A Reading of Friedrich A. Kittler’s Reading of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “Der Goldene Topf” (The Golden Pot) in Aufschreibesysteme 1800/1900 (Discourse Networks 1800/1900)

Abstract

Friedrich A. Kittler’s canonical Aufschreibesysteme 1800/1900 (Discourse Networks 1800/1900) threatened the very idea of the canonicity of German literature. Yet Kittler’s readings systematically dismiss, mishear, and distort foreign voices who resist and cannot easily fit into his rigid theoretical framework. This discursive strategy is most apparent in his formative reading of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1814 “Der Goldene Topf: Ein Märchen aus der neuen Zeit” (The Golden Pot: A Fairy Tale for the Modern Age). Despite its erasures and repressions of difference, his reading of this text has had a largely positive reception. A re-reading of his formative reading is thus long overdue. By closely analyzing Kittler’s interpretation of Hoffmann’s text, this article demonstrates that Kittler's expressed claim to challenge a canonical approach to German literature and his disruptions of disciplinary norms and behavioral conventions mask his fundamental affiliation with processes of canonization.