Arts and Literature in Canada:Views from Abroad, Les arts et la ...

IJCS/RIÉC19. I am quoting this important statement in the German original, because its translation in AModel Childhood (“One must eventually break the silence about difficult things.” p. 178) isinadequate and obscures Christa Wolf’s reference to Wittgenstein.20. Nelly Jordan repeatedly expresses her uneasiness about the fact that the official GDR seesthe war as a consequence of western capitalist economy and ideology, thus exempting itselffrom any responsibility.21. W.R. Martin has dealt with this topic in his essay “The Strange and the Familiar in AliceMunro”. In: Studies in Canadian Literature 7, no. 2 (1982), pp. 214-26.22. See F.K. Stanzel. A Theory of Narrative, p. 212.23. Alice Munro. Who Do You Think You Are? (1978), Agincourt, Ont.: Signet 1979.24. Ulrich Broich and Ulrich Suerbaum have examined this specific form of intertextuality. (SeeUlrich Broich. “Zur Einzeltextreferenz.” In: Intertextualität. Formen, Funktionen,anglistische Fallstudien, edited by Ulrich Broich and Manfred Pfister, Tübingen: Niemeyer1985, pp. 48-52; and Ulrich Suerbaum. “Intertextualität und Gattung. Beispielreihen undHypothesen.” Ibid., pp. 58-77.) Suerbaum’s definition of this particular type ofintertextuality, “die Figuren werden fortgeschrieben”, applies to my statement, “Del Jordantraverses substantial parts of Munro’s fiction”. It should be mentioned that Christa Wolf’soeuvre contains interrelations of a similar type: the first-person narrator of Nachdenken überChrista T. (a novel that appeared in 1968) may well be seen as a forerunner of Nelly Jordan.25. Alice Munro. “The Peace of Utrecht”. In: Dance of the Happy Shades (1968),Harmondsworth: King Penguin 1987, p. 193, my emphasis.26. Alice Munro. “The Colonel’s Hash Resettled”. In: the narrative voice, edited by JohnMetcalf, Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1972, pp. 182-3.27. Ibid., p. 183, my emphasis.28. See K. Bonetti, “Interview with Alice Munro”.29. See J.R. Struthers. “The Real Material: An Interview with Alice Munro”. In: ProbableFictions: Alice Munro’s Narrative Acts, edited by Louis K. MacKendrick, Downsview,Ont.: ECW Press 1983, p. 29.30. Nelly Jordan’s daughter and husband.31. See H.R. Jauß. Literaturgeschichte als Provokation. Frankfurt 1970.32. Christa Wolf is referring to Friedrich Nietzsche’s title Ecce Homo: Wie man wird, was manist. The intertextual reference to a writer of the 19th century establishes a continuity thatreaches beyond the political implications of the novel. This textual sign seems to support aninterpretation that sees Kindheitsmuster as a parable of universal experience.84