GENRE TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE LITERATURE OF TURN AND TRANSITION PERIODS (GERMAN LITERATURE OF THE LATE XXTH — EARLY XXIST C-S.)

Abstract

The article suggests that the modern German literature at the turn of XX th and XXI st centuries should be viewed as the literature of transitional type. The object the present research focuses on is the literature genre system in 1990s — 2000s, in particular the «Wenderoman», the «Pop-Roman» and the «Generationenroman». The research pursues the aim to reveal, and to comment on, peculiar features found in literary genre transfor- mations of the latest decades. Several factors provided the basis for studying the newest German literature in the context of transition: 1) cardinal political, socio-economic and conceptual transformations brought about by the 1989–1990 Wende events; 2) the fluc-tuating character of modern literature; 3) vector diversity in artistic and aesthetic search- es, swift replacement of styles and the dialogue among different generations of writers. In the course of researching the following conclusions have been made. All genres manifest different attitudes to history. Both the «Wenderoman» and the «Generationenroman» ad-dress the past and give it new interpretation from a modern point of view, whereas the «Pop-Roman» demonstrates complete absence of interest in German history. An attempt to determine the genres makes it clear that in one case there prevail the criteria of the subject and problems content (the «Wenderoman» and the «Generationenroman»), and in the other, the criteria of formal stylistics («Pop-Roman»). Besides, one observes vagueness of genre definitions and a tendency to broaden interpretation of the notions. The Transition period genres demonstrate that they are explicit and open for interaction with other genres and forms of art. Some more features of the turn-of-the-centuries genres are that they are sensitive to demand, that they develop something like popular brands and are orientated at meeting readers’ expectations.