Interferenze sistemiche: letteratura e sistema letterario nel romanzo tedesco contemporaneo

Since the beginning of the new millennium it has become increasingly common to find fictional works, especially in prose, having the literary system – that’s is, the set of mechanisms, functions and people underpinning the production, distribution and communication of literature – as a main theme. In the German speaking area this particular type of narrative has assumed the name of Literaturbetriebsroman (novel of the literary system). Texts that are part of this new literary genre do not restrain themselves to a mere of the author representation, but rather, they highlight and elaborate, through the literary medium, a real interference, or to use Niklas Luhmann’s terminology, an irritation between the system of literature and its environment. This essay aims to show how the contemporary Literaturbetriebsroman (since 2000) can be seen as a particular literary translation of the interference exerted by the literary system on its primary object, that’s to say literature. Using three novels (Tod eines Kritikers by M. Walser, Besteller by K. Modick and Tod in Turin by J. Brandt) it will also be shown which kind of interferences between literature and literary system are prone to be fictionalized and how literary works such as the Literaturbetriebsroman actually play an active role in the shaping of the literary field.