ORCID
0009-0007-2470-3391
Date of Award
5-8-2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
The academic part of this hybrid dissertation investigates three “neuro novels,” Die Häuser der anderen (Other People’s Houses 2012) by Silke Scheuermann, Ruhm. Ein Roman in neun Geschichten (“Fame. A Novel in Nine Episodes,” 2009) by Daniel Kehlmann, and Cloud Atlas (2004) by David Mitchell. Novels of this genre are marked by a structure that combines elements of both novels and story collections: they all consist of individual, autonomous narratives (in the form of chapters or stories) that are more or less clearly distinct from one another but are connected through the novels’ architecture, the locales, elements of time and sequence, as well as characters, resembling a neuronal network. In vertebrates, including humans, the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) consists of neuronal (or neural) networks, which are webs of interconnected neurons (nerve cells) that are organized in neural circuits and connected by synnapses. Even though neuro novels build upon a long tradition of interconnected literature—from the medieval or early-modern frame narrative to the nineteenth century’s novella cycles and the family or mosaic novels of the twentieth century and the present—the genre of neuro literature in its current shape as analyzed in this dissertation is a direct product of the age of digital globalization, fuelled primarily by the rise of the internet. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that these novels are not only structured in a highly interconnected way, but also deal with appropriate content: the topic of international travel at maximum speed is found just as often as global, digital telecommunication (or its failure). This dissertation examines the genre of neuro literature, developing a working definition of it and establishing its characteristic elements. To this end it calls upon Martina Löw’s work The Sociology of Space which understands spatial structures to be “a relational arrangement of social goods and living beings in places,” (178) living beings meaning humans and animals and social goods meaning objects like furniture or traffic signs. This theory understands both living beings and social goods as equivalent building blocks of space which can be combined as one element. On the basis of this theory, the dissertation identifies and analyzes the main spatial and social ensembles in Häuser, Ruhm, and Cloud Atlas, focusing in particular on their constitution, development over the course of the plot, and, most importantly, their relevance for the interconnection of the respective stories and chapters. The very nature of the neuro-novel is the interconnectivity of its parts, and this connectivity rests predominantly on characters, space, and the social and spatial arrangements that link the chapters together. This analysis, furthermore, uncovers the political dimension of these three novels. Thanks to their particular structure, they do not need the hierarchy that is a part of “conventional” novels—be it the subordination of side characters under protagonists or a structural subortination of embedded narratives under frame narratives. This non-hierarchical structure allows for a wider spectrum of main characters than a “linear” novel can and lends itself particularly well to the inclusion of post-colonial and social-critical themes. Finally, this hybrid dissertation comprises a creative component in the form of my neuro novel, Malzwolff. This novel follows a similar pattern, and its structure resembles the three novels analyzed in the academic part of the dissertation: five different stories are connected to form one larger work of fiction. They are all set in Erfurt, the state capital of the free state of Thuringia in Central Germany. Marvin, Iris, and their daughter Jessica are living in their one-family home on the Ringelberg, a small hill on the outskirts of Erfurt. Marvin is a construction engineer who transforms vacant properties into expensive condos and secretly dreams of a nightlife as a womanizer. Jessica, the queen bee of ninth grade, perceives her best friend‘s growing involvement with the worst nerd in the entire school as a threat to her position of power. And Iris has actually decided to come to terms with her life as a housewife and mother, but when the squatter Hermann unexpectedly invades her little world, she has to rekindle old contacts. Hermann, in turn, spends his time breaking into random families’ homes and crafting detailed models of their houses. They all have their own stories in this novel, which are interconnected by a multitude of threads, threads that initially interweave Marvin’s colleague, Seiffert; Iris’s childhood boyfriend, Frank; Jessi’s best friend, Jule; and Hermann’s friend and confidant, Jonas. But soon these threads will entangle even their friends and relatives, before ultimately converging back on this little family. Their paths take them from the outskirts of the city to the center, from the eastern suburbs to the “egapark” in the west, but always lead back to the Ringelberg. They are all connected by the “city-space” of Erfurt, with its abandoned malt factories, decaying slaughterhouses, and smoky bookstore back rooms. The novel Malzwolff tells a story of the desperate search for home. On their quest, Marvin, Iris, Jessica, and Hermann are not deterred even by drug excess, corrupt business, and criminal hobbies. In the end, however, none of them find a home, neither in abandoned buildings nor with each other.
Language
English (en)
Chair and Committee
Lynne Tatlock
Recommended Citation
Feldmann, Tobias, "Narrative Networks—Network Narratives: The Function of Space, Characters, and Sequence In Neuro-Novels Published between 1990 and 2010" (2024). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3020.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/3020