27 research outputs found
Ian Wallace, ed.: The Writer and Society in the GDR
Beverley: Hutton Press, 1984. 160 p., $6.40
George Buehler: The Death of Socialist Realism in the Novels of Christa Wolf
Frankfurt a.M. and Bern: Peter Lang, 1984. 208 p., $25.25
Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind (2018)
After providing an introduction to German language family narratives of the past forty years and discussing the relevance of Michael Rothbergâs notion of the âImplicated Subjectâ for the study of these narratives, this article presents a detailed analysis of Susanne Fritzâs German-Polish family history Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind (How does the war get into the child, 2018). Exemplifying the archival turn in postmemorial writings, the book draws on multiple sources and makes a compelling case for a broader public acknowledgment of the incarceration of German civilians (including the authorâs mother) in post-war Polish labor camps, to this day a little-known aspect of German wartime suffering. The article examines on the one hand the intertwined nature of the motherâs wartime memories and the daughterâs postmemories and, on the other, questions of âimplicationâ at the historical and the textual level (i.e., regarding the ancestorsâ involvement in Nazi Germany and regarding the narratorâs positioning vis-Ă -vis her family history). The central challenge the narrative grapples with is how the suffering of Germans can be addressed within a larger perpetrator heritage. In its critical examination of archival materials and its multi-faceted examination of implication, the book makes a significant contribution to the collective memory of the (post-) war period as well as to the academic study of memory
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Fostering Transnational, Multilingual Collaboration: The Berlin-based Artists' Initiative WeiterSchreiben.jetzt
The Berlin-based initiative Weiter Schreiben was founded in 2017 by the writer Annika Reich and responds to the daunting refugee situation in contemporary Europe by encouraging collaboration between established and displaced writers living in Germany. The initiativeâs objective is to foster multidirectional networks instead of one-directional support.This article explores how the organizational features of Weiter Schreiben are directly tied to its successful fostering of transnational and multilingual communities. A discussion of the initiativeâs journal, (Weiter Schreiben Magazin, June, 2019) illustrates that these communities emerge through the conversation about â and the production and reception of â creative writing and other artistic endeavors. Specifically, the journalâs emphasis on locations and memories links the work of displaced writers and visual artists hailing from a range of continents and countries. My main case study is the collaborative exchange between the Syrian poet Lina Atfah who escaped Syria in 2014 and the author Nino Haratischwili who was born in Georgia and moved to Germany in 2003. The multiple forms of proximity that emerge between these two writers underscore the utter inadequacy of thinking in categories of national literatures. Inspired by Ann Rigneyâs work on transnational memory and the âconjuncturesâ Susan Stanford Friedman observes between ââNewâ World Literature and Migration Studies,â I conclude by pondering some of the broader implications of the Weiter Schreiben initiative for the role of creative writing in an increasingly interconnected world
La fuite et lâexpulsion dans la littĂ©rature contemporaine. RĂ©flexions mĂ©thodologiques Ă propos des notions de Heimat et dâespace
Dans un premier temps, cette contribution souligne la pertinence dâun recours aux thĂ©ories de lâespace pour lâanalyse des reprĂ©sentations littĂ©raires de la Heimat. Ă lâaide dâune telle approche, on peut dĂ©crire de façon nuancĂ©e des reprĂ©sentations volontairement diffĂ©rentes de la Heimat, notamment dans le contexte de la fuite et de lâexpulsion. En nous appuyant sur des analyses de textes, nous discuterons dans un deuxiĂšme temps les espaces de la « Heimat perdue » dans des romans de Horst Bien..