Out of Place: German Realism, Displacement and Modernity

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In late nineteenth-century Germany, the onset of modernity transformed how people experienced place. In response to increased industrialization and urbanization, the expansion of international capitalism, and the extension of railway and other travel networks, the sense of being connected to a specific place gave way to an unsettling sense of displacement. Out of Place analyzes the works of three major representatives of German Realism-Wilhelm Raabe, Theodor Fontane, and Gottfried Keller-within this historical context. It situates the perceived loss of place evident in their texts within the contemporary discourse of housing and urban reform, but also views such discourse through the lens of twentienth-century theories of place. Informed by both phenomenological (Heidegger and Casey) as well as Marxist (Deleuze, Guattari, and Benjamin) approaches to place, John B. Lyon highlights the struggle to address issues of place and space that reappear today in debates about environmentalism, transnationalism, globalization, and regionalism.

Reviews

Foremost among the studys many strengths is how Lyon brings together diverse theories and historical data with literary readings to establish the complexity of late realist prose works and the issues with which they are in dialogue Lyons study represents a valuable contribution to scholarship on German realism and stands to enrich conversations on space and place. * Goethe Yearbook *
Out of Place engages the recent 'spatial turn' in literary and cultural studies and brings it to bear on the subject-matter of German realist prose fiction. This is an elegantly written, well organized and cogently argued study, firmly situated in a sophisticated theoretical framework, a thorough historical ground, and insightful nuanced readings of its primary texts. It will make an original and significant contribution to the field of nineteenth-century German Studies. -- Eric Downing, Professor of German and Frank Borden and Barbara Lasater Hanes Distinguished Term Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
On the whole, the book provides excellent insight not only into the development of the phenomenon of place but also to late realism more generally. It is a strong contribution to the vein of criticism that sees in late realism a response to the realities of modernity, rather than a retreat from them. -- Katra Byram, Ohio State University * Pacific Coast Philology *
Lyons rigorous but engagingly written book makes a significant contribution to scholarship in re-assessing 19th-century German Realism as a pioneering literary movement anticipating 20th-century modernism and philosophical debates about place and space in society. -- Frederick Betz * Monatshefte *

Author Bio

John Lyon is Associate Professor in the Department of German at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He is the author of Crafting Flesh, Crafting Self: Violence and Identity in Early 19th Century German Literature (Bucknell University Press, 2006).