The Flexible Man on the High Seas. On the novel "Global Fish" by Rainald Grebe Cover Image

Der flexible Mensch auf hoher See. Zu Rainald Grebes Roman Global Fish
The Flexible Man on the High Seas. On the novel "Global Fish" by Rainald Grebe

Author(s): Tilman Venzl
Subject(s): Social Philosophy, Novel, German Literature
Published by: Odsjek za germanistiku - Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Keywords: Rainald Grebe; "Global Fish"; financial capitalism; Richard Sennett; flexible man;

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes "Global Fish" (2006), Rainald Grebe’s only novel to date, with respect to Richard Sennett’s critique of modern financial capitalism. In his formally and thematically heterogenous sea novel, Grebe takes up Sennett’s concept of the ›flexible man‹. On the one hand, he connects it to the topic of the contemporary attitude towards life, and on the other hand he allows it to become an aesthetic principle by explication, reification and retelling of the flexibility metaphor. The novel "Global Fish", in which the sea appears as a world space of action defined by violence in the digital era, can be understood as Grebe’s seminal work with explanatory potential regarding his other creative areas.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 30
  • Page Range: 127-150
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: German