The reception of Oswald Spengler in German literary-intellectual discourse after 1989.

The objective of this research project is a rhetorical and interdiscursive analysis of the reception of the German philosopher of culture Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) in German intellectual and literary discourse after the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989. Firstly, it will be examined how the critical "rehabilitation" of this forgotten author fits in with the renaissance of so-called conservative revolutionary discourses after 1989. Subsequently, I will analyse in four case studies how contested authors such as Reinhard Jirgl, Botho Strauss, Rolf Hochhuth and Peter Sloterdijk reactivate and adapt Spenglerian tropes and figures, both in their essayistic and their literary work. The central research question that will guide these case studies is: to what extent do these intertextual references not so much function as a symptom of unambiguous ideological positioning, but rather as a strategy to disturb right/left antagonisms? Rhetorical in-depth analyses will not only refine the debates on the contested authors, but also adjust existing Spengler research, which often confines itself to general, clichéd or evaluative considerations. On the basis of the reassessment of Spengler's 'literariness' in contemporary literature, this project aims at modifying the prevailing image of Spengler by detecting tensions, incongruities and literary strategies in his seemingly apodictic works.

Keywords:Oswald Spengler, Intertextuality, Reception, The (meta-)scandalous, Neoconservatism, Conservative Revolution, Contemporary German literature

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies