Narrating Surveillance - Überwachen erzählen

In a time when observation technologies, corporate surveillance and facial recognition are ubiquitous, a critical examination of surveillance has become more urgent than ever, as digital totalitarianism puts privacy and personal freedom at risk. Representations of surveillance in literature, film and popular culture in general play not only a decisive role in determining our understanding of its scope but also help us to better grasp the complexity of it as a phenomenon. Because narrators are observers by nature, observation techniques in literature and film show analogies to forms and practices of surveillance. But are narrative instances also instances of surveillance and control? And how is surveillance narrated anyway? How do narratives contribute to a critique of surveillance practices? Have both surveillance technologies and theories of surveillance informed the narrative situations in contemporary literature and film? These questions are at the heart of this collection of essays which critically approaches the complex relationship between surveillance and narrative from various literary, filmic and cultural perspectives, from the late nineteenth century until the present time.

With contributions by
Christoph Bode, Jeffrey Clapp, Monika Fludernik, Dietmar Kammerer, Alexander Knopf, Jörg Metelmann, Julia Straub, Betiel Wasihun, Stefan Willer, Mary Wilson, Florian Zappe, Catherine Zimmer