Jonas Lüschers Novelle Frühling der Barbaren – Eine Parodie des westlichen Orientalismus?

Abstract

Jonas Lüscher’s 2013 debut novella titled Barbarian Spring shows how a group of once civilized, well-off people mutate into barbarians after the financial system in their homeland collapses and they suddenly all become jobless and destitute, clearly calling into question the present capitalist financial system. The action is set at a luxury resort in the Tunisian desert. This setting incidentally presents the reader with an Oriental world in which the colonial conditions of luxury tourism appear to be ironized. Used as a leitmotif, the camel fulfils important functions in this web of meanings and leads to the question of how the text, which obviously contains references to the Orient and consequently to Orientalism, relates to the common Orientalist discourse. In this way, this study deciphers the position Lüscher’s novella has in the ongoing discourse on the Arab Orient. In this context, the use of Edwards Said’s analyses of Western Oriental imaginaries, the precise interpretation of the camel’s leitmotif, and the interwoven barbarian overview appear obligatory. Thus, the following study demonstrates how Lüscher’s novella, is characterized by a special position in the Orientalist discourse in comparison to earlier Western conceptions of the Orient, as well as how it tempts the reader to rethink the traditional stereotypical perception patterns of the West. In this respect, the work also gains special significance with regard to the current intercultural dialogue.