Description:
AbstractAlfred Döblin’s oeuvre may be regarded as an »ideal-type« of modernism, inasmuch as it combines a modernist aesthetic with a critical appreciation of social and technological modernity. Characteristics of this attitude include: the displacement of the autonomous, humanistic self in favor of an individualism sustained by collective forces; a rejection of traditional, elitist literature in favor of popular idioms and the mass media; and a recognition that modern technological and political trends, though harboring totalitarian tendencies, may be harnessed for purposes of individual and collective freedom - provided that one embraces (rather than ironically distances oneself from) the progressive potentials of modernity.