Format:
1 Online-Ressource (288 pages)
Edition:
First edition
ISBN:
9781501368387
,
9781501368363
Series Statement:
New Directions in German Studies
Content:
Acknowledgments -- Note on Editions and Translations -- Introduction -- 1. The Dilemma of Choice in Irrungen, Wirrungen -- 2. The Broken Word: On the Rhetoric of Trust and Honor in Schach von Wuthenow -- 3. Graf Petöfy and the Empty Vow -- 4. L'Adultera , Adulteration, and Avowal -- 5. Unwiederbringlich , or the Impotence of Being Earnest -- 6. Haunting Ambivalence: The Rhetorical Education of Effi Briest -- 7. All Talk: In Lieu of a Conclusion, Stechlin -- Bibliography -- Index.
Content:
"What happens when fashionable forms of unserious speech prove to be contagious, when they adulterate and weaken communicative spheres that rely on honesty, trust, and sincerity? Demonstrating how the tension between irony and avowal constitutes a central conflict in Fontane's works, this book argues that his best-known society novels play out a struggle between the incompatible demands of these two modes of speaking. Read in this light, the novels identify an irreconcilable discrepancy between word and deed as both the root of emotional discord and the proximate cause of historical and political upheaval. Given the alarm since 2016 over unreliability, falsehood, and indifference to truth, it is now easier to perceive in Fontane's novels a profound concern about language that is not sincere and not meant to be taken literally. For Fontane, irony exemplifies a discrepancy between language and meaning, a loosening of the ethical bond between words and the things to which they refer. His novels investigate the extent to which human relationships can continue to function in the face of pervasive irony and the erosion of language's credibility. Although Fontane is widely regarded as an ironic writer, Tucker's analyses reveal a critical distance between his works and the prospect of irony as a dominant idiom. Revisiting Fontane's novels in a post-truth age brings the conflict between irony and avowal into sharper relief and makes legible the stakes and contours of our own post-truth condition."--
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.
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Barrierefreier Inhalt: Compliant with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Content is displayed as HTML full text which can easily be resized or read with assistive technology, with mark-up that allows screen readers and keyboard-only users to navigate easily
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781501368370
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781501368394
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781501368356
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781501368394
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als Druck-Ausgabe ISBN 9781501368394
Language:
English
DOI:
10.5040/9781501368387
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