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.