A Topos Subverted: Dislocating “Italy” in 20th and early 21st Century German Literature

Italy has played an important role in the German imagination for centuries. While the 19th century tradition is well researched, its continuation in the 20th and 21st centuries has barely been considered. By analysing six texts, this thesis finds that the topos continues to have relevance. It has, however, been revised, subverted and radicalised, to speak to new contemporary contexts and give voice to a fractious, post-war German sense of self. The analysed texts breathe a new lease of life into the literary “Italy” and add—as I have discovered—a new critical dimension to the complex of literary “self-formation” (or "Bildung").