Open Access

Lucas Knierzinger

• The paper engages with the works of Thomas Kling (1957-2005) and elaborates on the specific incorporation of history in Klings poetics. Kling was both known for his wild style of lyrical performance as well as for his vast knowledge of history. Kling aptly puts the style of his lectures in the tradition of the "histrion", the actor in ancient Rome. The paper argues that the connection of history and the theatricality of the histrion becomes fundamental to his poetics. History is for Kling a material that combines linguistic, cultural and literary references that need a performative elaboration. The paper traces this constellation of performativity and history within Klings early poems and essays. It then turns towards a reading of his poems "Manhattan Mundraum" and "Manhattan Mundraum Zwei". In these poems Kling intertwines the performative aspects of his poetics with an inquiry into the history that has shaped the island of Manhattan and the language of its "Mundraum".