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Ingo Schulze's Adam und Evelyn : “Zwischen dem Nicht‐mehr und dem Noch‐nicht‐dort”
Author(s) -
Weintraut Edward J.
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.12015
Subject(s) - schulze method , ambiguity , history , humanities , art , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology
Ingo Schulze has been heralded in some circles as one of the most important authors in contemporary Germany. However, his most recent novel, Adam und Evelyn ([Schulze, Ingo, 2008]), has received little attention among literary scholars. Schulze portrays the anxiety felt by many East Germans during the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 as they weighed the advantages and disadvantages of illegally leaving the GDR. To illuminate his story, he relies on the foundational myth of the Garden of Eden while referencing authors as diverse as Wolfram von Eschenbach and Stanislaw Lem. As is the case with his earlier works, Schulze does not draw conclusions or provide interpretations; he demands of his readers a high tolerance for ambiguity and understatement as well as an active engagement with the text. This article attempts to initiate a critical discussion of this novel by exploring the themes that lie at its heart: choice, paradise, and mortality.