Mimesis und Methexis: Skizze einer Poetik der Teilhabe für die Gegenwart

The paper draws on the history of the concept of participation (methexis) in its conflictual relation to imitation or representation (mimesis) for a deepened understanding of identity-related questions in contemporary literature. Plato subjected mimesis to rigorous critique in favor of participation in 'ideas'. In contrast, the history of poetics since Aristotle develops along the valorization of mimesis, while participation here was not understood as an aesthetic category at all. In a synoptic overview, the first part of the paper argues, that mimesis and methexis can only be understood in their dialectic relationship as modern literature has witnessed a periodic return of the problem of participation in poetics. Against the background of this dialectic, the specific profile of contemporary literature and its treatment of questions related to identity becomes visible. The second part of the paper shows this with regard to Olivia Wenzel's novel 1000 serpentinen angst (2020) and Kim de l'Horizon's Blutbuch (2020), that articulate two very different poetic traditions of methexis.