Identity construction and computers in Thomas Hettche's novel 'Nox'

This article provides a discussion of how narration and the construction of identity are influenced and altered by the introduction into a literary te xt of a computer, in particular a computer/human vice functioning as disemb odied language. Focusing on Thomas Hettche's novel Nox, published in 1995, questions are posed regarding the infiltration of the computer voice into t he flow of the narrative voice, thereby emphasizing the growing importance of the computer as character, voice, and identity marker in fiction. While shedding light on the process of establishing and representing a fictive Ge rman identity-in Nox, "Germany" is simultaneously portrayed both as being t he site of a constant struggle and as a Utopian space-this article suggests that the computer voice, in virtue of enabling a new type of discourse, is itself the platform for the Utopian aspect of Hettche's text.