Premium
Martin Walser's Tod eines Kritikers and the Issue of Anti‐Semitism
Author(s) -
Niven Bill
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
german life and letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1468-0483
pISSN - 0016-8777
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0483.00258
Subject(s) - semitic languages , irony , interpretation (philosophy) , subject (documents) , focus (optics) , reading (process) , philosophy , literature , linguistics , history , art , arabic , computer science , physics , library science , optics
Martin Walser's latest novel Tod eines Kritikers has been the subject of intense debate in Germany, particularly prior to its publication in June 2002. For some, the novel is anti‐Semitic and signals Walser's arrival in the far right‐wing camp; for others, it is merely a largely harmless satire. The following article briefly examines the patterns of this debate, the course of which was influenced by a degree of scandalmongering. The main focus is on an analysis of Tod eines Kritikers . I explore the arguments for and against an anti‐Semitic reading, arguing that any interpretation of the text as anti‐Semitic overlooks its use of irony and distance.