Overview

Through a diffractive reading of seven English novels, Daniela Keller redefines the deeply intertwined and continuously developing relationship between England and Germany. The relationship between England and Germany has fluctuated between friendship and animosity on both sides throughout the centuries and Brexit has driven another wedge between the two countries. This study shows how writers have employed physical phenomena, such as quantum entanglement, to move beyond an alleged fixed binary opposition between the nations. In novels, such as John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came In from the Cold or Alison Moore’s The Lighthouse, our understandings of nation and national identity emerge as more flexible and inextricable from their opponent Others. The physical phenomena and optical metaphors of reflection, refraction, and diffraction are applied to hone the differences between various kinds of binary relations, such as England and Germany or physics and fiction. Diffraction and diffractive reading, inspired by Karen Barad, deliver the most accurate and progressive methods of reading literature because they best capture and acknowledge the complexity of stubbornly dualistic mindsets. They also draw attention to the responsibility of readers and their role in constructing Anglo-German identities through every act of reading.

Full Product Details

Author:   Daniela Keller
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781666934885

ISBN 10:   1666934887
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   11 December 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  

Table of Contents

List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements About the Author Introduction: Diffracting the German Other 0.Dis/entangling Physics and Fiction Part I: The Cold War: Divided Germany and Dualistic Thinking 1. Mirrors and Contrasts in Len Deighton’s Funeral in Berlin (1964) 2. Parallelism in John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1963) 3. Structuralist versus Diffractive Reading Part II: The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Conciliatory Entanglements 4. Lenses and Levels in Nicholas Mosley’s Hopeful Monsters (1990) 5. Interferences in John David Morley’s The Book of Opposites (2010) 6. Discursive Diffraction Part III: Brexit and the Strained Anglo-German Relation: Alluding to a Strong Dis/connection 7. Allusion: A Diffractive Literary Device 8. Allusion in Alison Moore’s The Lighthouse (2012) 9. Changing Topologies in Ned Beauman’s The Teleportation Accident (2012) 10. Anglo-German Entanglements in Anna Stothard’s The Museum of Cathy (2016) 11. Beauman’s o and Stothard’s 0,0 Conclusion Appendix 1: Quantum Entanglement Appendix 2: Complementarity Appendix 3: The Double-Slit Experiment Bibliography

Reviews

Daniella Keller’s study on Anglo-German Entanglements in English Fiction offers a much-needed exploration of an undervalued literary space. As a shining example of advanced literary scholarship, it presents this exploration in the shape of an ingenuous masterstroke by drawing on optics as a provider of analytical concepts to shed light on the very characteristics of these literary ‘entanglements’. The result is a convincingly ‘defractive’ (as opposed to deconstructive) reading of comprehensively chosen examples of English authors’ engagements with German motives since the Cold War until the political and psychological watershed of the Brexit. Keller’s study is indispensable reading for anyone interested in this field of intercultural research. * Rüdiger Görner, Emeritus Professor, Queen Mary University of London, England * This book is timely and refreshing. It offers a valuable antidote to stereotypical thinking in national opposites and instead conceives English and German cultures as entangled in complex and fascinating ways. And it expands the usual canon of English fiction set in Germany, introducing its readers to some intriguing 21st-century works. * Astrid Köhler, Professor of German Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies, Queen Mary University of London, England *

Daniella Keller’s study on Anglo-German Entanglements in English Fiction offers a much-needed exploration of an undervalued literary space. As a shining example of advanced literary scholarship, it presents this exploration in the shape of an ingenuous masterstroke by drawing on optics as a provider of analytical concepts to shed light on the very characteristics of these literary ‘entanglements’. The result is a convincingly ‘defractive’ (as opposed to deconstructive) reading of comprehensively chosen examples of English authors’ engagements with German motives since the Cold War until the political and psychological watershed of the Brexit. Keller’s study is indispensable reading for anyone interested in this field of intercultural research. * Rüdiger Görner, Emeritus Professor, Queen Mary University of London, England *

Author Information

Daniela Keller holds a PhD in English Literature from the University of Basel, Switzerland.

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