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Abstract Markus Neuschäfer
The success of family novels in contemporary literature is usually interpreted in connection with the alleged "crisis of the family" : Thus, family novels mirror a disappearing world prior to the demographic shock; the attempt to "let something grow, which is barely there" (Frank Schirrmacher: Minimum). If one observes the continuous boom of family novels beyond such alarmism, the often underrated genre proves to be exceptionally versatile: Instead of simply adopting traditional patterns of family depiction, contemporary novels discuss current problems and questions, employing improved and modernized narrative techniques. Because of the inevitable reference to a temporally graded network of characters and generational patterns of interpretation, the novels depict not only problems and possibilities of the different family systems, but also the changes and consequences of historical developments: History is narrated as generational history.
The concept of generations connects the analyzed text patterns thematically with cultural knowledge structures, that become relevant during the reception of the texts. In order to arrive at a more precise definition of theme, I draw upon process-oriented approaches of the current discussion about thematics. Themes are not 'found' in the text without prerequisites, they are actively constructed by the reader on the basis of certain textual and contextual factors. For the analysis of family novels, this approach to literary thematics is particularly interesting, because not only narrative structures and the tradition of the genre have to be considered, but also cultural patterns relevant to the reception of these novels. On the basis of german family novels, the project analyzes constructions of family and history in contemporary literature in order to study the continuity and change of an imaginary model.