Confronting Cancer Publicly: Diary Writing in Extremis by Christoph Schlingensief and Wolfgang Herrndorf

Abstract

Ich halte das Tagebuch wie einen Kompass vor mich hin. —Wolfgang Herrndorf, Bilder deiner grosen Liebe CHRISTOPH SCHLINGENSIEF (1960–2010) and Wolfgang Herrndorf (1965–2013) have produced what in the German-language context are two of the most widely read illness narratives of recent years. It is no coincidence that both their texts are more specifically diaries. I will argue that part of the reason each author with his respective book and blog has caused such a stir is to be found in this choice of genre, or writing mode. The diaries make accessible their suffering and their thought-world in medias res, an d in the mode of the everyday. As a genre rooted in the mundane, being a widespread cultural practice as much as a literary art form, the diary is provocative because it brings difficult topics closer to readers than they might like, magnifying, in the cases at hand, the transgressive nature of narrating the experiences of serious illness and of dying. The following examines in which respects the diary form may be particularly suited to the task of writing the ill and dying self. In doing so, the diary will, however, be identified as a challenging format too—for both author and reader alike. There has been little exploration to date of the diary as a genre for writing the ill and potentially dying self. To be sure, Philippe Lejeune and others have pointed out that the activity of keeping a diary is one often taken up in times of crisis or pain and suffering. However, as Kathryn Carter also asserts, what exactly it is in the diary form that suits autothanatographical expression has not yet been subject to detailed consideration. The diary holds a special place on the margins of not only the literary field generally but also life writing more specifically. From this outsider position, it can represent the most controversial kinds of autobiographical subject matter, using to its advantage the fact that throughout history and up until today, the diary form has been employed when “writing back” from a disadvantaged position. It is closely tied to readers’ expectations of immediacy and intimacy, oftentimes conveying an impression of authenticity and confession.