Abstract

NUSSBAUM, Martha. A Novel in Wich Nothing Happens: Fontane’s Der Stechlin and Literary Friendship. arete [online]. 2009, vol.21, n.2, pp.411-446. ISSN 1016-913X.

The aim of this paper is to show the crucial importance of conversation in Fontane’s work Der Stechlin. In opposition to the traditional development of literary plot which focuses on the dramatic aspects of conflicts (complication and outcome, tension and surprise, romantic conflict, etc.), we don’t find any of this in this novel and therefore, it seems, nothing has happened. However, this initial judgment is discredited in as much as, sharing the conversations that the Der Stechlin characters undertake, we slowly enter their personal world and become their "friends". This leads to a critical revision of our ordinary literary experiences: is that a way to treat a person? The paper claims that what concerns Fontane is the weight of social narratives over friendly imagination, and thus Fontane demands us to see these "friends" (characters) without using certain types of socially transmitted narratives. Reading Der Stechlin invites, thus, not to generalize people in a rush, not to understand them from the basis of certain socially established scripts or myths.

Keywords : conversation; literary experience; life plot; person; social script.

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