Diversity of Genre in Post-Colonial Literature

The main aim of this article is to outline main tendencies in the development of post-colonial literature in the face of Jean Rhys and her novel Wide Sargasso Sea as a vivid example of starting attempt to break a white-domineering view of Asian countries and build up a new identity. Research attempts to refer to a wider scope of literary texts, including the ones that outline issues and problems related to the so-called invasion narratives. The term invasion narratives is seen as referring to a number of different texts, including English Patient by Michael Ondaatje or the Reader by Bernhard Schlink. One of numerous possibilities of analyzing post-colonial literature is the analysis of the novels by Zadie Smith White Teeth and on Beauty, the latter being a good example of a return to realism and actualizing what is called coined as the meanwhile. Special attention is given to meta-modernism and its function on the contemporary cultural and literary scene, above all with its attempt to start a neo-romantic direct kind of prose, or verse, simple in its form, yet aiming to construct new identities. This kind of prose incorporates the narratives exploring different traumas, including trans-generational traumas.

Metaphorical representations of the “German economic miracle” in the prose of Bernhard Schlink

This article discusses the difficult postwar years of Germany reflected in the works of B. Schlink, as well as assesses the impact of economic circumstances upon the formation of German collective consciousness. The object of this research is the novels “The Justice of Selb”, “The Deceit of Selb”, “The Farewell of Selb” by B. Schlink. The subject of this research is the artistic peculiarities of representation of the “German economic miracle” in the prose of B. Schlink. The writer had a critical attitude on idealizing the results of Germany's rapid economic development. He believes that mythologization of the positive results of economic development is only one side to a coin. A profound analysis of the listed novels by B. Schlink, dedicated to the theme of postwar restoration of Germany, gives a better perspective on the writer’s role in the German literary process during the late XX – early XXI centuries, which defines the relevance of this research. The goal of this article lies in studying the importance of mythological representations associated with the rapid recovery and economic development of Germany in the consciousness of the German nation, as well as their reflection in the works of Bernhard Schlink. In his novels, B. Schlink not only mentions the return of former Nazis to public and civil posts, but also draws the images of the prosperous postwar existence of German industrialists, whose factories used to supply the needs of the Reich. Depicting the conflict between the characters, the writer destroys one of their pleasant elements of the myth of “German economic miracle”. The hero – Detective Selb – reflects on the ethical questions pertinent to economic development. The life-changing event in national history, which allowed Germany to regain its rightful place among the European nations, is linked by the author with a range of negative consequences, such as development of the psychology of “consumerism” in the society, concealment of the German national past, detection of significant environmental problems, and escalation of radical moods among German youth.

From the female writer in A Room of One’s Own to the female reader in The Reader: feminist voices

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is the pioneers of the very first movement of feminism. Her work A Room of One's Own (1929) shows gender discrimination with discourse of feminism and of literary creativeness, and also thoughts for fighting for gender equality. For Woolf, a liberal writer is the one who has his/her own room to work and is adequately educated. Despite of the wide gap of generation, the novel The Reader (1995) by Bernhard Schlink (1944-) continued with feminism from the view of female readers. It also shows his view point of a liberal reader who has the right to participate in literary reception. As a continuation of Woolf, Schlink argues that the very basic step to all to become a free reader is to educate, to eliminate illiteracy and to foster cultural and social knowledge. It can be seen that the feminist voices in these two works have much in common, creating a deep feminist dialogue. We believe that link between them as well as between the works and the readers can evoke further feminist voices and discourses, contributing to the development of this approach.

Culpas e traumas no pós-Segunda Guerra em O leitor

Após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, diversos traumas e interditos assombraram o mundo contemporâneo que passou a se ver diante de situações difíceis de explicar ou de mal entendidos sobre as ações e culpas de diferentes sujeitos, nos massacres perpetrados pelos nazistas contra judeus. A obra O leitor, do jurista e literato alemão Bernhard Schlink, possibilita mergulhar no julgamento de Hanna, acusada de liderar um massacre contra mulheres judias e adentrar nas dolorosas memórias da Segunda Guerra, para analisar as culpas de diferentes sujeitos que vivenciaram aquele período e indagar sobre as possibilidades de terem feito algo contra os expurgos e massacres fascistas que se alastraram pela Europa.

The Interpreter, the Scientist, and the Analyst

Stanley Fish and Bernhard Schlink agree that there can be no rule for finding a correct legal interpretation. Each, however, offers a negative rule to recognize incorrect interpretations. Schlink asserts that incorrect interpretations can be eliminated through the scientific method of falsification. Fish claims that any interpretation not concerned with the author’s state of mind must be rejected. Unfortunately, Fish’s insistence on authorial intent could be read as downplaying the role of the interpreter. Although interpretation is objective in that it involves the examination of an object, it is not merely objective. Communication is collaboration; interpretation needs an interpreter. It is intersubjective. But interpretation cannot be relegated entirely to the intersubjective “symbolic” order where language and law is located. The symbolic can never be disentangled from the orders of the “imaginary” and the “real” that are its logical boundaries. Interpretation has a subjective aspect because it requires the creative act of the interpreter’s imagination. Schlink recognizes that a subjective moment of hypothesis formation is essential to interpretation but tries to distinguish it from a subsequent objective or intersubjective testing process. There is no rule that can disprove our legal interpretations. This is why judging is always a moral act.

Antonin Scalia, Bernhard Schlink, and Lancelot Andrewes

Addressing textualism in its various manifestations, this chapter argues, in critique of Schlink and Scalia, that genuine interpretation is governed by the attempt to determine the author’s intention. Examining Scalia’s divergence from this hermeneutic norm, Fish argues not only that his theory as exemplified in Heller is bad, but also that as an interpretative practice, it is evil.