Das Epos vom Anthropozän. Zu Raoul Schrotts Erste Erde. Epos

Abstract

With the definition of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch, humanity’s relationship with the natural world is being profoundly redefined. Hence, the Anthropocene calls for a new understanding of Being-in-the-World. The new Being-in-the-World is at issue both in theory and literature as it is described as „entanglement“ and „rupture“. Focusing on Raoul Schrott’s Erste Erde. Epos, this essay asks what implications this new Being-in-the-World has for the form of Anthropocene literature. The main principle of Schrott’s secular cosmogony is the analogy drawn between Anthropocene theory and the theory of the epic. Both the Anthropocene and the epic have a special relationship to history, both stand for a certain understanding of Being-in-the-World that is opposed to another model (that of modernity, that of the novel), and both show an interest in totality while being heterogeneous in themselves. Reflections on the form, and in particular on the text’s relationship to the theory of the epic, emphasize the significance of Erste Erde. Epos for a poetics of the Anthropocene.