Autobiography: Self Into Form: German-Language Autobiographical Writings of the 1970's (Forschungen zur Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte)

Product Description«The autobiographical impulse» dominated German-language literature of the 1970's, finding its expression in autobiographies of crisis, women's coming-to-consciousness, and disrupted childhoods. This study examines the historical, sociological, political and literary-historical context for this phenomenon, and in so doing engages the critical international discussion of autobiography as a changing genre. Detailed analyses of works by Ingeborg Bachmann, Elisabeth Plessen, Christa Wolf and Peter Handke suggest new critical approaches to autobiographical form. The author provides an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources, as well as a chronological table of autobiographical works of the decade.Review«Frieden's book constitutes a valuable contribution to a new poetics of the autobiographical genre. Her research is built on an impressive literature review with 130 references to autobiographical criticism of the past century. Her list of »Trends in Autobiographical Criticism« and the extensive bibliography of both primary and secondary source material make it an excellent research tool.» (Renate Delphendahl, The German Quarterly) «This overview provides a very fine introduction to the recent critical re-examination of autobiography. ... The book's second part, which presents a selective typology of autobiographical works in the 1970's, are valuable to anyone who is working in this area or seeks an introduction to it.» (Donald P. Haase, Monatshefte)