French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Geisenhanslüke, Die Sprache der Infamie. Literatur und Ehrlosigkeit
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Achim Geisenhanslüke, Die Sprache der Infamie. Literatur und Ehrlosigkeit

Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2014.

EAN 9783770556717.

315 p.

Price 39EUR

Publisher's synopsis:

The history of infamy is a history of outcasts, of those excluded from society for violating social norms. Literature grants these outcasts a voice of their own, allowing them to fight back against the loss of honor.
Conflicts concerning honor have played a pivotal role in cultural history since antiquity. Those who lose their honor see their entire self called into question, becoming exposed and shamed in the eyes of others. Literature offers a way to counter the impending loss of honor through a counter-discourse anchored in the authority of language. The literary language of infamy strives for a form of self-assertion that simultaneously intersects with sensational legal conflicts, as illustrated by the story of France's Public Enemy No. 1, Jacques Mesrine. Prominent examples of the literary language of infamy include the vagabond poet Villon, the Marquis de Sade, as well as Schiller, Kafka, and Genet. Through close analyses of their texts, a history of infamy unfolds that extends all the way to Holocaust literature.

This scholarly study investigates the complex intersection of literature, law and social exclusion from antiquity to the modern era. Achim Geisenhanslüke traces how writers who violate social norms utilize the authority of language to construct a counter-discourse against public shaming and the loss of honor. By examining the fragile boundary between legality and infamy, the volume highlights how textual self-assertion functions as a vital instrument for those rendered voiceless or marginalized by dominant cultural structures.

Drawing on close readings of canonical figures such as François Villon, the Marquis de Sade, Friedrich Schiller, Franz Kafka and Jean Genet, alongside modern Holocaust literature and criminal history, the book is especially valuable for researchers and students of literary history, cultural studies and philosophy. It offers deep insights into the thematic role of the outcast and helps readers understand how literary texts persistently negotiate the stakes of reputation, infamy and societal transgression.