Die dokumentarische Ästhetik in Stig Dagermans Tysk höst

Abstract

What was once regarded as a courageous piece of documentary journalism, is today a generally acclaimed testimony of human suffering and destruction in the wake of war. Tysk höst (“German Autumn”) is a series of reports, written by a young, Swedish writer after his travels in war-ridden Germany in 1946. Though the work is widely read and continues to find readers in an ever-increasing number of translations – and though it has won acclaim by several influential German writers – few German academic studies refer to it. This essay sheds light on aesthetic and conceptual aspects of Tysk höst. The analysis is preceded by a genre discussion and a clarification of the term “documentary aesthetics”. The analysis is then divided into three sections, respectively analyzing (1) the composition and the figurative language of the work, (2) the representation of characters, and (3) Dagerman’s view on the presence of allied soldiers and his discussions on moral guilt. All three sections contain a comparison of Tysk höst with Dagerman’s earlier novels. This comparison traces certain tropes and literary qualities found in Tysk höst to his earlier works. It also shows to what degree Tysk höst marks a turn in Dagerman’s literary and personal development. At the core of Dagerman’s documentation is a paradox: the will to understand something too terrible or complex to understand. By highlighting this paradox in Dagerman’s work, the essay at hand contributes to a larger discussion of documentary representation.