Sensitivity Reading: Now the German-language post-war literature is also suspected of racism

There was a great deal of excitement when the novels by British children’s book author Roald Dahl and shortly thereafter by Ian Fleming, the inventor of James Bond, who also came from Great Britain, were subjected to a “sensitivity reading” by their publishers and changed accordingly in new editions. In other words, to put it positively: there was a contemporary adaptation with regard to racist, misogynistic or homophobic language. But it could also mean, if you don’t agree with it at all: censorship of works of art.

Now this debate about “Sensitivity Reading” has been going on for some time, it was about subsequent changes in books by Otfried Preussler or Astrid Lindgren, about Karl May cover versions for children that were withdrawn from the market. Except that all of this was largely in the realm of children’s and youth books or genre literature, as in the case of Fleming.

What about Uwe Johnson’s “Anniversaries”?

The controversy over Wolfgang Koeppen’s novel “Pigeons in the Grass” opens up a new dimension. In fact, right at the beginning you come across the “N-word”. Koeppen’s novel is unlikely to be the only one that is now being examined more closely and possibly accused of using discriminatory language. For example, Uwe Johnson’s “Anniversaries”: They are located in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and New York City, the first volume appeared in 1970.

Here, too, the defamatory term for blacks is already on the first page, and so it goes on. It’s just that with Johnson it’s like with Koeppen, beyond the historical context of the time: the awareness of the problem of racism is felt every time, blacks and Jews are often mentioned in the same breath.

And what about Böll or Bachmann, less well-known authors like Dieter Forte or Hans Erich Nossack, in translations like Proust’s “Recherche”, which also contains the “N-word”? Those who seek will find – and may feel hurt. One does not have to be a prophet to see that the debate will continue to spread. The alleged discrimination is one thing, the literary work in the context of its creation and with its message is another. But rewriting post-war literature, for example, cannot be the solution.

Gerrit Bartels is a literary editor and read Wolfgang Koeppen’s novel “Das Treibhaus” with enthusiasm.

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Source: Tagesspiegel

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