Demo Tapes

Deine Vorstadt – Jetzt und Wir (2021)

Fuhrbach feat. MF-Production – Freiburg X Köln (2021)

Fuhrbach – Echtzeit (2023)

sounds . songs +noise

Text

You are, and the work. Letters to Bitterfeld / Du bist, und die Arbeit. Briefe nach Bitterfeld (2023) – Writing Exeperiment from July 13th, 2023. The first parts of the text were written at 9 o’clock in the evening, publication took place on the following day. The plot takes up social questions of the present. The expectation of one’s own subject position is embedded in a dialogue with the demands of socialist cultural politics.

One Coffee, Arcaden / Ein Kaffee, Arcaden (2023) – Writing experiment from August 2nd, 2022. The texts were published consecutively on clementines.world using the keyword Ein Kaffee, Arcaden. The documentary style shows a realistic search for an appropriate language of observation. At the same time, stereotypes and border constructions are commented on through a second layer.

Katowice in Autumn. Impressions of a journey in October 2017 / Kattowitz im Herbst. Impressionen einer Reise im Oktober 2017 – The lyrical journal documents the experience in a foreign country. The narrative assembles different voices into a diary-like text. At the same time, through a dialogical observation of subjectivity, stereotypical masculinity is confronted with the claim of an emancipated alternative.

poetry . stories +prose

Theory

Polyphone Autorschaft / Polyphonic Authorship

Die Politik in der Sprache und in der Literatur Heinrich Bölls (J.B. Metzler 2023) / The Politics in Language and in the Literatur of Heinrich Böll

Drawing on Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic theory of democracy, this book first describes how language functions as a political reference system. A politics of language is then developed on the basis of Hannah Arendt and Jürgen Habermas. With reference to Seyla Benhabib, a communicative ethics is derived, which is connected on the methodological level to dialogical theory and the polyphony of literature according to Mikhail Bakhtin. Finally, the model of polyphonic authorship is applied to Böll research and to the works of the author Heinrich Böll.

1st edition 2023, language: German, pages: 716, paperback (21/14,8 cm)

ISBN: 978-3662684917 / eBook ISBN: 978-3662684924
DOI
: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-68492-4

  1. Introduction
  2. Language as a political reference system
    1. On the ‘politics’ of the political
    2. The politics of speaking action in Hannah Arendt
    3. The construction of the authorial figure ‘Hannah Arendt’
    4. Dialogue of subjects and inclusive subjectivity
    5. Communicative rationality and polyphonic consensus
  3. Polyphonic authorship as a model
    1. The figure of the ‘author’ as a dynamic reference system
    2. Theories and practices of authorship in the age of digitality
    3. Fundamentals of ‘dialogicity’ according to Mikhail Bakhtin
    4. The concept of polyphony in the current discussion
    5. Outline of a grammar of ‘polyphony’
  4. Heinrich Böll as a polyphonic ‘author figure’
    1. The author ‘Heinrich Böll’ as a figure in research
    2. Dialogic subject configurations in letters from the war
    3. Continuations of polyphony in letters after the war
    4. The literarization of the polyphonic subject in stylized letters
    5. Pluralization of language and bound idiosyncrasy in diaries
    6. Auctorial monologization of the author in self-portrayals
    7. Realistic deception and constructed reality in the author’s photo
    8. Annotated self-positions in conversations and interviews
    9. Grammar, structure and interstices in speeches and lectures
    10. Language as extended thinking in political essays and journalism
    11. The writer and the literary industry as a dialogical resonance space
  5. Polyphonic authorship in ‘Heinrich Böll’
    1. Lyrical modes of writing and dialogical readings in poems
    2. Monologic dialogues and static roles in radio plays, theater and film
    3. The many voices of the nameless in the short stories
    4. Constellations of polyphony in short stories and novels [1946-1985]
  6. Conclusion
  1. Einleitung
  2. Sprache als politisches Bezugssystem
    1. Zur ›Politik‹ des Politischen
    2. Die Politik des sprechenden Handelns bei Hannah Arendt
    3. Die Konstruktion der Autorfigur ›Hannah Arendt‹
    4. Dialog der Subjekte und inklusive Subjektivität
    5. Kommunikative Rationalität und vielstimmiger Konsens
  3. Polyphone Autorschaft als Modell
    1. Die Figur des ›Autors‹ als dynamisches Bezugssystem
    2. Theorien und Praktiken der Autorschaft im Zeitalter der Digitalität
    3. Grundlegendes zur ›Dialogizität‹ nach Michail Bachtin
    4. Das Konzept der Polyphonie in der aktuellen Diskussion
    5. Skizze einer Grammatik der ›Polyphonie‹
  4. Heinrich Böll als polyphone ›Autorfigur‹
    1. Der Autor ›Heinrich Böll‹ als Figur in der Forschung
    2. Dialogische Subjektkonfigurationen in Briefen aus dem Krieg
    3. Fortschreibungen der Vielstimmigkeit in Briefen nach dem Krieg
    4. Die Literarisierung des polyphonen Subjekts in stilisierten Briefen
    5. Pluralisierung der Sprache und gebundene Idiosynkrasie in Tagebüchern
    6. Auktoriale Monologisierung des Autors in Selbstdarstellungen
    7. Realistische Täuschung und konstruierte Wirklichkeit im Autorenfoto
    8. Kommentierte Selbstpositionen in Gesprächen und Interviews
    9. Grammatik, Struktur und Zwischenräume in Reden und Vorlesungen
    10. Sprache als erweitertes Denken in politischen Essays und in der Publizistik
    11. Der Schriftsteller und der Literaturbetrieb als dialogischer Resonanzraum
  5. Polyphone Autorschaft bei ›Heinrich Böll‹
    1. Lyrische Schreibweisen und dialogische Lesarten in Gedichten
    2. Monologische Dialoge und statische Rollen im Hörspiel, im Theater und im Film
    3. Die vielen Stimmen der Namenlosen in den Kurzgeschichten
    4. Konstellationen der Vielstimmigkeit in Erzählungen und Romanen [1946-1985]
  6. Schluss

