Die Sache der Dichtung – dargestellt an den Schriften Horst-Jürgen Gerigks

The essay honors the oeuvre of the recently deceased scholar of Russian and Comparative Literature Horst-Jürgen Gerigk (1937–1924). Gerigk became known as a leading Dostoevsky researcher. Contrary to such a narrowing of his research interests to a single author, a broad view of Gerigk’s work in literary theory is presented here. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical concepts against which Gerigk’s approach is directed (especially formalism, Marxism, Freudianism, the Konstanz School, Nietzsche, and deconstruction). Against this background, his own concept of a consistently centripetal reading, which he developed in the footsteps of Gadamer’s hermeneutics as well as in contrast to it, becomes apparent.

Keywords: Deconstruction, Dostoevsky, Formalism, Gadamer, Heidegger, Hermeneutics, Interpretation, Intertextuality, Konstanz School, Marxism, Nietzsche, Psychoanalysis, Schopenhauer