Three Media—One Story? Marie-Thérèse Kerschbaumer's "Gypsy" Narrative

In: Women in German yearbook: feminist studies in German literature & culture, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 83-103

Abstract

There are very few narratives about "Gypsies" that would not qualify as "stories of textual persecution" (Claudia Breger). The Austrian writer Marie-Thérèse Kerschbaumer, however, has demonstrated discursive resistance to the prejudice against "Gypsies" in an iterative process of representing the experience of this ethnic minority. Through a comparative analysis of Kerschbaumer's three different approaches to the topic—the central chapter "Die Zigeunerin" ("The Gypsy") from Der weibliche Name des Widerstands ( Woman's Face of Resistance ), the radio play of the same title, and the television film—this essay explores the connections between the author's aesthetic creed, her ideological concerns, her thematic choices, and the medium-specific voice addressing the intended audience. (MRK)