Schreiben als Fremde(r) : eine vergleichende Studie zur Fremdheit in ausgewählten Gedichten von Charles Bukowski und Nelly Sachs

Abstract

The radicality of the “Fremderfahrung” can be described as an existential process of having to relearn the way in which one thinks, speaks, and writes. The poems of Charles Bukowski and Nelly Sachs showcase how their different styles of writing found a way to describe trauma as well as experiences with radical, structural and every day strangeness. The aim of this project is to investigate how strangeness can be identified, analysed, and discussed in the selected poetry of the exile writer Nelly Sachs and the writer of non-belonging Charles Bukowski.

Much of Charles Bukowski’s work, especially his novels, has been studied under the themes of alcohol abuse, madness, abuse and poverty to name a few. However, there exists little research regarding his poetry and its relation to exile and strangeness. Similarly, Nelly Sachs’s work has been greatly connected to the literature of the Second World War, however through this project I hope to demonstrate how the works of both authors can be analysed through selected theories of strangeness, therefore also showing how strangeness or Fremdheit can be identified in literary texts.

This thesis provides evidence that the direct writing style of Charles Bukowski can most often be linked to the categories of everyday and structural strangeness. While also displaying the element of radical strangeness found in the metaphoric style of Nelly Sachs. I argue that the utilization of radical strangeness is linked to the strenuous nature of describing traumata, that in order to word traumatic events Nelly Sachs makes use of her unique metaphoric style of writing, whereas Charles Bukowski directly attacks the everyday and structural strangeness through the selected poetry as analysed throughout this project.