Aufschlussreich, wenn gut gebaut: Die Zuverlässigkeit des unzuverlässigen Erzählens bei Perutz, Lernet-Holenia und Hesse

Abstract

Abstract The paper investigates a specific period in the history of unreliable narration, or, more precisely, of its mimetic variation that is based on ontological misinformation. Using the example of three German-language literary texts of classical modernism, the functions and conditions of success of the literary device in question are analyzed. A comparison of the interpretation of reality offered by the texts allows for the construction of a cultural-historical tendency of development; however, the examined texts seem to position themselves chronologically in a retrograde manner to that tendency. Reasons for this paradox are explained in regards to the – particularly political – functionalization of the myth in classical modernism. The analysis of the requirements for a successful deception of the recipient is based on three narratological criteria. An examination of how these criteria are (or are not) met in the chosen texts reveals a need for more terminological refinement and additionally inspires a fundamental reinterpretation of one of the case examples.