Childness and the writing of the German past : a study of the narrative functions of tropes of childhood in German literature 1990-2001

Abstract

The thesis examines the narrative functions of tropes of childhood in a selection of post-reunification German novels for adults. The methodology is based on a practice of close textual analysis, focusing particularly on focalization, narration and the implied reader. The conceptual tool of “childness” is also developed as a means of distinguishing clearly between childhood as empirical state and childhood as socio-cultural construct; this concept also facilitates analysis of child figures as agents of narration and focalization, as well as of the significance of childhood and child figures as objects of narration.