More Publications

Essays

  • Who do I speak to, talking to myself – Readings through the ›Deutschland‹ of our times (to be published) / Mit wem rede ich, wenn ich zu mir spreche – Lektüren durch das ›Deutschland‹ unserer Zeit (in Vorbereitung)
  • The Agony of Speech in German Politics and in the Works of Heinrich Böll (to be published) / Die Agonie in der Sprache der Politik und in der Literatur Heinrich Bölls (in Vorbereitung)
  • As to say ›We‹ – Identity beyond borders with Navid Kermani (to be published) / Sozusagen ›Wir‹ – Identität jenseits von Grenzen bei Navid Kermani (in Vorbereitung)
  • Can Heroes be Misfits? Narratives of the ‘feminine’ and post-national identity construction in the novel Gruppenbild mit Dame by Heinrich Böll and in the movie of the same name with Romy Schneider (to be published) / Dürfen Helden Außenseiter sein? – Narrative des ›Weiblichen‹ und postnationale Identitätskonstruktion im Roman Gruppenbild mit Dame von Heinrich Böll und im gleichnamigen Film mit Romy Schneider (in Vorbereitung)

Conferences

Facts becoming fiction – How to remember history through language, literature and politics in recent times

September 26-29 2024, German Studies Association (The GSA), Forty-Eighth Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia (USA) #thegsa2024
Link: https://thegsa.org/conference/current-conference

Who do I speak to, talking to myself – Readings through the ›Deutschland‹ of our times

March 7-10, 2024, 55th NeMLA Annual Convention, Boston (USA)
Link: https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention.html

Past

  • Dissent, Disagreement, and Difference. Understanding Conflict within German Studies, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., USA 2023
  • All Heroes, or What? Paradigms, Perspectives, Traditions and Tendencies in Culture, Art, Literature and Language (Alles Helden, oder was? Paradigmen, Perspektiven, Traditionen und Tendenzen in Kultur, Kunst, Literatur und Sprache), XXVI International Conference of Kronstadt German Studies, Transilvania University, in cooperation with the Society of Germanists in Romania, Kronstadt/Braşov, 2023
  • Erich Maria Remarque on the 50th anniversary of his death (Erich Maria Remarque zum 50. Todestag), Silesian University Katowice/Sosnowiec with the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Center Osnabrück, in cooperation with the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation and CINiBA in Katowice 2021
  • Defining Borders: perspectives from literary and linguistic studies (Be-/Ein-/Abgrenzungen: literatur- und sprachwissenschaftliche Perspektiven), literary and linguistic perspectives, online conference of the Silesian University Katowice/Sosnowiec 2021
  • Concepts of Identity in Literature (Identitätskonzepte in der Literatur), International conference organized by the Saar-Lor-Lux-Elsass Literary Archive of Saarland University, Saarbrücken 2019
  • Literature and Politics (Literatur und Politik), organized by the Universities of Warsaw, Krakow, Wuppertal and Santiago de Compostella, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Krakow, 2019
  • Couples and Relationships on the Stage of the 20th and 21st Centuries (Paarbeziehungen auf der Bühne des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts), organized by the Krakow University of Education in cooperation with TU Dortmund University, 2019
  • War in Literature, Literature in War (Krieg in der Literatur, Literatur im Krieg). Conference of the Silesian University Katowice/Sosnowiec. Visitors of the conference and the Institute of Germanic Philology in Sosnowiec, organization of a seminar on “Creative writing as an experiment in everyday scientific life”, 2018
  • “Poetus Literarus”. Heinrich Böll to his 100th Birthday (Heinrich Böll zum 100. Geburtstag), organized by the Silesian University of Katowice/Sosnowiec in cooperation with, among others, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2017
  • The Future of Knowledge Stores (Die Zukunft der Wissensspeicher), organized by the Science Forum of the University of Konstanz and the Gerda Henkel Foundation in Düsseldorf, 2015

Courses

  • German Literature after 1945 / Deutschsprachige Literatur nach 1945
  • Narrating today / Zeitgenössisches Erzählen
  • Creative Writing / Kreatives Schreiben

More

  • Richeza-Price by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia awarded for outstanding projects concerning the dialogue and understanding between German and Polish culture with the project Being free means singing freely – political Songs yesterday and today in Poland, in the GDR and in the Bundesrepublik, in cooperation with the University of Cologne (GER) and with the University of Sosnowiec/Katowice (PL), 2019

Contacts

Clemens Fuhrbach
Remscheider Str. 87
51103 Cologne
Germany

+49 178 / 238 66 28
mail@clemensfuhrbach.com

About this Page

You are on the website of Clemens Fuhrbach. The author and musician lives and works in Cologne. After studying German language and literature and History at the University of Cologne, he passed the examination for teaching at higher education institutions (Gymnasien and Gesamtschulen). His thesis deals with questions on communicative rationality  and discursive ethics. Based on the example of polyphonic authorship with Heinrich Böll, the study shows how democratic politics of language work. Moreover, literary plurality is the central characteristic of an aesthetics of polyphony. Currently, Fuhrbach is working on identitary narratives in the present.