Requirements (Heißenbüttel)
The prerequisite is a theoretical text that was first published in "Über Literatur" in 1966 by Helmut Heißenbüttel . In this text, the author and critic reflects on his basic understanding of writing and the relationship between language and the world. The text is divided into seven subsections, in which Heißenbüttel presents modalities of the literature that build on one another.
content
- Literature consists of language and not, as supposedly assumed, of trends in psychology (images, sensations ...) or tendency literature that pursues political intentions.
- Both literature and colloquial language use the same language material. Colloquial language, however, is the lowest language level, whereas literature is characterized by special selective principles.
- In comparison to music and painting, language is strongly determined by fixed structures (e.g. sentence-like links) in order to create a semantic context. Only at the primary level of language, in that it consists of tones or morphemes, would language be comparable to abstract colors or tones.
- Literature wants to create more than just orientation in the world through understanding. This leads to the construction of special models that restrict the language area through structures (e.g. the form of the sonnet) in order to exclude other possibilities. Nevertheless, this external form is not sufficient for literature.
- “The language area is restricted according to special rules. These range from the restriction of vocabulary and the prescription of certain syntactic forms (in dialogue and drama) to the complicated metrical constrictions in poems. [...] Anyone who was able to fulfill certain rules (such as the sonnet) in a purely technical manner had already written a poem. Which wasn't the case. "
- Literature interacts with history because world views change over time. This is why some genres no longer work today, while new genres are added over time (e.g. the detective novel). In addition, changes in language lead to a change in world interpretation. Language, for example, is able to create new perspectives in the reader.
- The old basic model of language (subject-predicate-object) does not hold up. Over time, new structures emerge, such as B. the computer language. In addition, there are events that can not be transported by outdated tools.
- The aim is to penetrate the interior of the language, to break up outdated structures and specifications. Connections are not formed by logical-syntactic connections, but by ambiguities and ambiguities. As a consequence, the syntax has to be broken in order to gain new knowledge and to reach limits that are not yet defined.
- “Sentence subjects, sentence objects, sentence predicates fall away because the experience we are talking about stands outside of the unambiguous subject-object relationship. [...] And the limit that will be reached [...], it is the limit to what cannot yet be said. "
Classification in literary history
For the post-1945 epoch, the majority of authors predominantly shared the view that aesthetic principles and existing rules should be sought anew and tested through linguistic experiments. Much of the literary work had a strong experimental character and pursued the intention to break up the subject-object structure. Helmut Heißenbüttel wanted to penetrate the interior of language with a large number of his texts. The result is not a new language. Rather, it is a speech that makes use of the contrast to the traditional syntax and the traditional word usage.
literature
- Herbert A. Frenzel, Elisabeth Frenzel : dates of German poetry. Chronological outline of German literary history . Vol. 2, 35th edition, Munich 2007.
- Helmut Heißenbüttel: About literature . Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta 1995 (first edition 1966).