Nonsimultaneity and its Corrective: Thomas Brussig's Ambiguous Engagement with Reunification

After briefly summarizing literary engagements with reunification by leading German authors who take clear sides on the issue of whether it was a positive development, I analyze two novels by Thomas Brussig, Wie es leuchtet and Das gibts in keinem Russenfilm. Based on these novels, I argue that Brussig's attitude toward reunification is highly ambivalent. Drawing on Ernst Bloch's concept of nonsimultaneity, which articulates how atavistic modes of precapitalistic life among various classes triggered by war and financial crises come to the surface in 1930s Germany, I show how leuchtet illuminates similar disruptions and distorted relationships during the Wende caused by reunification's abruptness. Such nonsimultaneities are canceled in Russenfilm because the novel cancels reunification itself.