Absonderliche Schicksale, absonderliches Erzählen. Adalbert Stifters Novelle „Turmalin“ und Gérard Genettes Begriff der ‚Nullfokalisierung‘

Among the rather counter-intuitive concepts of Gérard Genette’s narrative theory, which has also become established in German-speaking countries, that of ‘zero focalization’ is a particular irritant. However, it seems to fit the beginning of the story “Turmalin” from Adalbert Stifter’s cycle “Bunte Steine” and helps to capture the unusual and strange nature of the narrative style used here. It is about an adultery that destroys a family. Instead of talking about it, however, the narrative concentrates on describing the family’s home furnishings. Side glances at the preliminary stage of the story, the introductory narrative commentary, Franz Grillparzer’s novella “Der arme Spielmann” as a reference text and the description of various art practices that characters in the story pursue allow the ethos of this highly peculiar ‘zero focalization’ to be made clear: a damaged aesthetic for the depiction of damaged people.