Speak And Can Not Speak

In the third stage of German post-war literature, there occurred a group of writings that articulate what was forbidden before. They bring out “das Unsagbare” in German reflective literature. From narrative view, the war-related literature can be divided into there stages: works of the first stage mainly portray and criticize post-war reality; those of the second discuss the causes from the cultural and traditional perspective; those of the third depict war on the basis of individual experience and subjective view. Those “unsagbar” works just appear in the third stage.Combined with post-war history and on the basis of thematic evolution, the thesis explores the causes, the manifestations, and the patterns of German reflective literature from the perspectives of modernism and post-modernism. The texts involved in this thesis are Wolfgang Borchert’s The Man Outside and other three short stories, Heinrich B?ll’s Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa…, Wolfdietrich Schnurre’s On the Run, Siegfried Lenz’s German Lesson, and Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader. The conclusions of the thesis are: first, German reflective literature’s theme experiences three stages, and among those influential factors, literary modernism and post-modernism is one of main factors. Second, through theme variation and turn, writers add “common plot” in traditional topic, thus lead to ideology deconstruction, vagueness, openness, etc. Third, with time being, the historical narrative in German reflective literature will change further, presenting “reflection’s reflection”.War may as background information in narrative, and the “unsagbare” may deepen.Besides preface and epilogue, the thesis includes three chapters. The first chapter discusses three major motifs in Trümmerliteratur, they are destruction on life, destruction on humanity, and real world dilemma. Based on German Lesson, the second chapter analyzes the origin, the presentation, and the result of “duty”. Through The Reader’s heroine Hannah, the third chapter explores guilty hidden in daily life and unspeakable reality.