Reminiscence in the Reifungsroman :: Centre for Gender and Diversity

Reminiscence in the Reifungsroman

The Study of the Literary Imagination of Reminiscence in the Vollendungs- or Reifungsroman from a Genre and Gender Perspective

Aagje Swinnen (e-mail)
Universiteit Maastricht
Centre for Gender and Diversity

This project aims to at once critically examine and theoretically substantiate a genre-label that has come to proliferate in recent studies in the field of narrative gerontology - that is, the so-called Vollendungs/Reifungsroman or the narrative of development of a protagonist well on in years. Within geronto-psychology, this type of narrative is traditionally emphasized for its potential of offering to the elderly subject the means of resigning himself or herself to his or her fate through the full and final (re)construction of his or her life’s story.

My literary-theoretic engagement in this larger issue is to trace and investigate the rhetorical and narrative strategies by which literary-fictional products influence or even shape this specific process of development.

My general approach will be to thoroughly analyze the theory and praxis of the Vollendungs/Reifungsroman, starting from a belief in fiction’s potential of challenging and adjusting the stereotypes that currently limit the senior’s participation in the larger social fabric.

As I have done in my doctoral dissertation Het slot ontvlucht. De ‘vrouwelijke’ Bildungsroman in de moderne Nederlandse literatuur, I will focus on the many and intricate ways in which the protagonist’s sex-specification is implicated in the process of defining a new genre model.