Abstract
Published in 1846, Der Waldgänger is the text in Stifter’s work that not only explores the figure of the child programmatically but does so with a deeply disturbing radicalness. This is nothing less than a key text, allowing an analytical approach to various aspects of the problematic of childhood. Up until now, it has not been taken into account that, with the motif of childlessness, Der Waldgänger relates to sociopolitical challenges of the time. In specific, the considerations of procreation and reproduction link into modern biopower discourse and practice (M. Foucault). Stifter thus champions a politics of saving children that had begun to emerge at the end of the 18th century.
Giuriato, Davide