Die moderne Subjektivität als ein Fragmentenmosaik. Festschrift für Bernhard-Arnold Kruse

Abstract

This volume brings together essays celebrating the career and scholarly achievements of Bernhard-Arnold Kruse. As a Full Professor of German Literature at the University of Naples Federico II, he has been able to act as a cultural and scientific bridge between the German and Italian spheres through his research and personal experience, a feat that only a few others have achieved. The core of Kruse's scientific interests lies in the relationship between subjectivity and literature in their historical and social dimensions. His early studies of the Jahrhundertwende period, particularly those concerning Friedrich Nietzsche and Rainer Maria Rilke, fall within this main area of interest, where modern subjectivity is expressed as an apparently disorganised Fragmentenmosaik, a mosaic of fragments.

Throughout his scientific career, Kruse has broadened this research perspective to encompass other periods and literary contexts, ranging from 20th-century literature (particularly the works of Erich Maria Remarque and Thomas Bernhard) to the postmodern novel. He has also delved into the history of German literature of the 18th century, studying the aesthetics and plays of Friedrich Schiller in particular. Over the last two decades, his research into the dimensions of subjectivity has intersected with the relationship between literature and nationalism, particularly in the novels of Joseph Zoderer; he has in this way emphasised the contribution of literature to the construction and perception of concepts such as Nation and Heimat.