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The Topos of Being on the Way in selected prosaic works of Peter Henisch
KÜGEL KARKUŠOVÁ, Petra
This study in literary sciences conducts an analysis of selected prosaic works published by the Austrian author Peter Henisch. The study evokes the affirmation that the author makes use of a literary strategy in his writings which consists of four universal topics. These universal topics may be depicted as Grenzenüberschreiten (crossing borders), Generationenkonflikt (conflicts between generations), Gesellschaftskritik (criticizing society) and Interkulturalität (interculturality). The said topics are summarized by the commonplace {--} respectively topos {--} `Being on the way{\crq}, in German language expressed as Unterwegssein. Each of them plays a dominant role within the novels `Die kleine Figur meines Vaters{\crq} (1975), `Schwarzer Peter{\crq} (2000) and `Die schwangere Madonna{\crq} (2005) which are subject to text-based interpretation. The analysis is carried out in two steps. First, after having precisely defined the four universal topics, citations from the texts prove evidence of certain aspects of said topics. Second, the method of parallel comparison (Parallelstellenmethode) examines these aspects to show consistence between citations throughout the selected novels. The outcome of comparison confirms that several aspects are equally used in all of the three novels and that some aspects show up in one or two novels only, confirming the existence of universal topics as well. Thus, the chosen methodology approves the persistent use of all four topics. Finally, this prove of evidence verifies the affirmation of a literary strategy.
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