Provoziertes Schreiben : Drogen in der deutschsprachigen Literatur seit 1945

Abstract

Ever since the era of Romanticism and most notably since Thomas de Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater, mind-altering substances have been the subject of literary interest. It was hoped that drugs, not unlike dreams, would provide access to the psyche and enable a perception that transcends rational boundaries. While the main contributions to this genre have come from English, French and American literature, German writers, especially since the early 20th century, have offered a variety of narratives and stylistic renditions of the drug-experience. This thesis investigates the impact the use of illicit drugs has had on German, Swiss and Austrian literature from 1945 to the present. It examines the narrative means which recent German-speaking authors have employed to transform their drug experiences into works of literature. This is done by looking at both thematic and formal elements of texts and by placing them within a framework of sociological, literary, psychological, historical and pharmacological discourses with the goal of tracing consistencies and developments of the genre. It is the intention of this thesis to provide a comprehensive overview and critical examination of drug-related literature in German language after 1945. The interpretation of the texts will also draw on non-German and pre-1945 texts to provide a comparative analysis in order to uncover the rich network of intertextual references integral to this genre of literature. I will argue that although many German writers were heavily influenced by English- and French- speaking writers, some succeeded in creating a discourse around their drug-experiences which uniquely reflects the search for their identity or, as the case may be, their struggle against the disintegration of that identity. While my emphasis is on the interpretation of prose-texts, I have also included poems and theatre plays when they offer insights into the artistic role or the effect of psychoactive substances. Texts by Hans Fallada, Heinz Liepmann, Jorg Fauser, Wolfgang Bauer, Richard Anders, Ernst Jünger, Bemward Vesper, Walter Vogt, Peter Rosei and Rainald Goetz will be analysed in depth, shorter interpretations will be given of texts by Paul Schallück, Karin Struck, Hadayatullah Hübsch, Peter Rühmkorf, Wolfgang Neuss, Günter Wallraff, Wolfgang Sieg, Alexa Hennig von Lange and Bettina Gundermann. An interview with the German writer Hadayatullah Hübsch on the role of drugs in German literature after 1945 is included in the appendix of the thesis.