From the Cradle to the Grave

Life-Course Models in Literary Genres. Edited by Sabine Coelsch-Foisner and Sarah Herbe.

Representations of the human life cycle in literature have varied with time, social conditions and value systems and may be seen as projections of, or deviations from, an 'ideal life'. The cult of childhood, the focus on initiation or conversely aging, life extension and immortality are indicative of what has been valued about life and how life-course models have been shaped according to these ideals. Focusing on how individual literary genres, such as the Bildungsroman, the gothic, science fiction and travel literature deal with the human life cycle, the 20 papers collected in this volume address the following questions: How is life patterned in literature? What mode of narration, perspective or structure is required for the presentation of a particular life course? How do particular life-course models impose certain features onto narratives, and in what way do narrative genres influence our perception of real phenomena? This book sheds light on the poetics of the human life course in different periods and cultural contexts. Contributions by Klaus Richter, Glyn Pursglove, Julia Novak, D. M. de Silva, Andrea Oberndorfer, Joanna Rostek, Markus Oppolzer, Ellen Grünkemeier, David Malcolm, Martin Löschnigg, Gerd Stratmann, Ingrid von Rosenberg, Aparajita Nanda, Milada Franková, Christopher Smith, Stephan Karschay, Sabine Coelsch-Foisner, Beata Piatek, Sarah Herbe, and Christopher Herzog. XVII,244 Seiten, gebunden (Wissenschaft und Kunst; Vol. 15/Universitätsverlag Winter 2011)