Bokeh in Non-Fiction Literature. The Depth of Field’s Blurring in Moments of Closeness. An Intercultural Investigation

Abstract

In literature – and, hence, in literary theory – it has been assumed that the author is not identical with the narrator. The opposite appears to be true of all non-fiction genres. Here, it seems essential that the author – for example in a reportage – is identical with the narrator and has (usually) followed the action himself. Yet, it could be argued that the vast majority of non-fiction texts in narrative prose genres (such as reports, biographies or autobiographies) contain fictional elements. The decisive factor here is not only the deliberate limitation of the narrative (negatively: framing), but above all the narrative perspective, and particularly the fine-tuning of its descriptions. But exactly at those points where the factual text should be extremely precise, the focus becomes blurred – moving back into fiction; rather like binoculars whose depth of field becomes blurred when the fine adjustment is overtightened. Or as in photography, where the quality of the out-of-focus area, such as in bokeh (from the Japanese: 暈け/ボケ), can be deliberately designed. In my article, I concretize those theses using two case studies from German- and English-language non-fiction literature – Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers (2012) and Günter Wallraff’s Schwarz auf Weiß – attempting to develop an approach that might help to complement literary theory. In a final interdisciplinary excursion, I try to work out fictionalizations in economics, taking examples from Peter Bofinger’s Grundzüge der Volkswirtschaftslehre, namely Adam Smith’s reference to pin production and the Robinson Crusoe economy to explain the division of labor and comparative cost advantages.