Die Geburt der Popliteratur aus dem Geiste ihrer Debatte

The study analyses the pop literature of the 1990s – a much-discussed subject in cultural and media studies – taking into account the previous research: The work consistently assumes that pop literature originally is the result of a publicly negotiated, aesthetic-political reception pattern, which itself is a result of the normalization-discourse after German reunification. It shows how feuilleton – under consideration of the reformed national self-image – brings forth the idea of a new, coherent literary era appearance after 1989/90 in the literary field, on which then the scientific reception builds up on, when it analyses the era of pop literature as a literary phenomenon. In feuilleton and literature the relevant discourse participants are systematically questioned in terms of their contribution to the construction of a 'new spirit'. Furthermore the patterns of interpretation and discussion are analysed, which elate the end of critical solicitousness with the social conditions to the central content of the prevailing zeitgeist and the pop literature of the 1990s to the literary appeal of precisely this zeitgeist.