Walter Abish, born on December 24, 1931, emigrated from Vienna shortly after Austria was annexed to Hitler Germany in March 1938. Later in life, developed a deep interest in authors of experimental literature. Drawn to the functions of semiotic systems, he followed strategies of narrative openness and verbal defamiliarization in his own writing. His innovative literary work made him a leading representative of American postmodernist writing.
Table of Contents
1. Verbal defamiliarizationist Walter Abish
2. Early life and emigration
3. Influence of American postmodernism
4. Milestone and experimental works
5. Literary awards and academic career
6. Holocaust novel and international recognition
7. Modern forms of representation
8. Autobiography and late career
Objectives and Themes
This work provides a comprehensive overview of the life and literary development of the Austrian-born American author Walter Abish, examining how his experiences of displacement and exile shaped his postmodern writing style and narrative techniques.
- The impact of Jewish emigration and cultural displacement on Abish's identity.
- The evolution of Abish's engagement with American postmodernism and semiotic systems.
- Analysis of experimental literary techniques in works like Alphabetical Africa.
- The connection between historical memory and personal trauma in the novel How German is it.
- The role of meta-fiction and verbal defamiliarization in re-examining the world.
Excerpt from the Book
Verbal defamiliarizationist Walter Abish
While playing with several boys in Loquaipark, I recall, one of them asked: “Bist du narrisch?” When I inquired at home, my parents were amused at my having confused arisch with närrisch. The incident hardly registered until a few weeks later, when several grim-faced SA enforcers, driven by self-righteous anger, invaded the tiny enclave, screaming, “Juden raus!”. In panic, my grandmother and I along with several other women and children raced for the nearest exit, while everyone else stopped in their tracks to watch our precipitous getaway. (Double Vision, 25)
In retrospect, the American writer Walter Abish describes this harassing experience as a drastic turning point in his eventful life. Before the Nazi invasion in March 1938, the then seven-year-old boy lived a carefree childhood in Vienna. But the massive anti-Semitic riots that followed Austria's annexation by Hitler's Germany prompted the family to leave the country shortly after. In Double Vision: A Self-Portrait, the episode in the park indicates the moment when the world heretofore known to Abish became unfamiliar.
Summary of Chapters
Verbal defamiliarizationist Walter Abish: An introduction to the author's background as an Austrian emigrant who became a pivotal figure in postmodern literature.
Early life and emigration: Details the childhood of Abish in Vienna and the family's flight from Nazi persecution to Shanghai and eventually Israel.
Influence of American postmodernism: Discusses his integration into the New York literary scene and the development of his signature postmodern themes.
Milestone and experimental works: Examines the creation of texts like Alphabetical Africa and the influence of leipogrammatic design on his narrative structure.
Literary awards and academic career: Highlights the various grants and teaching positions that defined his professional advancement.
Holocaust novel and international recognition: Explores the thematic complexity of the novel How German is it regarding post-war German society and collective memory.
Modern forms of representation: Covers his later works in the 1990s, including the experimental collection 99: The New Meaning and the novel Eclipse Fever.
Autobiography and late career: Analyzes the dual-narrative structure of his autobiography Double Vision and his final contributions to literature.
Keywords
Walter Abish, American Postmodernism, Verbal Defamiliarization, Holocaust Literature, Jewish Emigration, Alphabetical Africa, Double Vision, How German is it, Meta-fiction, Narrative Openness, Semiotic Systems, Exile, Literary Innovation, Autobiography.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this work?
The work provides a biographical and literary analysis of Walter Abish, mapping his transition from an Austrian refugee to a leading voice in American postmodern literature.
What are the central themes covered?
The central themes include cultural displacement, the construction of narrative through semiotic systems, the processing of traumatic historical memory, and the evolution of experimental writing techniques.
What is the main research objective?
The objective is to demonstrate how Abish's unique history as an emigrant directly influenced his development of "verbal defamiliarization" and experimental postmodern structures.
Which scientific/analytical method is employed?
The text employs a literary biographical approach, combining historical contextualization with thematic analysis of his major works.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It covers his life phases, from childhood in Vienna to his experiences in China and his professional literary career in the United States, followed by analyses of his most significant novels.
Which keywords categorize this work best?
Key terms include American Postmodernism, Verbal Defamiliarization, Meta-fiction, and Holocaust Literature.
How does Abish’s background influence his experimental style?
His experience moving between cultures—Vienna, Shanghai, Israel, and the USA—fostered a perspective that constantly seeks to make the familiar strange, leading to his signature style of verbal defamiliarization.
What significance does the novel "Alphabetical Africa" hold?
It acts as a milestone of his experimental period, demonstrating how constrained writing (leipogrammatic design) can be used to study how language structures define mental images.
What is the core conflict in "How German is it"?
The novel explores the tension between West Germans' obliviousness to their recent past and the horrifying historical reality of their country, symbolized by the discovery of a mass grave.
- Quote paper
- Bernhard Wenzl (Author), 2022, Verbal defamiliarizationist Walter Abish, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1341539