“‘Staub, der einen Besuch abstattet’ – Zur Selbsterinnerung der Schrift in Ralf Rothmanns Milch und Kohle”, in: Erinnerungskrisen / Memory Crises, hg. Franz-Josef Deiters et al Freiburg i. Br./Berlin/Wien: Rombach, 2008, S. 67-84.

Modern memory theories conceptualize literature as a medium of cultural memory. Yet, the following article challenges this conceptualization, arguing that ascribing a memory function to literature undermines the de-pragmatization of literature in modernity. Through a poetological reading of Ralf Rothmann’s novel Milch und Kohle (2000) the article then investigates in which way a memory function could be ascribed to modern literature without undermining the latter’s status as a de-pragmatized system.