The Narrative Power of Things

lt;p>This book unveils how a skilful reading of consumer objects can enrich literary analysis. Focusing on Austrian writers Haas, Glavinic, Geiger and Edelbauer, the study showcases the narrative power of consumer goods and the impact of Austrian literature and its writers on the idyllic national brand that stands in stark contrast to a troubled past.

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In the increasingly globalised consumerculture of the twenty-first century, consumer goods have long become more thanmere commodities: they are markers of identity and tools of narration.Advertising, branding and other processes of consumer culture are ubiquitousand charge objects with meaning, impacting the way we perceive them and thosewho wear, use, showcase or discard them. This close link between consumerculture and the narration of identities - ranging from an individual to anational level - affects the construction of «national brands», as can be seenthrough contemporary writing.With a focus on post-2000 Austrianliterature, this book unveils how a skilful reading of consumer objects - bothbranded and non-branded - can enrich literary analysis. Introducing the conceptof consumer literacy and applying it to Wolf Haas' Das Wetter vor 15 Jahren,Thomas Glavinic's Die Arbeit der Nacht, Arno Geiger's Es geht uns gutand Raphaela Edelbauer's Das flüssige Land, the study showcases the narrativepower of consumer goods and the impact of Austrian literature and its writerson the idyllic national brand that stands in stark contrast to a troubled past.