Reisen ohne Bewegung: Oskar Loerkes lyrische Deterritorialisierungen

Abstract

Abstract The article analyzes the ‘distant topography’ in the lyrical work of German poet Oskar Loerke (1884–1941) by referring to Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of deterritorialization. It takes as its starting point a reading of “China” in Loerke’s poems, which appears as an ultimate distance but at the same time as mediated by Chinoiserie and Orientalism. However, for Loerke, China not only implies a topos of longing, but also indicates a potential transformation, especially for the lyrical subject, as it will be shown in a close reading of “Das chinesische Puppentheater” (1911). In his later work Der Silberdistelwald (Silver Thistle Forest, 1934), Loerke refers to the unreadable Chinese characters, which, in this context, can be read as to leave distant China at a distance and to deterritorialize it poetically.