“Hopefully I Won’t Be Misunderstood.” Disability Rhetoric in Jürg Acklin’s Vertrauen ist gut

Alec Cattell

doi:10.3390/h7030071

Abstract

This essay brings together the fields of German literature, disability studies, and rhetoric in an analysis of the rhetorical strategies and representational implications of disability in Jürg Acklin’s 2009 novel Vertrauen ist gut. Resting on the theory of complex embodiment, the analysis considers the rhetoric of anmut as a literary strategy that invites readers to share imperfect, yet profound, embodied rhetorical connections with the protagonist without rendering invisible the differences that shape embodied experience. Although the characters in Vertrauen ist gut are fictional, this novel provides important insights regarding experiences of precarious embodiment and affirms the value of interdependence while challenging ideals of autonomy and independence. Furthermore, the novel’s narrative within a narrative—and the consequences of the narrator’s interpretation of their significance—challenges readers to use caution when interpreting literary narratives, as their relationship to personal narratives may not always be straightforward.

Highlights

(2009), which is already apparent in the protagonist’s opening lines: “Hoffentlich werde ich nicht falsch verstanden.” (Hopefully I won’t be misunderstood.) (Acklin 2009, p. 5) this essay takes up the question of how the protagonist’s disability might be interpreted beyond the familiar disability myths that frequently appear in literary texts
One might focus on the particularities of the protagonist’s disability, which involves a lack of muscle control as well as a psychological component of fearfulness, which appears to be related to yet separate from his physical disability
Recent scholarship in disability theory pertaining to literary and cultural representations of disability has questioned this kind of approach because of the complex relationship between representations of bodies and living bodies (Siebers 2008, p. 65; 2013, p. 293) and challenged scholars to consider aspects that transcend representational concerns, for instance disability rhetorics (Dolmage 2014) and literary deployments of disability (Bérubé 2016)

Summary

Introduction

This essay examines the disability rhetoric of anmut in Jürg Acklin’s novel Vertrauen ist gut (2009), which is already apparent in the protagonist’s opening lines: “Hoffentlich werde ich nicht falsch verstanden.” (Hopefully I won’t be misunderstood.) (Acklin 2009, p. 5) this essay takes up the question of how the protagonist’s disability might be interpreted beyond the familiar disability myths that frequently appear in literary texts. Because the protagonist has cerebral palsy, a traditional approach to the analysis of this novel might focus on the metaphorical significance of the protagonist’s disability in relation to the novel’s thematic content and/or its function as a narrative technique. Such interpretations have been considered standard and abound in the Western tradition, as scholars of literary and cultural disability studies have demonstrated I discuss the broader significance of my analysis within the theoretical landscape sketched in the opening section

Disability Theory and Literary Texts

Taking Disability Seriously