Krisenerzählungen (Narratives of Crisis)
Double panel ‘Krisenerzählungen der Gegenwart (Contemporary Crisis Narratives)’ with Prof. Dr. Chiara Conterno (University of Bologna) at the 3rd ZRKG Conference ‘Structural Change in the Public Sphere. Crisis Discourses in the Tension between Openness and Defence’ 1 to 3 June 2026 in Eichstätt
The omnipresent crisis scenarios of the 21st century are reflected in numerous literary narratives that deal with them. Since the turn of the millennium, Ansgar Nünning notes, there has been a ‘remarkable proliferation of new crises, crisis narratives and crisis scenarios in contemporary media culture’ (2020, 241). On the other hand, non-literary crisis narratives also follow patterns that are influenced by literature.
The metaphor of crisis originally comes from medicine, which is why crises are told as medical histories. Certain roles – such as experts or laypeople – and patterns of progression – such as worsening until death or improvement until recovery – are invoked. Crisis discourses provide a diagnosis and explanations for an event, as well as corresponding affective connotations. The latter are mostly negative: fear, worry, uncertainty and unrest always resonate in crisis narratives. The crisis can become a moment of standstill, haunted by the past and seemingly without a future (Kreuzmair 2018, 167). However, in contrast to a catastrophe, a crisis always holds the possibility of opportunity. In a positive sense, crisis narratives contribute to the creation of meaning. They function as a ‘medium for interpreting the past and generating visions of the future’ (Nünning 2020, 259).
However, it must also be critically considered that the concept of crisis used to describe an event is never neutral, but normative: an event is interpreted as a crisis, as Janet Roitman (2014) has pointed out. The concept of crisis naturalises the man-made and simplifies past processes, sometimes systematically obscuring political and economic aspects through visual logic.
Literature thematises, stages and problematises prevailing crisis models. It often does so on the basis of individual figurative fates, which, however, imply a collective character in order to offer opportunities for connection and identification, as Rebecca Kaewert has shown (2021, 44). In addition, through its aesthetic potential and the performative power of storytelling, literature can shape crisis scenarios and knowledge about crisis management. It functions as a laboratory for future scenarios by helping to broaden the horizon of the conceivable and the possibilities for action. Literary crisis scenarios promote the development of new possibilities and ideas as well as key affective and cognitive skills such as empathy and perspective-taking, which are important for crisis management.
The panel deals with narrative forms, metaphorical implications and functions of crisis narratives in the present – with occasional literary-historical retrospectives. It asks what patterns of interpretation they provide, what models of time they design and what emotional reactions they aim for. What past or current political decisions do they legitimise? What possibilities for a crisis-proof future do they open up? Using selected literary texts from contemporary literature, such as Lucy Fricke's Takeshis Haut (2014), Jonas Lüscher's Kraft (2017), Sibylle Berg's GRM (2019), Juli Zeh's Über Menschen (2021), Esther Kinsky's Rombo (2022) and Thomas Hettche's Sinkende Sterne (2023), and literary and anthropological crisis theories by Ansgar and Vera Nünning, Rebecca Kaewert and Janet Roitman, the panel will explore the assumptions and possibilities of crisis discourses.
With contributions from:
- Prof. Dr. Chiara Conterno (ZRKG) (University of Bologna): ‘Lebens- und Umweltkrise in Sinkende Sterne(2023) von Thomas Hettche’
- Veronika Born (ZRKG) (KU Eichstätt): ‘Erschütterungen: Die Erdbeben-Romane Takeshis Haut(2014) von Lucy Fricke und Rombo (2022) von Esther Kinsky'
- Hannah Berger (KU Eichstätt): ‘Dystopische Fiktionen in Literatur und Film als Krisenerzählungen der Gegenwart’
- Prof. Dr. Helen Finch (University of Leeds): ‘Queeres Gedächtnis, Widerstand und Solidarität in der Gegenwartsliteratur’
- Dr. Elias Kreuzmair (University of Siegen): Die Zukunft der Gegenwart II
- Prof. Dr. Stephanie Catani (University of Würzburg): 'Künstliche Intelligenz als Krisenerzählung der Gegenwart'
- Prof. Dr. Arianna Di Bella (University of Palermo): Topic still to be confirmed
- Prof. Dr. Serena Grazzini (University of Pisa): ‘Trotzdem schreiben: zeitgenössische Autor:innen vor der aktuellen Krise im Nahen Osten’
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