Title: Biographical fiction to historiographic metafiction : rewriting Clara Schumann
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2011, vol. 37, iss. 2, pp. [145]-158
Extent
[145]-158
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2011-2-11
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/118146
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
Clara Wieck Schumann was one of the leading concert pianists of the nineteenth century. Her story has been captured in several "fictionalised biographies," texts which transgress genre boundaries and renegotiate the relationship between historical fact and fiction. This essay will compare Janice Galloway's novel Clara (2002) with J. D. Landis's Longing (2000), Werner Quednau's Clara Schumann (1955), and Dieter Kühn's play Familientreffen (1988) in order to point out some of the choices the liminal status of biofiction affords the author and the effect of these choices on the portrayal of the heroine. Analyses will draw on Wolfgang Iser's reflections on the fictionalising act and Linda Hutcheon's notion of historiographic metafiction, demonstrating that writers' interest in Clara Schumann has resulted not only in widely differing portrayals of the pianist's life but also in manifestly different classes of texts.
References
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[2] Galloway, Janice (2002) Clara. London: Jonathan Cape.
[3] Galloway, Janice (2003) 'Interview' by Dörte Eliass. Janice Galloway Web Archive. 21 July 2003. <www.Galloway.1to1.org>.
[4] Hawksley, Elizabeth (2002) 'Clara'. The Historical Novels Review 21. 19.
[5] Hutcheon, Linda (1989) 'Historiographic Metafiction: Parody and the Intertextuality of History'. In: O'Donnell, Patrick, and Robert Con Davis (eds.) Intertextuality and Contemporary American Fiction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 3–32.
[6] Iser, Wolfgang (1993) The Fictive and the Imaginary: Charting Literary Anthropology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[7] Kühn, Dieter (1988) Familientreffen. SterzDruck 3. Graz: Sterz.
[8] Landis, J. D. (2000) Longing. New York: Ballantine Books.
[9] Lee, Hermione (2002) 'All Reputation'. London Review of Books. 17 October 2002. 19–20.
[10] Litzmann, Berthold (1902) Clara Schumann: Ein Künstlerleben nach Tagebüchern und Briefen. Vol. I: Mädchenjahre. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel.
[11] Nauhaus, Gerd (1987) Robert Schumann Tagebücher. Vol. II. Basel: Stroemfeld/Roter Stern.
[12] Nünning, Ansgar (1995) Von historischer Fiktion zu historiographischer Metafiktion. Vol. I. Trier: WVT.
[13] Quednau, Werner (1961 [1955]) Clara Schumann. Gütersloh: S. Mohn.
[14] Reich, Nancy (2001) Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman. 2 nd ed. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
[15] Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomit (2002) Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. 2 nd ed. London: Routledge.
[16] Stanley, Liz (1992) The Auto/Biographical I: The Theory and Practice of Feminist Auto/Biography. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
[17] White, Hayden (2001 [1978]) 'The Historical Text As Literary Artifact'. Reprinted in: Geoffrey Roberts (ed.) The History and Narrative Reader. London: Routledge. 221–236.
[2] Galloway, Janice (2002) Clara. London: Jonathan Cape.
[3] Galloway, Janice (2003) 'Interview' by Dörte Eliass. Janice Galloway Web Archive. 21 July 2003. <www.Galloway.1to1.org>.
[4] Hawksley, Elizabeth (2002) 'Clara'. The Historical Novels Review 21. 19.
[5] Hutcheon, Linda (1989) 'Historiographic Metafiction: Parody and the Intertextuality of History'. In: O'Donnell, Patrick, and Robert Con Davis (eds.) Intertextuality and Contemporary American Fiction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 3–32.
[6] Iser, Wolfgang (1993) The Fictive and the Imaginary: Charting Literary Anthropology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[7] Kühn, Dieter (1988) Familientreffen. SterzDruck 3. Graz: Sterz.
[8] Landis, J. D. (2000) Longing. New York: Ballantine Books.
[9] Lee, Hermione (2002) 'All Reputation'. London Review of Books. 17 October 2002. 19–20.
[10] Litzmann, Berthold (1902) Clara Schumann: Ein Künstlerleben nach Tagebüchern und Briefen. Vol. I: Mädchenjahre. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel.
[11] Nauhaus, Gerd (1987) Robert Schumann Tagebücher. Vol. II. Basel: Stroemfeld/Roter Stern.
[12] Nünning, Ansgar (1995) Von historischer Fiktion zu historiographischer Metafiktion. Vol. I. Trier: WVT.
[13] Quednau, Werner (1961 [1955]) Clara Schumann. Gütersloh: S. Mohn.
[14] Reich, Nancy (2001) Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman. 2 nd ed. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
[15] Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomit (2002) Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. 2 nd ed. London: Routledge.
[16] Stanley, Liz (1992) The Auto/Biographical I: The Theory and Practice of Feminist Auto/Biography. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
[17] White, Hayden (2001 [1978]) 'The Historical Text As Literary Artifact'. Reprinted in: Geoffrey Roberts (ed.) The History and Narrative Reader. London: Routledge. 221–236.