Literatur als Kulturökologie. Ästhetische und diskursive Formen der Umweltnarrative in ausgewählten Texten der zeitgenössischen deutschsprachigen Literatur

Abstract

Environmental degradation has undeniably become a salient social concern and has attracted a considerable amount of critical attention in recent years. (Buell 2005:3) The anthropocentric view of environmental disaster places human beings at the forefront of the crisis and posits that mankind is effectively committing ecocide, making the planet inhospitable to life of any kind. (Desjardins 2013:6) In this context, literature plays a pivotal role in the sense that it critically raises the question of anthropogenic environmental deterioration and its attendant consequences with unusual poignancy, while exemplifying alternative conceptions of the human-nature relationship. As a result, literature brilliantly contributes to understanding the complexity of the environmental crisis, thus extending the scope of what can be explored from the perspective of natural and environmental sciences. This study scrutinizes multifaceted ways in which German literature addresses the environmental predicament. It covers a broad range of fictional texts: Der Schwarm (2004) by Frank Schätzing, Das Tahiti-Projekt (2007) by Dirk C. Fleck, Prophezeiung (2011) by Sven Böttcher, Maeva! (2011) by Dirk C. Fleck, Somniavero (2012) by Anja Stürzer, GO! Die Ökodiktatur (1993/2014) by Dirk C. Fleck, G.r.a.s. (2018) by Achim Koch and Der brennende See (2020) by John von Düffel. Some of these works of fiction have mainly been analyzed with regards to how they fit into specific ecological genres such as ecothriller, climate change fiction and ecologically oriented children and youth literature. This study instead pays special attention to their aesthetics and investigates how they produce narratives and counter-narratives with respect to environmental degradation, and furthermore argues in favor of exploring literature on environment from a generational vantage point. In so doing, the work aspires to contribute to the rapidly growing field of ecocriticism. Chapter one describes the context of this study and predominantly touches on the problem statement, research questions and objectives. It also briefly highlights the theoretical framework and methodological approach. Chapter two provides an extended literature review and engages with the evolution of ecocriticism in a German context. Chapter three focuses on depictions of natural catastrophes in Der Schwarm, G.r.a.s. and Prophezeiung and argues that theses texts are characterized by deterministic plots. Chapter four investigates Das Tahiti-Project, Maeva! and GO! Die Ökodiktatur as counter-discourse to this determinism and argues that the future can still be controlled and made better. Chapter five revolves around Somniavero and Der brennende See and explores environmental destruction and sustainability in both works of fiction as generationally laden phenomena.