Shipwreck in the Alps

Failure as a Motif of Literary Depictions of the Alps in the 20th and 21st Centuries.

In the planned doctoral project, the central role of failure as a narrative element in the literary representation of the Alpine region from 1900 onwards will be explored. For this purpose, selected German-language texts are examined from a discourse and intellectual history perspective. The objective is twofold: firstly, to contribute to the critical reflection and deconstruction of traditional Alpine motifs. Secondly, the hypothesis posits that by examining the theme of failure, can be used to examine notions of a distinctly modern and deeply ambivalent human-nature relationship, which directly leads to the ecologically shaped human-nature dilemma of the present. As a narrative element, it enables us to reveal the disparity between idealized perceptions, particularly concerning the Alpine region, and the actual complexity of the human-nature relationship. Thus, this approach also contributes to the reflection on the contemporary challenges of the Anthropocene.