Die Gegenwärtigkeit des Picaros am Beispiel von Thomas Brussigs Wie es leuchtet

Abstract

This study addresses the configuration and functions of the picaresque figure in the Novel Wie es leuchtet (2004) by Thomas Brussig. This opus magnum depicts its social and choral heterogeneity, using one element to make the numerous pieces of this social portrait adhere together: the swindling, adolescent picaro Werner Schniedel. This study will first investigate aspects of the picaresque that maintain their appeal in the contemporary world and modifications which seek to modernize it; and secondly, the personal liminality of the rogue himself, a border figure, caught in an in-between space (East and West) and at a time of transition (the GDR [German Democratic Republic] and the German reunification following the fall of the Wall) in a world of change. As it is known, the picaro, in his dialectic relationship with society, unveils its hidden workings and the forms of normalization that it adopts, leaving room to question which aspects of the picaresque model correspond to a society in transition, whose system, whose definition of normalcy, and whose values are shifting.

Keywords

• rogue
• trickster
• Wie es leuchtet
• Brussig
• Schniedel (Werner)
• liminality