Mit dem Lada ins Nirgendwo – Elemente des Utopischen in Wolfgang Herrndorfs Tschick

Year 2015, Volume: 2 Issue: 34, 85 - 96, 01.10.2015

Philipp Ritzen

Abstract

Mit dem Lada ins Nirgendwo – Elemente des Utopischen in Wolfgang Herrndorfs Tschick

Keywords

Utopischen , Wolfgang Herrndorfs Tschick

Taking a Lada to Neverwhere – Utopian Elements in Wolfgang Herrndorf’s Tschick

Abstract

Wolfgang Herrndorf’s Tschick while enthusiastically acclaimed
by readers and critics alike has to date been slightly shunned by the literary
studies. The paper examines the novel’s distinctive utopian elements while, on
the basis of Michel Foucault’s theory of heterotopia, distinguishing between
utopia and heterotopia. The analysis shows that the two protagonists take a
road trip to various heterotopias—places between reality and fiction—where sets
of laws apply which are decidedly different from those upheld by the mainstream
society. The utopian impulses which can (only) be experienced in such odd
places will play a fundamental role in developing a mature conception of man
and an invigorated personal identity.

Keywords

Utopia , heterotopia , search for identity , travelling in literature , young-adult fiction.

References

• Valdez Damian (2014): German Philhellinism. The Pathos of the Historical Imagination form Winckelmann to Goethe, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.