Irrflug vom Mond. Die Metapher des Raumflugs in Karen Duves Erzählung „Keine Ahnung“

Abstract

The story of the nameless protagonist’s life in Karen Duve’s “Keine Ahnung” (1999) can be read as a metaphoric space flight – her escapism through drugs and her anxiety about the future both lead to a proper desire for ‘flying high’ and simultaneously her feeling of being ‘lost’ in life. This is mirrored in the alleged manned space flight of “Gemini 18”, which dramatic collapse is observed by the lethargic young woman. The reading of this modern ‘bovarysme’ considers stylistics of the German pop literature and stories of adolescence, arguing a (metaphoric) connection between the protagonist’s experience and the Cold War ‘space race’.