FROM NUDE DRAWINGS TO EMPTY SWIMMING POOLS: THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE VISUAL ARTS AND CONTEMPORARY GERMAN LITERATURE IN PETER STAMM’S NOVEL ALL DAYS ARE NIGHT

JEZIK, KNJIŽEVNOST I DIJALOG (2024): 125–133

AUTHOR(S) / АУТОР(И): Emilie Martinez

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DOI: 10.46793/LLD24.125M

ABSTRACT / САЖЕТАК:

The contemporary Swiss writer Peter Stamm thematizes various forms of visual art in his literary works. The contemporary German novel, All Days Are Night (2013), revolves around the beautiful, successful TV host Gillian, who poses as a model for the artist Hubert’s nude photographs before she experiences the loss of her husband and disfiguration of her nose in a terrible car crash. As Gillian seeks to put her life back together following this tragic event, she decides to work in a vacation club in the mountains. There, she meets Hubert again years later: Hubert is experiencing a creative crisis. The two main characters form a romantic relationship, and Hubert finds his new self with installation art. This paper explores the dialogue between visual art and literature based on the analysis of the meaning of art in All Days Are Night. To this end, I will demonstrate how the presence of visual art enters into a dialogue between the artist Hubert and the model Gillian. My paper casts new light on the boundaries between the artist and the artwork and between fulness and emptiness. I will show how elements of nature create space for an exciting dialogue between art and literature, for which there has been little interdisciplinary research so far.

KEYWORDS / КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ:

Peter Stamm, contemporary German literature, visual arts, sensuous experiences, elements of nature

REFERENCES / ЛИТЕРАТУРА:

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