Contributi sullo stile e sul realismo magico latino-americano in Die Vermessung der Welt di Daniel Kehlmann

Abstract

The paper outlines some essential features of Daniel Kehlmann’s production, focusing on his most famous work, the novel Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World, 2005). Specifically, the focus is placed on the author’s ability to achieve both wide public and critical acclaim on an international scale, thus also arousing scholarly interest in his production. Moving on from the study of the reception of the work, the essay then highlights the most important characteristics of the text, such as the skilful mixture of irony and melancholy, and its playing with stereotypes about Germans, while also tracing the sources underlying the book, starting from the connections to classical antiquity, to Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, highlighting also contemporary inspirations, in particular Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon. Special attention is given to the work’s references to Latin American literature and its magic realism, showing the text’s connection to authors such as Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Julio Cortázar, and to the spirituality of the protagonists, related to this potentially fantastic dimension.