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Abstract: The article explores the reflections on old age in the late works of Martin Walser (1926–2023). The study focuses on the novels “Ein liebender Mann” (2008, A Man in Love) and “Ein sterbender Mann” (2016, A Dying Man), as well as Walser’s lyrical compilation of works “Spätdienst. Bekenntnis und Stimmung” (2018). The relevance of the research stems from the growing interest in old age in the humanities and the emergence of “literary gerontology” as a field of literary studies (A. Wyatt-Brown). The research methodology includes historico-literary, structural and narratological approaches. In his later works, Walser seeks to refute the existing clichés about old age, polemically stating that old age is a forced lie or a theatrical performance. In Walser’s novels, theatricality as a metaphor for behavior is contrasted with the “confessional intention” (Ibatullina), which is embodied in the characters’ letters. At the level of the novel structure, the heterogeneity of the narrative reflects the dichotomy between fiction and authenticity. This study explores the evolution of the epistolary genre as a means to express the confessional intention in Walser’s late works. In the novel “Ein liebender Mann”, the letters reflect Goethe’s search for his true self in contrast to the theatricality of his Weimar milieu. The metaphorical self-description “old Werther” is reinterpreted in an ironic and tragic way: in his letters, Goethe, like Werther, adheres to an individualistic morality based on his own emotional life. While in the novel about Goethe, the letter is a genuine means of confessional self-disclosure, in the novel “Ein sterbender Mann”, the protagonist’s letters represent “a confessional loophole” (M. M. Bakhtin), and the character aligns with “the Underground Man” of Fyodor Dostoevsky. In these letters, the authenticity is indistinguishable from fiction: the letters are addressed to fictional characters, signed with pseudonyms, or remain unsent. The article concludes that the novel “Ein sterbender Mann” is close to postmodern poetics, as it transforms confession into performance. The novel “Ein sterbender Mann” also features existential motifs, as does Walser’s lyrical compilation of works “Spätdienst. Bekenntnis und Stimmung”, which explore old age as a liminal situation that exposes the lies of convention and focuses on the existence itself. However, there is no breakthrough to genuine existence in the Jaspersian sense, since the writer perceives even his own “Self” as a convention. The problem of communication failure and impossibility of communication about old age is at the heart of the writer’s later works, which is symbolized by unsendable letters (unabschickbare Briefe): the characters make the most poignant confessions in the letters that they do not dare to send. Thus, old age in Walser’s novels is presented as a painful existential experience, while letters become a space for both genuine confession and “a confession with a loophole” that fails to be understood and heard.

About the author(s) :

Olga A. Dronova

Derzhavin Tambov State University (Tambov, Russian Federation)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4508-7237

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 22.05.2026; date of publication: 31.10.2026

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