Die schwierige Suche nach der Wahrheit: Das narrative Verfahren in Uwe Johnsons JAHRESTAGE und HEUTE NEUNZIG JAHR

In his essay Berliner Stadtbahn (Veraltet)(Berlin City Railway (Obsolete)) published in 1961, Uwe Johnson suggests that which scholars consider to be his poetic program. Based on the specific case of the description of a train station, the concept of a literary form is presented whose legitimacy is experienced in the blending of reality and fiction. At the same time the declaration is made that an author should refrain from presenting his literary creation as something absolute, even when this is fictitious truth: Instead he should demonstrate “the complicated search for the truth.” The title of this dissertation refers to this demand and thereby attains a double meaning: On the one hand Uwe Johnson’s poetic methods, particularly his last two novels, "Jahrestage" (Anniversaries) and "Heute Neunzig Jahr"(Ninety Today), are examined while on the other hand the question is asked what is the achievement of such a process. This work initially pursues the following questions: What is to be understood by truth and, additionally: Is it even possible to look for or find truth? To what field does the search for truth belong? To that of philosophy, history, literature or perhaps law, that study of uncovering evidence, of obtaining proof, all the way to – even when passed by the human hand - the right to infallible judgment? What do jurisprudence, historiography and literature have in common, assuming they share something? What can a literary text contribute to the re-examination of history and, conversely, what significance can a historical context have for literature? In order to answer these questions the first chapter attempts to elaborate – from a theoretical point of view – on the relationships between writing history and writing literature and their representational modes techniques and processes, as well as their intentions and aims. The second chapter provides a biographical outline of Johnson, from which his poetic program is then also outlined. The third chapter is dedicated to a detailed examination of the narrative strategies of Johnson‘s main works that are then verified in the appendix based on his final narrative project.