2023 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Literature and War: The Yugoslavia conflict in German literature with special reference to the texts by Peter Handke and Saša Stanišić
| Project/Area Number |
23K00442
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Metropolitan University |
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Principal Investigator |
シュレンドルフ レオポルト 東京都立大学, 人文科学研究科, 准教授 (20773188)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
山本 浩司 早稲田大学, 文学学術院, 教授 (80267442)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2023-04-01 – 2026-03-31
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| Keywords | Handke / War / Yugoslavia / Travel / Essayism / Narratology / Stanisic / Europe |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Last year, research focused on Peter Handke's collection of short stories "Noch einmal fur Thukydides" (Once more for Thucydides), which was published in three extended editions between 1990 and 1996. The starting point was Arno Dusini's considerations, who sees these texts as a key to understanding Handke's engagement with the Yugoslavian conflict. Furthermore, the mention of the Greek historian Thucydides led to comments from classical philology and historical studies, in particular from Neville Morley (University of Exeter, UK). The correspondence between Handke and Morley, in which the author referred to the "provocation" of references to the Peloponnesian War, proved to be particularly fruitful. In this project, the collection is understood as a transgression of the actual war discourse towards a redefinition of the literary examination of (contemporary) history. In this context, Handke's much-criticized attention to details and trivialities, such as extensive descriptions of nature and landscape in the travel texts to Yugoslavia (in particular "Eine winterliche Reise zu den Fluessen Donau, Save, Morawa und Drina. Oder Gerechtigkeit fuer Serbien", engl:"Journey to the Rivers: Justice for Serbia", 1996), appears as a provocative departure from modern war reporting, which at times tends to simplistically focus on the immediate events of war. The function of these digressions in the Thucydides texts is not a concealment of facts and figures, but rather an attempt to transcend the boundaries of discourse and overcome a simplistic friend-foe dichotomy.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
During a research stay in Munich (Lyrikum Muenchen, State Library Bavaria) and Vienna (literature archives of the National Libray, University of Vienna library) we encountered a wealth of informative new documents. Notably, individual texts published between 1986 and 1987, which were subsequently incorporated into Handke's Thucydides collection, provided fresh insights into the author's later works on the Yugoslavian war. Additionally, engaging in dialogue with international scholars, particularly those associated with the Society for International German Studies, proved highly fruitful and resulted into an invitation to a conference (June 28th - June 30th 2024).
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
For a deeper understanding of Handke's Yugoslavian texts, which are rich in allusions to Greek epics and myths, we would like to intensify interdisciplinary cooperation with classical philologists and scholars of antiquity. The correspondence between the British historian Neville Morley and Peter Handke regarding the latter's volume on Thucydides seems particularly fruitful. This partially published correspondence should serve as the starting point for this endeavor. Additionally, international cooperation will be strengthened, including participation in an international symposium in Korea planned for 2024. Furthermore, we will thoroughly examine the objections to Handke's texts, especially those raised by his fellow writers Sasa Stanisic and Karl-Markus Gauss.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Some articles could not yet be purchased as they have not yet been published. This will be made up for in the following year. Planned trips could not yet be carried out. This will be made up for in the form of a trip to a conference in Korea in July.
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