Aesthetic tolerance of ambiguity. Scandals in German-language literature in diachronic comparison (18th-19th century)

The starting point of the project is the observation that for some time now, the loss of ambiguity tolerance has been repeatedly criticized in public discourse, particularly in cultural and political discourse, which is exemplified by the emergence and establishment of a so-called “cancel culture”. Tolerance of ambiguity' is generally understood as the cognitive psychological ability to tolerate ambiguity and contradictions. In a narrower sense, a lack of ambiguity tolerance can indicate an inability to grasp issues from a polyperspective and thus signal a susceptibility to rigid or even authoritarian systems of judgment and order. The aim of the project is to scrutinize the thesis of a successive decline in tolerance of ambiguity on the basis of the literary field and specifically using the example of selected German-language literary scandals. To this end, relevant literary scandals that occurred in the German-speaking world between the 18th and 19th centuries will be compared diachronically. The project focuses on two centuries for three reasons: Firstly, the comparison of case studies from two past centuries makes it possible to identify developments in literary history and reception aesthetics within a larger framework. Secondly, a comparison is facilitated insofar as the two selected centuries are considered together as the (early) modern period of literary history.