| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines German monster mash-up novels as a contemporary form of popular fantastic literature, which has developed as an intricate part of today’s globalised, multimedia world and has to be analysed within this context. The corpus of novels discussed hereafter comprises German mash-ups which focus on monstrous romances and romantic monsters, specifically Wolf G. Heimraths Werther, der Werwolf (2010), Susanne Picards Die Leichen des jungen Werther (2011), Claudia Kerns Sissi, die Vampirjägerin (2011) and Peter H. Geißens Heidi und die Monster (2010). Converging with the hype of paranormal romance narratives both in young adult fiction (such as Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight) and TV series, where monsters such as vampires, werewolves and even zombies are introduced as romantic heroes, mash-up novels echo international trends within popular media production and reception. The romanticising and eroticisation of horror monsters is equally popular in online fanfiction, from which mash-up novels have emerged as a commercialised by-product. Rooted in the present day online culture, literary mash-ups represent the postmodern cultural technique of remixing pre-existing material to an unprecedented extent through pastiche and parody. In doing so, they reflect concerns and problems of the millennial generation.
The novels analysed adapt the stereotypical structures and formula of the paranormal romance genre, while employing re-writing strategies of fanfiction stories. Like paranormal romance and fanfiction, mash-up novels focus thematically on sexual
relationships, gender roles, corporeality and disease, which are negotiated by means of romanticised horror monsters and romance stereotypes, while exploring issues of liminality. Perceptions of love in the digitalised age have become conflicted by dating apps and over-sexualisation of our society, which leads to a sustained segregation of love and sex, and eventually to disappointing relationships that cannot live up to the expectations stoked by the myth of romantic love, propagandised by the media. In order to compensate for the lack of intense emotions and satisfactory relations, the millennial generation indulge themselves in fictitious feelings created by the immersive reception of (paranormal) romance literature and other media that addresses this specific lack. From a perspective of literary and cultural studies, based on an approach that combines elements of interdiscursivity (Jürgen Link), hypertextuality (Gérard Genette) and system theory (Elena Esposito), this thesis outlines how far the millennial zeitgeist and connected generational issues (such as blurring boundaries within society and gender roles) are negotiated by the contemporary mash-up novels | en_US |
