Kellers Novellierung der Gattung: Der Schmied seines Glückes als Schreib-Szene einer uneigentlichen Novellistik

Simon Schoch

Abstract

Keller’s Seldwyla cycle serves as a prime example of the 19th-century novella. A detailed account of its compositional complexity, however, reveals “significant ruptures, disturbing divergence, and a troublesome variety” (Aust) that continue to raise the question of genre. I argue that Seldwyla, in contrast to the “authentic novellas” of Keller’s Galatea project, designates the site of a formal inauthenticity negotiating a genre “in flux,” “yet to be determined” (Keller). In particular, my article investigates a key element of the novella, both indispensable and disputed, namely the unheard-of incident (“unerhörte Begebenheit”). For this reason, my essay focuses on Keller’s Der Schmied seines Glückes, a widely neglected part of the cycle that revolves around the scene of writing as its pivotal event. Keller’s “writing-scene” (Campe), I argue, does not only serve as framework of genre-specific self-reflection, it articulates the “Begebenheit” itself, thus situating the novella at the very edge of its genre and, hence, at the threshold of a modernist writing that “has no other law than that of affirming [ … ] its own existence” (Foucault). (SS; in German)

View Full Text

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.