Ingenieurssolipsismen in Großstadtutopien der 1920er Jahre

This article provides an analysis of two dystopian novels: Yevgeny Zamyatin’s ( , 1924/25) and Thea von Harbou’s (1925/26). Both novels stand out by engineers as protagonists. Their respective behaviour is driven by their use of building powers, their creative fantasy, but also by their ambition to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur 2024-11, Vol.49 (2), p.371-396
Main Author: Godel, Rainer
Format: Article
Language:eng ; ger
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article provides an analysis of two dystopian novels: Yevgeny Zamyatin’s ( , 1924/25) and Thea von Harbou’s (1925/26). Both novels stand out by engineers as protagonists. Their respective behaviour is driven by their use of building powers, their creative fantasy, but also by their ambition to rule within a seemingly well-ordered world. However, at the diegetic level, a fundamental ambivalence between the positive understanding of the engineer’s contribution to progress and his restricted and selfish solipsism remains unsolved.
ISSN:0340-4528
1865-9128
DOI:10.1515/iasl-2024-0019