Biografie in frantumi: agnizione traumatica e uxoricidio in “Schizzo di un infortunato” (1981) di Uwe Johnson e in “Barbablù ”(1982) di Max Frisch

Abstract

Dedicated to the ‘biographer Frisch,’ Johnson’s Skizze eines Verunglückten (Sketch of an Accident Victim) presents itself as both a tribute to the Swiss writer and a peculiar literary rewriting of the founding themes of his work, foremost among them identity trauma and the search for truth. Through an original comparison of Johnson’s text with Frisch’s story Blaubart (Bluebeard) – characterized by a fragmentary writing that mirrors a shattered life – this essay explores one of the main poetic issues in post-World War ii German-language literature: the (un)reliability of language and memory, as well as the role of literature in the search for truth in a world that has experienced the traumatic destruction of all ontological and moral certainty.