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Writing As A Magician's Game:The Strange Early World Of Christoph Meckel, Heidi M. Rockwood

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

The contemporary German author Christoph Meckel often introduces into his early short stories the metaphor of "playing a game" for creating a literary work. The paper investigates how Meckel uses this metaphor, what types of games he plays with the reader, and what kind of a world he creates through those games. On the basis of four short stories it suggests the conclusion that Meckel often introduces dangerous overtones and consequences, even though he likes to present himself as a happy and harmless storyteller, and that his stories share many characteristics with dreams and nightmares. Nevertheless, such game-playing is an …