Wie wahr ist die Erinnerung? Die erinnerte Kindheit in Brünn als Voraussetzung und Grundlegung der historischen Wahrheit im Weltbild von Peter
How True Is Our Memory? The Recollections of Childhood in Brünn as the Basis of Historical Truth in Peter Härtling’s World

Summary/Abstract: With the help of literary examples the author discusses the question whether individual memories, logical constructions or historical positivism reproduce the truth of past events correctly. Guided by Robert MUSIL’s and Herbert SCHMIDT-KASPAR’s reflections of historical truth and imagined possibility, the author demonstrates how present experience and the recollection of past experience influence each other. Peter HÄRTLING’s view of history bears the mark of his early years in Mähren. A lot of his theoretical and poetical texts deal with the individual experience of historical truth. Peter HÄRTLING recognizes that the recollected truth of fiction can be closer to reality than all historical research. The example of the children’s novel Alter John shows how fictitious poetical creation can surpass the correctness of empirical reality in terms of impressive precision and emotional impact.

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