Death in Rome
Death in Rome is a novel by Wolfgang Koeppen published in 1954.
It is - after Tauben im Gras (1951) and Das Treibhaus (1953) - the third work in the so-called " Trilogy of Failure " with which Koeppen was able to establish himself as an important author of German post-war literature.
content
The novel deals with the careers of former National Socialists after the Second World War .
In the post-war period, victims and perpetrators of National Socialism meet against the backdrop of Rome . In a kind of literary choreography, the author always puts together new groups of characters from the members of two families and their immediate surroundings in several parallel storylines. The present is problematized and the past is revealed in an elaborate network of dialogues and internal monologues; the characters show the opportunism and adaptability of the followers as well as the unbroken willingness to use violence of the perpetrators as well as the disunity and the escapism of the following generation.
The background to this is the still unsolved problem of overcoming the National Socialist past during the economic miracle .
literature
- Wolfgang Koeppen: Death in Rome. Novel . Scherz & Goverts, Stuttgart 1954.
Selected bibliography:
- Thomas Richner: Death in Rome. An existential-psychological analysis of Wolfgang Koeppen's novel. Zurich / Munich, 1982
- Oliver Herwig: Wolfgang Koeppen's rejection of aestheticism: The strategy of literary engagement with Thomas Mann in the novel 'Death in Rome' . In: Zeitschrift für Germanistik 3/1995, pp. 544–53
- Bernd Widdig: Melancholy and Modernity: Wolfgang Koeppens Death in Rome . In: The Germanic Review 66/4 (autumn 1991), pp. 161-168
- Margarete Mitscherlich: How did German writers defend themselves against the inability to mourn? Depicted on Wolfgang Koeppens 'Death in Rome'. In: Neue Rundschau 94, 1983/3, pp. 137–156