literary characters
Literary criticism
Literature
Morality
National identity
Novels
Otherness
Politics
Popular culture
Stereotypes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Europe's North-South divide transcends the fact of divergent economic performances in Northern and Southern European countries; it also steps into the realm of national identities, intra-European perceptions and, ultimately, accountability. A close examination of Sabine Thiesler's multiple novels shows a persistent and fixated denigration of Southern European characters through the use of demeaning stereotypes and stigmatizations which disregard any moral guidance or representational ethics. Due to the fact that this stigmatization occurs in a literary context branded as trivial, scholars might also tend to trivialize its importance. Nevertheless, a scrutiny of the works of one of the most well-read authors of popular literature in the German language is not only relevant, but also necessary in a time when the North-South divide in Europe has become especially aggravated and when contempt toward the collective other appears to have become, once again, a political tool for nation-building.
ISSN:0011-1619
1939-9138
DOI:10.1080/00111619.2022.2086790