Ein verlassener Schreibtisch und der Platz vor dem Kessel

In Wolfgang Hilbig’s novels, especially in “Eine Übertragung” and “Ich”, there are many irritating text passages that can be described as drastic in the sense of Dietmar Dath. The essay attempts to describe these passages and to question them with regard to poetological patterns and strategies. In doing so, it becomes apparent that the drastic nature of the novels decisively determines the metaphorical structure of the texts. Hilbig thus makes use of a poetic process typical of him, for which the term “micro-drastics” has been proposed. What is particularly interesting is that this poetic process is based on a form of protest against intolerant, avital social structures and their representatives. This leads to the conclusion that the two novels focused on here can be read as a highly complex didactic of resistance.