Abstracts "Peter Henisch's Schwarzer Peter: The Ongoing Search for Austrian and Self-Identity" Henisch's recent novel clearly reflects the author's continuing pre-occupation with his own self-identity and with that of his homeland. In his earlier work (for example, Die kleine Figur meines Vaters and Steins Paranoia) the author used the constellation of Jewish and Austrian relationships to frame these themes. Acknowledging and coming to terms with Austria's Nazi past and examining the meaning of the word "Jew" in its contemporary Austrian setting formed the basis of Henisch's autobiographical writings. In order to deal with analogous questions and relationships of identity in this latest novel, Henisch has supplanted the former part-Jewish outsiders, who confront their heritage by attempting to understand the generation of their fathers and their historical past, with an outsider who is the son of a Black American soldier and a white Austrian mother. Neither fully Austrian nor fully Black, the main character represents Henisch's ongoing attempt to present an "exemplary" figure in this modern-day Bildungsroman. My paper will show how this latest novel reflects a logical development in the author's work; it will trace its central themes (exploration of the self, the quest for a viable national identity, acknowledgement of the past, the search for the father) and analyze some of its basic stylistic features. abstract-liste | core | home | kunstraum.gleisdorf [45•01] |
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