%0 Journal Article
%T A Long Night of Mourning. Narration as a Way out of Violence?
%A Joas, Hans
%J Konteksty Kultury
%V 2017
%R 10.4467/23531991KK.17.010.7534
%N Volume 14 Issue 2
%P 154-175
%K Alfred Döblin, war, violence, narration, sociology and literature
%@ 2083-7658
%D 2017
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/konteksty-kultury/article/dluga-noc-zaloby-narracja-jako-wyjscie-z-przemocy
%X Hans Joas’s essay presents a “sociological reading” of a late novel by Alfred Döblin, Tales of a Long Night, which was written as a direct reaction to the experience of World War II. The author first outlines the dramatic origins of Döblin’s work, and then presents a sociological model of transformation of an experience of violence inspired by the reading of the novel. Hans Joas mentions six stages of the transformation of an experience of violence: 1. the shock of mutilation felt in the body, 2. the loss of language and questioning the relation with the world, 3. the recognition of the healing power of narration, 4. the discovery of a new sense and new values, 5. the violation of previous social bonds, 6. the inevitable step towards the existential and religious sphere.