Kulturgrenzen – Grenzkulturen im fiktionalen Raum: Ernst Wicherts Littauische Geschichten

Abstract

This article uses analysis methods for the interpretation of Ernst Wicherts (1831–1902) Littauische Geschichten 1881 which have been developed in connection with the spatial turn. The overarching question for such an interpretation is about how communication produces space and how space produces communication. The tales by Wichert are particularly suitable for such an analysis because the author shows the interaction of two cultures—the German and the Lithuanian in the border area of Prussian-Lithuania at the end of the 19^th century. The detailed analysis of the narrative space draws a picture of separate spheres which are separated by ethnic-cultural, social, language boundaries and such of Prussian law. Of course, Littauische Geschichten is also shaped by the period of its genesis. Ernst Wichert writes in the context of positions characteristic of nationalism in the 19^th century; but—with the exception of Hermann Sudermann—no other German author has depicted the situation of the Lithuanians with such insight. (RH; in German)