„Wahrlich fuck you du Sau“ – Sprachliche Gewalt und Selbstermächtigung bei Lydia Haider

Abstract

The article deals with linguistic violence, the functions of swear words and their use in literature. It aims to show how cursing can be used as an act of self empowerment. Austrian writer Lydia Haider’s text Wahrlich fuck you du Sau, bist du komplett zugeschissen in deinem Leib drin. oder: Zehrung Reiser Rosi. Ein Gesang. Is aggressive, not fair, irrational and arbitrary in the sense of violence as violentia. A linguistic violence that becomes semantically blind. She rises above everything else, escaping argument and control. But her language is also comedic. The higher it rises, the lower it falls, in the excessiveness there is a form of jubilation and, last but not least, (self-)irony.