Abstract

A Chinese examination requires one to record everything felt or recalled within a given time frame. It "tests" an entire life. Karin Kiwus' poetic tools for taking the exam are monumentality, the freezing of imagined history into the dimension of a statue—that then crumbles back into time; and metamorphosis, the subjection of moments and personae to quasi-musical structures of ceaseless variation.

Keywords: Chinese examination, chinese, record, time frame, feeling, felt, recall, recalled, tests, test, entire life, life, Karin Kiwus, poetry, poetic tool, monumentality, imagined history, freezing, statue, metamorphosis, moments, personae, quasi-musical structures, variation

How to Cite:

Rolleston, J., (1997) “Modernism and Metamorphosis: Karin Kiwus' Das Chinesische Examen”, Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature 21(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1410