Narrating "Precariousness"

Modes, Media, Ethics. Edited by Barbara Korte and Frédéric Regard.

Lives in precarious conditions are on the edge and out of balance. They call for recognition and reaction, but they also cause discomfort for those who regard them. This collection of articles focuses on how such lives can - or cannot - be represented, especially in narrative modes. Since Judith Butler's seminal study "Precarious Life", the term 'precariousness' has proliferated in scholarly debate, with various shades of meaning. The ten contributions to this volume aim to clarify the concept of precariousness as well as related notions, and to explore their significance in various areas of human suffering. The second aim is to analyse the different ways in which precariousness intersects with issues of narrative representation in a wide range of media and genres. - Contents: Lena Steveker: Precarious Selves in Contemporary British War Novels. - Barbara Kowalczuk: The Texture of Devastation. Philip Jones Griffiths's Vietnam Trilogy. - Rudolph Glitz: Facing the Feral Child. Precarious Futures in Three Popular Science-Fiction Narratives. - Stephanie Hoppeler/Gabriele Rippl: Narrating Radioactivity. Representations of Nuclear Disasters and Precarious Lives in Comic Books and Graphic Novels. - Ellen Dengel-Janic: The Precariousness of Postcolonial Geographies. Amitav Ghosh's "The Shadow Lines" and "The Hungry Tide". - Stephan Laqué: Cynicism and the Fringes of the Human. Mike Leigh's "Naked". - Jagna Oltarzewska: Hearing Eminem. - Marc Amfreville: Vulnerability, Literature and Ethics in Sapphire's "Push". - Hélène Aji: A Survival Kit. The Poetics of Precariousness in Lyn Hejinian's "Happily". - Elisabeth Angel-Perez: »I am the place of my wound«. Precarious Lives on the Contemporary English Stage. 138 Seiten, gebunden (Anglistische Forschungen; Vol. 437/Universitätsverlag Winter 2014)