Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Juli Zeh has emerged as an enfant terrible of the German literary scene.As an author, public intellectual, and honorary judge at the constitutional court of Brandenburg, Zeh has publicly and repeatedly voiced opposition to governmental measures designed to mitigate the spread of the virus.Citing apparent harm to individual liberties, she has objected to mask mandates, vaccine requirements, lockdowns, and the temporary closure of schools and daycares.Also in the context of the pandemic, Zeh has authored two novels that encourage sympathy with rightwing extremists, Über Menschen (2021) and Zwischen Welten (2023, with Simon Urban).The controversies surrounding her recent public stances and literary content have paid off handsomely for Zeh.Not only did Über Menschen and Zwischen Welten occupy the top of the Spiegel bestseller list for months, but her previous novel about a healthcare dystopia, Corpus Delicti (2009), also enjoyed renewed interest.(Sarah Koellner addresses the popularity of Corpus Delicti in the context of the pandemic in her contribution to this forum.)These developments in Zeh's fiction and public persona leave many of us who have engaged with her previous work questioning our positions.What are our responsibilities when an author espouses views that are at best problematic and at worst dangerous?Should we respond, or does a response contribute to the attention Zeh is enjoying?At the same time, and given her popularity in Germany, is opting out of the conversation irresponsible?In short, what do we do with Juli Zeh?Over the last two decades, Zeh has consistently garnered both a popular and a critical reception, satisfying casual readers and scholars alike with her mix of thrilling plots, play on genre, and intellectual complexity.Having built her career and reputation at the nexus of literature, media, and the law, Zeh is a masterful writer of human conflict.Her characters antagonize one another, engaging in disputes that often serve as microcosms of larger sociological, economic, and political issues; she offers at once accessibility of writing and challenging ideas, pulp fiction and philosophical contemplation.The teenage school children in Spieltrieb (2004), for example,
Source: The German Quarterly
DOI: 10.1111/gequ.12404
Author: Necia Chronister
Institution: Kansas State University
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4388399918