Work-immanent interpretation

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The work- immanent interpretation , often abbreviated as work immanence , is a methodical direction in literary studies that was dominant in the 1950s and 1960s, with effects on literary theory and text interpretation that continue to this day in schools.

Emergence

The development of the work-immanent interpretation is explained by the historical features of the German post-war period. Many leading German scholars of this time were either avowed National Socialists between 1933 and 1945 (such as " Hans Schwerte ", Heinz Kindermann , Erich Trunz ), followers (such as Wolfgang Kayser ), outsiders who could represent continuity (such as the Swiss Emil Staiger ), or Exiles (like Richard Alewyn ). What they had in common was the desire, which emerged from the experiences of the National Socialist era , to exclude political, social and historical aspects from dealing with literature. Instead, they propagated a move towards the "linguistic work of art as such" that can be isolated from its social framework. Art historians also insisted on the autonomy of the work of art .

Expressions

In detail, there were different forms of the work-immanent interpretation: The spectrum ranged from a retreat to the ideologically harmless edition science (Erich Trunz: Hamburger Goethe-Ausgabe ) to a factually dissecting poetics (Wolfgang Kayser: The linguistic work of art ), conservative-humanistic studies (Emil Staiger ), large-scale aesthetic-historical projects (Heinz Kindermann: Theater history of Europe ) to genre-historical works and interpretative anthologies ( Benno von Wiese ). Richard Alewyn developed an "exegetical, pointing, tracing ability" in "disciplined virtuosity", but developed socio-historical approaches that became important in the 1960s.

criticism

Since the late 1950s there has been increasing criticism of the interpretation inherent in the work. It is related to the insight that interpretation inherent in the work tends to practice a cult around authoritarian positions instead of reflecting on it ( e.g. epoch terms , a normative understanding of language or the dominant position of the author ). A new generation of German scholars founded methodologically new approaches that concentrated on purely factual and analytical investigations of text and genre structures. Eberhard Lämmert , Käte Hamburger and Franz Karl Stanzel were the pioneers of an analysis inherent in the text in the strict sense of the word .

consequences

In retrospect, the work-immanent interpretation appears as a phase of transition between the strongly ideological German studies of the Empire , Weimar Republic and the “Third Reich” to a modern scientific, structuralist text analysis influenced by linguistics . - Since around 1970, attention has been directed more and more to the social and media historical circumstances that have been masked out by “immanent” observation .

literature

  • Wilfried Barner, Christoph König (Ed.): Changing times. German literature before and after 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verl., Frankfurt / Main 1996, ISBN 3-596-12963-X .
  • Klaus L. Berghahn: Word art without a story. On the intrinsic method of German studies after 1945. In: Monthly Issues for German Lessons, German Language and Literature 71 (1979), pp. 387–398.
  • Jost Hermand : History of German Studies. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1994, ISBN 3-499-55534-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Garber : Richard Alewyn (1902–1979), in: Christoph König, Hans-Harald Müller, Werner Röcke (ed.): History of Science in German Studies in Portraits, de Gruyter, Berlin 2000, pp. 210–220, here p. 218. ISBN 3-11-016157-5