Die Macht des Peripheren. Zu den Grenzen klarer Zuschreibungen anhand Winders Nachgeholten Freuden

While Ludwig Winder's novel Die nachgeholten Freuden (1927) appears at first glance to be a quite straightforward narrative of the interwar and post-Austro-Hungarian Bohemian region, it proves to be, at a second glance, bewilderingly enigmatic. Previously known certainties collapse within the storyline as central powers lose their influence and the periphery moves into the power vacuum – a plot line not unusual within interwar literature and in line e.g. with proletarian literature. Winder's unique technique, however, lies in the fact that many different interpretation approaches regarding e.g. a proletarian, a psychoanalytical or a religious reading, are being offered to the reader like on a silver platter but are disintegrating as soon as they are examined closely. This essay aims to reveal the discrepancies within the novel, but at the same time argues that these inconsistencies are deliberate and account for the mastery of the novel which thus articulates a complex commentary on the time and space of its origin.