Synkretismus und Poetik der Distanz in Richard Weiners Obnova (Die Erneuerung)
Syncretism and Poetics of Distance in Richard Weiner’s “Obnova” (Renewal)

Summary/Abstract: Using the unusual perspective of a deceased person reporting from purgatory, Jewish and Christian notions are merged in Richard Weiner’s short story “Obnova” (Renewal). The Jewish mourning ritual provides the story with a plot structure and purgatory gives it a concrete setting. Despite the fundamentally religious premise of the story, the course the narrator takes can be associated with a godless modern mysticism. Distance serves as poetic strategy both in the telling of the story and the semantics of the narrative.

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