Eulenspiegel im Krieg. Der Narr und die Erzähltradition in Daniel Kehlmanns Roman Tyll.

Abstract

Daniel Kehlmann's novel Tyll (2017), which places its protagonist in the Thirty Years War, proves the astonishing topicality of pre-modern Till Eulenspiegel. The starting point of this article is the observation that in literature, rogue characters like the jester are often linked to socio-historical crises. To examine this nexus more closely, this character will be analysed at different levels: in relation to the picaresque novel, in intertextual readings of similar characters and motifs in Kehlmann's work, and in Tyll’s auto-reflexive discourse on narration. Tyll shares his status as a social outsider and his absolute will to survive with the Spanish pícaro and the German ‘Schelm’. But in contrast to those, this jester is not mocked. Rather, he himself is the one who mocks others in Kehlmann's gloomiest novel so far, personifying a threat to any social structures. His transgressive actions give rise to reflections on the normative basis of society. At the same time, Kehlmann's Tyll, whose protagonist is placed in a world full of conflict, physical violence, and socio-economic constraints, can also be read as a meta-commentary on the powers and limits of narration.