SOURCE: Pavsek, Christopher. Introduction to Learning Processes with a Deadly Outcome, by Alexander Kluge, pp. vii-x. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996.

In the following essay, Pavsek elucidates the challenges of translating Kluge's short fiction.

Alexander Kluge's novella Lernprozesse mit tödlichem Ausgang was originally published by Suhrkamp in 1973 as part of a larger collection of stories by the same title, the remainder of which Duke University Press hopes to publish at a future date. The translation of this fascinating story comes at a moment of increasing interest in Kluge's extremely diverse body of work, as marked by the dedication of two special issues of academic journals to his work, a touring retrospective of his films, and the publication of the English translation of Public Sphere and Experience,¹ the first major work of critical theory that Kluge coauthored with Oskar Negt in 1972. Kluge is known both in Germany...