Minor, Mainstream or Situational? Eva Menasse’s 'Tiere Für Fortgeschrittene'

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between minor, mainstream and situational positionality in the work of Eva Menasse. Menasse can be categorized as a second-generation Jewish writer, an Austrian writer and a woman writer, and this theme of multiple affiliations or situational positionality lies at the heart of her novels and short stories. The paper will focus on her short story collection 'Tiere für Fortgeschrittene' (2017) to explore the way in which her writing challenges received narratives to move beyond binary and linear concepts of ‘Austrian’ and ‘Jewish’ identity, and indeed of the ‘minor’, towards a more multi-facetted and mobile concept of situational positionality. Tweetable Abstract: Anita Bunyan explores the relationship between minor, mainstream and the more multifaceted and mobile concept of situational ‘Austrian’ and ‘Jewish’ positionality in Eva Menasse’s 'Tiere fuer Fortgeschrittene'.