„Das Wird Man Wohl Noch Sagen Dürfen!“ Political Correctness-Diskurse in Deutschsprachiger Literatur Und Kabarett, 2010–2020

Abstract

References to “political correctness,” a term imported from the US, started to appear in German discourse of the 1990s, primarily to contest aspects of German Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The term, when invoked, is used as a fighting word. This dissertation argues, however, that some “opinions” are indeed publicly scandalized, because they either challenge democratic principles or core aspects of German identity. After 2010, a dramatic shift in the term's use took place. It became an epithet invoked in complaints that “people” could no longer openly express concerns about Islam, Muslims, and refugees. Taking this development as a point of departure, this dissertation investigates how contemporary German-language works of literature and satire have negotiated why and how specific forms of resentment have come to be framed as “incommunicable”. It scrutinizes Günter Grass’ prose poem „Was gesagt werden muss“ (What Must Be Said, 2012) and Christian Kracht’s novel Imperium (2012) and the debates regarding their alleged anti-Semitism. It also examines the pop novel Alles Lüge (All Lies) by Joachim Lottmann (2017) as well as Serdar Somuncu’s satirical shows and stand-up comedy routines (1996-2019). While Grass’ poem can be regarded as an overt display of postwar anti-Semitism disguised as a critique of Israel’s foreign policy, Kracht’s novel explores the discursive and affective nexus between Nazi anti-Semitism and German colonialism. Lottmann’s novel enacts the linguistic eccentricities spawned by Islamophobic resentments while Somuncu satirically tests the use of hate speech in reckonings with the German past. Close analyses of these texts demonstrate how debates about the communicability of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia strongly connect to more general attempts to dissociate public speech acts from the taint of National Socialism and to negotiate the question of German responsibility. Additionally, these exemplary analyses illustrate the functions that literary and satiric representation exercises within these debates. In striking albeit complex ways, these texts reveal, discuss, and subvert otherwise incommunicable forms of resentment without overtly articulating them. The readings show how texts might negotiate contexts and correlations without transgressing the boundaries of what is considered to be acceptable public speech, and why they sometimes fail to do so.