Joachim Wittstock. În căutarea umbrei pierdute
Joachim Wittstock. In the Quest for the Lost Shadow
The present study is dedicated to Joachim Wittstock, one of the most significant Saxon writersin contemporary Transylvania. With the occasion of Wittstock’s 80th anniversary, the author re-reads his literature and focuses mainly on the adaptation undertaken by Wittstock of Adalbert von Chamisso’s influential story of Peter Schlemihl – rewritten by the Transylvanian writer under the form of The Strange Story of Peter Gottlieb. In this piece, Wittstock adapts the narrative of the German Romantic (and its simili-Faustian pact with the devil) to the situation of the German writers in communist Romania – and the various pacts (political, social, existential) involved by their lives in these totalitarian conditions.
Keywords: contemporary Romanian literature, German writers in contemporary Romania, Joachim Wittstock, Adalbert von Chamisso, Peter Schlemihl, Peter Gottlieb Faustian pact, writers under the Romanian communist regime.
