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The Creation of an Avant-Garde Brand

Heiner Müller’s Self-Presentation in the German Public Sphere

by Jens Pohlmann (Author)
©2023 Monographs XII, 198 Pages
Series: German Life and Civilization, Volume 75

Summary

«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.

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.

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

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

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

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)

Graph 7: Publication of Heiner Müller plays per year

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.

Biographical notes

Jens Pohlmann (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.

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