Universität zu Köln

Nitsch, Wolfram (2021). More than a means of locomotion: ethics and aesthetics of aviation in modern literature. Orb. Tert., 26 (33). LA PLATA: UNIV NAC LA PLATA, FAC HUMANIDADES & CIENCIAS EDUC. ISSN 1851-7811

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Abstract

Since 1909, when the French aviator Bleriot succeeded in crossing the English Channel, the airplane has not ceased to fascinate writers. Two aspects of the newly invented vehicle invited particular interest in the literary history of aviation. If for several modern poets and novelists the plane is more than a means of locomotion, as the pilot and poet Saint-Exupery has put it, this is true for ethical as well as aesthetical reasons. On the one hand, the airplane is celebrated as a means of action that makes it possible to transgress the limits of the world and of oneself; on the other, it is presented as a means of perception that makes it possible to see the earth and the sky in a different way. This article attempts to clarify these two links between aviation and literature through some texts published before and after the bombings of the Second World War, in particular La vuelta a Europa en avion (1929) by Manuel Chaves Nogales, Terre des hommes (1939) by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Estrella distante (1996) by Roberto Bolano and Le Jardin des Plantes (1998) by Claude Simon.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Nitsch, Wolfram UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-567147
DOI:	10.24215/18517811e198
Journal or Publication Title:	Orb. Tert.
Volume:	26
Number:	33
Date:	2021
Publisher:	UNIV NAC LA PLATA, FAC HUMANIDADES & CIENCIAS EDUC
Place of Publication:	LA PLATA
ISSN:	1851-7811
Language:	Spanish
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Literature Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/56714