The Creation of an Avant-Garde Brand
Heiner Müller’s Self-Presentation in the German Public Sphere
Summary
(Marc Silberman, Professor Emeritus of German, University of Wisconsin–Madison)
«The Creation of an Avant-Garde Brand is an impressive scholarly achievement that enlarges our understanding of postwar German culture in general and Heiner Müller in particular. Pohlmann convincingly demonstrates that Müller’s status as a leading figure of the avant-garde needs to be understood in light of his dynamic engagement with mass culture. Highly recommended.»
(Matthew W. Smith, Professor of German Studies and Theater & Performance Studies, Stanford University)
Branding became a crucial technique over the course of the twentieth century. It changed the way we perceive politics and goods, but also works of art and authors. This development has called into question the traditional idea of authenticity as well as the intention to resist capitalist marketing practices.
This book examines the extent to which an author like Heiner Müller adopted branding strategies to present himself in the public sphere, investigating the impact that this had on his public persona. By focusing on Müller, this study analyzes the self-presentation and promotion of an adversarial author who drew on the ideals of the avant-garde and the artistic critique of capitalism. Yet Müller also inserted himself into the mainstream public sphere and the media, arenas that are highly influenced by the laws of the market. Thus, the author asks whether Müller’s use of marketing methods and media environments undermined his outsider credibility and the integrity of his work, or, alternatively, how he may have been able to develop strategies to engage with marketing principles and the media in ways that allowed him to remain subversive nonetheless, perhaps working within the system and against it at the same time.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Avant-Garde and Marketing—A Critical Relationship
- Chapter 2 Heiner Müller’s Use of Avant-Garde Aesthetics—Bildbeschreibung or: “Die avancierteste Kunst ist die demokratischste”
- Chapter 3 Heiner Müller’s Cooperation with the “Institution of Art”— An Analysis of His Performance at the Büchner Prize Award Ceremony
- Chapter 4 Heiner Müller’s Presence in the German Public Sphere— A Data-Driven Analysis of His Publication Record
- Chapter 5 Heiner Müller in the German Media Public Sphere— The Creation of an Avant-Garde Brand
- Chapter 6 Heiner Müller’s Agency in the German Public Sphere of the 1990s
- Bibliography
- Index
- Series Index
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
The German National Library lists this publication in the German National-
Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pohlmann, Jens, 1978– author.
Title: The creation of an avant-garde brand : Heiner Müller’s
self-presentation in the German public sphere / Jens Pohlmann.
Description: Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, [2023] | Series: German life
and civilization, 0899-9899 ; vol no. 75 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023021648 (print) | LCCN 2023021649 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781800798922 (paperback) | ISBN 9781800798939 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781800798946 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Müller, Heiner, 1929–1995—Criticism and interpretation. |
Self-presentation. | Branding (Marketing) | Avant-garde
(Aesthetics)—Germany.
Classification: LCC PT2673.U29 Z836 2023 (print) | LCC PT2673.U29
(ebook)
| DDC 832/.914—dc23/eng/20230524
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023021648
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023021649
Cover image: Still from the Müller-Kluge interview, In den Ruinen der Moral
tätig © by dctp / kairosfilm. Permission granted by Alexander Kluge and dctp.
Adaptation by Hendrik Kühn.Cover design by Peter Lang Group AG
ISSN 0899-9899
ISBN 978-1-80079-892-2 (print)
ISBN 978-1-80079-893-9 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-80079-894-6 (ePub)
DOI 10.3726/b19801
© 2023 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne
Published by Peter Lang Ltd, Oxford, United Kingdom
info@peterlang.com – www.peterlang.com
Jens Pohlmann has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this Work.
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the
permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies
in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and
processing in electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
About the author
Jens Pohlmann holds a Ph.D. in German Studies from Stanford University. He has published on Heiner Müller, Gottfried Benn, and Bertolt Brecht. His research includes work in the fields of the Digital Humanities and Communication & Media Studies. Since 2020, he has been a Research Associate at the Centre for Media, Communication & Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen comparing the discourse on the regulation of platforms and the digital public sphere in Germany and the United States.
About the book
“Pohlmann’s study of Müller’s media presence is one of the few English-language books on this important postwar dramatist in the past two decades. Embedded in a discussion of avant-garde aesthetics and ‘branding’ in capitalist market contexts, its nuanced focus examines Müller’s strategies for navigating the East-West divide prior to and after Germany’s unification in 1990.”
– Marc Silberman, Professor Emeritus of German, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“The Creation of an Avant-Garde Brand is an impressive scholarly achievement that enlarges our understanding of postwar German culture in general and Heiner Müller in particular. Pohlmann convincingly demonstrates that Müller’s status as a leading figure of the avant-garde needs to be understood in light of his dynamic engagement with mass culture. Highly recommended.”
– Matthew W. Smith, Professor of German Studies and Theater & Performance Studies, Stanford University
Branding became a crucial technique over the course of the twentieth century. It changed the way we perceive politics and goods, but also works of art and authors. This development has called into question the traditional idea of authenticity as well as the intention to resist capitalist marketing practices.
This book examines the extent to which an author like Heiner Müller adopted branding strategies to present himself in the public sphere, investigating the impact that this had on his public persona. By focusing on Müller, this study analyzes the self-presentation and promotion of an adversarial author who drew on the ideals of the avant-garde and the artistic critique of capitalism. Yet Müller also inserted himself into the mainstream public sphere and the media, arenas that are highly influenced by the laws of the market. Thus, the author asks whether Müller’s use of marketing methods and media environments undermined his outsider credibility and the integrity of his work, or, alternatively, how he may have been able to develop strategies to engage with marketing principles and the media in ways that allowed him to remain subversive nonetheless, perhaps working within the system and against it at the same time.
This eBook can be cited
This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.
Contents
CHAPTER 1
The Avant-Garde and Marketing—A Critical Relationship
CHAPTER 5
Heiner Müller in the German Media Public Sphere— The Creation of an Avant-Garde Brand
CHAPTER 6
Heiner Müller’s Agency in the German Public Sphere of the 1990s
Figures
Graph 1: Heiner Müller’s publications 1960–1998
Graph 2: Publication type and venue of Heiner Müller’s writings
Graph 3: Publication types for Heiner Müller’s writings 1967–1977
Graph 4: Publication types for Heiner Müller’s writings 1978–1988
Graph 5: Publication types for Heiner Müller’s writings 1989–1998
Graph 6: Stagings of Heiner Müller’s plays in Germany (East and West)
Details
- Pages
- XII, 198
- Publication Year
- 2023
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781800798939
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781800798946
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9781800798922
- DOI
- 10.3726/b19801
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2023 (August)
- Keywords
- Artistic Critique of Capitalism Branding Marketing of Literature Public Sphere Avant-garde
- Published
- Oxford, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, 2023. XII, 198 pp., 6 fig. col., 3 fig. b/w.