Unmögliche Idylle. Narrative der Nachhaltigkeit und der Entwicklung in B. Travens Erdölroman Die Weiße Rose und ihre Erschließung im Deutschunterricht

Abstract

Problems of ecological sustainability are closely linked to problems of energy and the age of fossil fuels in the anthropocene. Classes in German and literature that address questions of sustainability can focus on texts from the interwar period that celebrate, yet also criticize the fossil age. The paper provides systematic and historic insights into the subject. It then analyses B. Traven’s novel Die Weiße Rose and its narratives of oil and the modern age. Following the analysis it makes suggestions for planning lessons in the subject of German that deal with the text.