Furriery and Taxidermy in Uwe Timm: The Implications of Handwerk

Taking its cue from Alle meine Geister (2023), this article traces the personal, familial, and narrative connections to furriery and taxidermy in Uwe Timm’s work, which reveal a broad and long-standing interest in the animal other. These two forms of Handwerk — understood as both skilled craft and tactile engagement — are performed at a remove from the animal death that is their prerequisite, but raise questions about our implication (in Michael Rothberg’s sense) in different forms and histories of violence. Furriery and taxidermy have metaphorical and metonymic significance for Timm and, like his own apprenticeship, are fundamental to his post-war project.