Submitted Abstract
This doctoral thesis studies the professionalization of Luxembourg literature in the second half of the twentieth century, with a focus on the 1960s and 1970s – a period, which so far has been largely neglected by research. In this context, the term ‘professionalization’ is defined as both a literary and economic process: On the one hand, literary agents are seeking to establish literary institutions, groups and events and on the other hand they want their literary commitment to be acknowledged economically. In the discourse on Luxembourgish literature, the term ‘professionalization’ is often used to describe the foundation of publishing houses, the increased literary production and the establishment of a writers’ union in the 1980s. This thesis, however, proceeds on the assumption that these institutional changes have to be understood not as a starting point but rather as the first visible results of a process, which starts off in the 1960s. In order to contextualize this evolution, the resumption of the literary production after the end of the German occupation as well as the narratives of regeneration and (linguistic) quest for identity are examined. In doing so, the significance of these works is emphasized for the development of Luxembourg literature. Hereupon a turning point is described, which is initiated by a younger, politicized generation of authors in opposition to post-war and folk literature (‚Heimatliteratur‘) and through interference with literary models from other European literatures (particularly those of West Germany and Austria). By analysing the Luxembourgish publication sector (literary journals and series), the theatre scene, writer’s collectives and artists’ unions, it is shown that the authors’ postulations for intellectual and aesthetic reformation, as well as for a solidary and institutionalized literature emerge in the 1960s and reach their first peak in the mid 1980s.