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'Re-cognition' of the borderlines of German-American authorship The case of Friedrich Gerstäcker

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 4; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1477570006066773

1741-2676

Wolfgang Hochbruck,

American and British Literature Analysis

Focusing on the literary life of Friedrich Gerstäcker (1816–72), this article attempts to (re-)negotiate the range of 'German-American' authorship in the light of new, transnational views of hyphenated literatures. In the process, it reexamines several of Gerstäcker's best known texts with an eye to their potential hybridity and transnational nature, resulting from the influence of, notably, James F. Cooper and William G. Simms. Gerstäcker, who had read Cooper before he emigrated to the USA, adapted the mode, style and tone of US adventure tales for German purposes – he might even be seen as writing 'American' novels and stories in Germany. This transnational format and the reception of Gerstäcker's works, in both languages and in Germany as well as the USA, make him a special literary figure that transgresses traditional conventions.