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'Catastrophe Sociology' and the Metaphors We Live by: On Kathrin Röggla’s 'wir schlafen nicht’

Schaffner, Anna Katharina (2017) 'Catastrophe Sociology' and the Metaphors We Live by: On Kathrin Röggla’s 'wir schlafen nicht’. Modern Language Review, 112 (1). pp. 205-222. ISSN 0026-7937. E-ISSN 2222-4319. (doi:10.5699/modelangrevi.112.1.0205) (Access to this publication is currently restricted. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:59467)

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Abstract

Kathrin Röggla’s novel wir schlafen nicht (2004) presents a devastating critique of the ways in which the neoliberal conception of work wreaks havoc with the lives, minds, and bodies of the individual. Röggla masterfully shows the pervasive power of language – in particular, of metaphor – in shaping experience. Although aestheticized on numerous levels, wir schlafen nicht is based on interviews with management consultants. Yet it is equally shaped by sociological and critical theory. This essay explores the manner in which the documentary-journalistic and the critical-theoretical impulses in Röggla’s work converge, by focusing on the mediating function of the interviewer/narrator figure and Röggla’s use of the subjunctive.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.5699/modelangrevi.112.1.0205
Uncontrolled keywords: burnout, contemporary Austrian literature, sleep, exhaustion, neoliberalism, flexibilization, privatization, alienation, work, experimental literature.
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
P Language and Literature > PD Germanic philology and languages
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Anna Schaffner
Date Deposited: 06 Dec 2016 12:42 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 17:53 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/59467 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Schaffner, Anna Katharina.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7097-2145
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