Paul Schallck and the PostWar German Don Quixote: A CaseHistory Prolegomenon to the Literature of the Federal Republic (Utah S

The basic premise of this work is that an indepth study of one very representative author and three almost ubiquitous literary themes can very profitably complement those books on PostWar German Literature which are given the vast breadth of the topic by necessity almost entirely encyclopaedic in format. The intent of the study then, is fourfold: to introduce the writer Paul Schallck and his major works, to isolate several of his major themes and attempt locating these diachronically, and then synchronically, shedding light in the process on several important topics in PostWar German writing: providing, as it were, a kind of casestudy introduction to German Literature since 1945. Hence the three themes that comprise Chapters 3, 4 and 5 were chosen for discussion on the basis of their importance for the novels of Paul Schallck, on the basis of their importance to previous literary movements and finally, on the basis of their frequent occurrence in and significance to other contemporary works by Grass, Bll, et al.