Schreiben im Versuch, „Schönheit“ und „Glück herzustellen“: Die Sehnsucht als zentrales Motiv des Erzählens von Urs Widmer
Writing as an attempt to ‘create beauty’ and ‘happiness’. Longing as a Central Theme in the Narratives of Urs Widmer

Summary/Abstract: The work of Urs Widmer creates in the most diverse variations Utopias devoid of illusions – the contrast between reality and yearning for a better and brighter world, between poetic vision and social reality are his constant themes. The title of his programmatic essay Das Normale und die Sehnsucht (1972) [Normality and Longing] testifies to the fact that longing is the constituent element of his narratives. In this essay, the writer discusses in the form of questions what his main preoccupations are and what he was actually attempting to achieve with his tales. Accordingly, this article considers the central questions posed in the essay and demonstrates in selected works of the Swiss author – especially in the story Liebesbrief für Mary (1993) [Love-letter for Mary] – to what extent and in what form literature can be considered as an expression of yearnings.

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