Rereading the Concept of “Simulacra” in the Novel “I” by Wolfgang Hilbig

Introduction: During the 1990s, German literature saw an influx of writers who had lived through the East German regime. These authors reflected the events that led up to the Berlin Wall’s fall and Germany’s reunification. Wolfgang Hilbig’s novel, “I”, is a prominent example of these works, called “turning literature”. This fiction depicts the absurdities of life under a fading ideology and the alienation of power institutions from social developments.
The present article first examines historical context and the role of literature in East Germany to provide a deeper understanding of the themes and plot of the novel “I”. Then, it analyzes the concept of “simulacra”, which refers to the disconnection of signs from reality in modern social relations according to French sociologist Jean Baudrillard’s theories. The article further criticizes Hilbig’s literary interpretation of this concept and the various manifestations of “simulacra” in the narrative layers of “I”.
Background of the Study: The novel “I” was published in 1993 and has since been translated into multiple languages, receiving praise from literary circles. However, it has yet to be researched in the Persian language. German-speaking critics have referenced Wolfgang Hilbig’s works while critiquing contemporary German literature. The present article cites some of those critiques. One significant source is a collection of articles titled “Two Separate Areas of Literature. German Literature of the 1990s in the East and the West” (2000) published in the literary journal Text and Criticism, which includes a section dedicated to “I”. Moreover, Helmut Luger conducted a detailed study in 2010, focusing on themes such as “alienation, loss of reality, and simulation” in Hilbig’s novels and analyzing their narrative structure and linguistic characteristics.
Methodology: The novel “I”, which Wolfgang Hilbig started writing before the fall of the Berlin Wall, presents various interpretations of the concept of “simulacra” and its representations in the discourse of power. This concept in the semiotic debates of the 1980s indicated the remoteness of signs from their origin. However, philosophers and thinkers like Jean Baudrillard and Gilles Deleuze have different interpretations of this concept. The present article reviews and evaluates the opinions of various theorists on the concept of “simulacra”. It assesses which philosophical and sociological theories align with the works of Hilbig and also examines how applying this concept to the literary text expands its meaning beyond the frameworks of these theorists.
Conclusion: In this article, we reviewed the history and thematic characteristics of “turning literature” and examined one of the essential elements of the novel, i.e., “simulacra”. We found that this concept, which Jean Baudrillard presented to represent modern social relations in the digital age, has a different meaning in Wolfgang Hilbig’s works. Simulacra in “I” is manifested in the context of a pervasive disciplinary system or a “hyperreality” whose ultimate goal is to consolidate power relations. This concept primarily refers to the simulation of ideas and actions resulting from imposing ideological illusions on society. These ideas and actions have become outdated and ineffective models on the verge of the collapse of Eastern Bloc systems.
Although Baudrillard and Hilbig consider different social contexts, convergences can also be observed in their interpretations of the concept of “simulacra”. Both philosophers and writers, whether in the field of theorizing or in the scope of the literary text, aim to critique stagnant and fragmented social relations that are far away from reality and reproduce previous patterns in an automated way.