The following master’s thesis consists of an analysis of the narrative positions in the novel The Faculty of Dreams of Sara Stridsberg, a literary fantasy written about the life of the writer and radical feminist Valerie Solanas. Through my thesis I argue that the implicit author, the narratological position of the narrator, and the character called “The Narrator”, all three belong to, and constitute, the fictional character Valerie. In order to conduct this analysis I use narratological theory, with Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan and Mieke Bal as primary theorists, along with theory concerning spatiality and temporality. The analysis is backed up with metafictional theory as well as research into physical and mental reactions caused by trauma, conducted by Bessel van der Kolk. The analysis is sectioned into four parts, with every part focusing on a specific topic: “The Narrator’s” dialogues with Valerie, the novels five different sections (“Land of Bambi”, “The Oceans”, “The Laboratory Park”, “The Factory” and “Love Valerie”), the presence of the cursive fragments and finally the alphabetical lists which appear at different occasions in the novel. The novel acts as a reclamation of power as Valerie recovers her stolen voice, giving herself the opportunity of narrating her own life. The fictional character Valerie salvages her autonomy and receives her rectification by rewriting conversations which have taken place in court rooms, psychiatric hospitals and between different people in her life. She is no longer an external spectator of her own life. Instead she is the one in charge. The narratological levels have collapsed. Only Valarie remains.

Teilw. zugl.: Köln, Universiẗat, Diss., 2004.

Die Dissertation vergleicht die Konzeptkunst in New York und den Moskauer Konzeptualismus am Beispiel zwei ihrer zentralen Vertreter: Joseph Kosuth und Ilya Kabakov. Beide haben unter dem Titel "The Corridor of Two Banalities" 1994 gemeinsam eine Installation realisiert. In Kosuth und Kabakov fanden die Zeitgenossen und Nachfolger sowohl ihr Vorbild als auch Gegenbild. In komparatistischer Perspektive werden Probleme diskutiert (z. B. das der (Selbst-)Referentialität), die die Diskussion über konzeptuelle Kunst begleiten, und konzeptuelle Kunst als Scharnier zwischen Moderne und Postmoderne erscheinen lassen. Konzeptkünstler betrachten kunsttheoretische und -historische Überlegungen in demselben Maße als selbstverständlichen Teil ihrer künstlerischen Arbeit, wie Kunst als universelle Kategorie für sie ihre Selbstverständlichkeit verloren hat. Sie setzen sich mit deren Rahmenbedingungen auseinander, die diktieren, was zu einer bestimmten Zeit und an einem bestimmten Ort als Kunst wahrgenommen wird. Die Dissertation konzentriert sich daher auf die Frage, wie Kosuth und Kabakov die (Konzept-)Kunst diesseits und jenseits des Eisernen Vorhangs selbst konzeptualisieren. Unter Einbeziehung der Rezeptionsgeschichte wird untersucht, welche Vorstellung von Autor- und Leserschaft Kosuth und Kabakov entwerfen, vom welchem Werkbegriff sie ausgehen und auf welche sprachphilosophischen Modelle sie sich dabei beziehen. / The thesis compares the Conceptual Art in New York with the Moscow Conceptualism while using the example of two of their greatest representatives: Joseph Kosuth and Ilya Kabakov. Together, they have created an installation entitled "The Corridor of Two Banalities" (1994). For their contemporaries and successors, Kosuth and Kabakov served as models or just the opposite. In a comparatistical perspective the thesis discusses problems (e.g. the (self-)referentiality) which go along with the debate about conceptual art and which let the conceptual art appear as a link between modernism and postmodernism. For conceptual artists, theoretical and historical considerations of art form an evident part of their artistic work to the same degree as art as a universal category has lost its self-evidence for them. They examine its frame conditions which dictate what is being considered as art at a specific time and in a specific place. Hence the thesis focusses on the question about the ways Kosuth and Kabakov conceptualise the (Conceptual) Art on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Taking into account the reception history it examines which concept of author- and readership Kosuth and Kabakov formulate, which definition of artwork they have assumed and which models of philosophy of language they refer to.