The German Literature of Prague and the Bohemian Countries - on the current Reorientation of Research

This article sums up and reexamines the hitherto prevalent representation of interculturality in the Bohemian lands and Prague (in its distinctiveness as a coexistence of Czechs, Germans and Jews) and the pervasive conception of both Prague German and Sudeten German literature as homogenous entities that was, in part, derived from it. While the German-speaking authors of Prague were all declared humanists at the second Liblice conference ("Weltfreunde: Konferenz uber die Prager deutsche Literatur / Friends of the World: Conference on Prague German Literature", 1965), the Sudeten German authors were, without exception, condemned as nationalists, chauvinists, even pre-fascists. Ultimately, these attributions can be traced back to the fundamental ideological attitude of the Marxists gathered in Liblice, who believed that they could only engage with 'Prague German literature' under these conditions. This conception spread and became widely accepted by scholars of German Studies, without any subsequent revision, even after 1989. Based on recent research findings, this article aims to correct this simplistic notion of Prague German literature and of German literature in the Bohemian lands in general, arguing instead for an understanding less reliant on clear demarcations, but of greater complexity due to its attention to detail. Consequently, this necessitates a transcultural and transregional re-evaluation of German literature in the Bohemian lands, in order to locate it anew within the complex field of confluence between the sphere of action and the area of tension at play between German, Jewish, Czech, Habsburg literature and culture.