Ingenious Linguistc Arabesques and Rhythmic Word Cascades: the Prose Works of Reto Hänny in Relation to Aesthetic Linguistic Trends in German-Swiss Literature
Abstract
This article characterises the most important features and assumptions of the trend towards aesthetic use of language which has been present in contemporary German-Swiss literature since the middle of the 1970s; it surveys the work of several ‘language artists’ whose highly contrived publications are a reaction on the one hand to the opacity of reality and on the other to an increasing scrutiny and distrust of language. Against this background, the article concentrates on the work of Reto Hänny as the most radical of the experimenters; his works, which are marked by extensive intertextuality, powerful imagery and rhythmic structures, are discussed in relation both to the problems they address and to the manner of their composition.
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