In comparison with others texts, for which the Weimar Republic provides the historical setting, Volker Kutscher’s historical crime novels stand out, inasmuch as the single novels with their respective criminal cases add up to a series that falls into line with an overarching reading, historiography’s narrative of ‘crisis’ and decline. At the same time, Kutscher seeks to portray the past through the eyes of its contemporaries as an yet undecided situation. This design leads to a remarkable tension between the readers’ knowing hindsight and the simulated lack of knowledge which the characters exhibit. On the one hand, it can be shown that the texts make sure that the historiographical meta-narrative is constantly kept in mind by referring to crucial historical milestones. On the other hand, they demonstrate how the protagonist’s experiences of critical denormalisation are detoured into the unbroken hope for normality, stability, and continuity.
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September 2006 · Estudios Filologicos
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May 2007 · Scrutiny2
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October 2014
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