Wissen in Geschichten. Zur wechselseitigen Erhellung von Literatur,Medien und Wissenschaft

Knowledge in Stories. On the Mutual Lucidation of Literature, Media, and Science. What are science studies for? The article faces this question by arguing, 1. that they can help to improve literary criticism, and 2. that such an improved criticism allows to recognize how knowledge, whether scientific or not, is linked with history and culture respectively. Both aspects are demonstrated by some remarks on Theodor Fontane's most famous novel, Effi Briest, and its allusions to the then newly discovered microbes on the one hand as well as to mediumistic phaenomena on the other hand.     

„[…︁] mein Recht muss mir werden!“ Hermann Bahrs Tragikomödie Der Querulant (1914)

“[…︁] mein Recht muss mir werden!” Hermann Bahr’s Tragicomedy ­ Der Querulant ­ (1914). At the end of the eighteenth century, people who became notorious for their excessive engagement in legal proceedings started being labeled as “querulents” or “paranoid litigants”. The term “querulents” first appeared in the General Order of the Court for the Prussian States (Allgemeine Gerichtsordnung für die Preußischen Staaten) from July 6, 1793. From there on, the spectrum of juridical measures undertaken against the so-labeled litigators included classifying these persons as ineligible for legal action and psychiatric hospitalization. The paper discusses to what extent Hermann Bahr rearranges psychiatric and legal knowledge about this special type of the complainer in his tragicomedy Der Querulant, premiered in 1914. This concerns, first, the theatricality of the body and speech, secondly, the use of cultural techniques of writing and, thirdly, conflicting notions of justice. Therefore, the paper analyzes the aesthetic function of querulous behavior in the dramatic structure of the play from the point of view of both media theory and literary theory.