Coming to terms with Distraction in German

This article represents work in progress on a larger book project, historicising, defining and comparing modes of distraction in European literature. The article covers most of the key definitions and several of the key authors on the German side of the project: this focus reflects my research as Sylvia Naish Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Germanic Studies at the IGRS in 2009. Some of this material is intended to be used in publications and papers that will make further comparisons, especially with French and English literature. Most of the article is likely to be distributed across the early chapters of a book, provisionally titled 'Modelling Distraction in European Literature'.