Premium
A Renewed Look at Christa Wolf's “Neue Lebensansichten eines Katers”: Authority, Parody, and Readers as Scientists
Author(s) -
Martz Brett
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the german quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.11
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1756-1183
pISSN - 0016-8831
DOI - 10.1111/gequ.12012
Subject(s) - rhetorical question , criticism , intrusion , object (grammar) , order (exchange) , literature , sociology , art , aesthetics , philosophy , linguistics , geochemistry , finance , economics , geology
Through a close analysis of rhetorical strategies, specifically the parodistic arrangement of satire, in Christa Wolf's “Neue Lebensansichten eines Katers,” this article posits discursive authority as the primary object of the story's criticism. The story's composition and its careful avoidance of authorial intrusion encourage readers to challenge the exaggerated scientific discourse that the main figures in the story not only parrot but also take advantage of in order to advance their own agendas. By allowing readers to come to their own conclusions, Wolf's text avoids actualizing the authority that compromises the science‐in‐making on display. This authority assumes patriarchal underpinnings and, therefore, opens itself to feminist critiques of science, which, though normally reserved for Wolf's other short story about scientific experiments, “Selbstversuch,” are equally applicable to “Neue Lebensansichten eines Katers.”