Dualla Misipo (1901–1973) was a Cameroonian-German-French writer. His novel Der Junge aus Duala is one of the first postcolonial literary texts written in German.[1] It was first published in 1973, but we presume that parts of it were already written during the interwar period. The novel recounts the story of Ekwe Njembele, a young Cameroonian boy born in the port city of Douala during Germany’s colonial rule. After attending Douala’s German government school, he continues his education in Germany at about age ten. Before he even arrives at his “second home”[2]—a small Hessian town where he will live with a foster family—his journey brings him to Frankfurt am Main. Here, his travel companions—a white German teacher from Douala and his foster father—are eager to immediately take him to the famous Frankfurt Zoo. „Gianna Zocco: AGENCY AND POWERLESSNESS IN AN EARLY POSTCOLONIAL NOVEL IN GERMAN“ weiterlesen
Kategorie: LEKTÜREN
Laura Otis: LITERATURE AS HANDWORK: Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”
A wide range of readers have admired Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019). Both his first and his second novel, The Emperor of Gladness (2025), have been translated into German as Auf Erden sind wir kurz grandios and Der Kaiser der Freude, respectively. In language of striking beauty and originality, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous tells the story of Little Dog, a 28-year-old gay, working-class Vietnamese-American writer, and the family members who made his life possible. Inspired by people who defy oppression by finding joy, he honors them by crafting poetry. „Laura Otis: LITERATURE AS HANDWORK: Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”“ weiterlesen
Jenaba Samura: WALKING THE LINE / CROSSING BORDERS: CARYL PHILLIPS’ EVENING STROLL THROUGH EAST BERLIN
That the stares of hostility were motivated as much by envy as by racial antagonism did little to ease my discomfort.
Caryl Phillips, The European Tribe
Exploring Black Europe via travel, Black British journalist and photographer Johny Pitts (*1987) and his “mentor” Caryl Phillips (*1958) push the margins of how “Europeanness” can be defined.[1] As both come from a working-class background and grew up in the British countryside, there are many similarities not only in their biographies but also in their works, especially in their engagement with Europe, which they feel “both of and not of.”[2] In Afropean. Notes from Black Europe (2019), Pitts mentions the book’s connection to Phillips’ earlier travelogue The European Tribe (1987). He describes it as “one of the few direct precursors to this book” and praises it for being both “quietly subversive” and a normalization of the Black gaze (116–117). Pondering the question of who and what defines Europe/Europeanness, both Phillips and Pitts passed through Berlin on their travels around Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. „Jenaba Samura: WALKING THE LINE / CROSSING BORDERS: CARYL PHILLIPS’ EVENING STROLL THROUGH EAST BERLIN“ weiterlesen
Fanny Helena Wehner: ALEXANDER PUSHKIN, AFROPEAN POET
Why couldn’t these ghosts make themselves useful for once?
Bernardine Evaristo, Soul Tourists
The pivotal role of Alexander Pushkin in the Soviet state-sponsored literary project cannot be overstated: He served as the “model poet” not only for Russia but also for all other Soviet republics that were supposed to develop “their own Pushkin,” as Maxim Gorky suggested in his speech at the First Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934.[1] Pushkin’s role as the nation’s primary poet had been firmly established since the Pushkin Jubilee in 1880. In the imperial literary discourse, the religious ideal of the “poet-prophet” was largely modeled on him. In the Soviet remodeling of Pushkin, this image merged with the Socialist Realist ideal of the writer as an “engineer of the human soul.”[2] Pushkin served not only as a national poet but also as a cultural, i.e., secular saint.[3] Consequently, Soviet Pushkin studies allowed little room for thought that seemed sacrilegious or iconoclastic. Thus, despite the significant socio-cultural changes following the collapse of the Soviet Union, contemporary Pushkin research continues to grapple with persistent lacunae in the history of his reception. „Fanny Helena Wehner: ALEXANDER PUSHKIN, AFROPEAN POET“ weiterlesen
Sandra Folie: APPROPRIATING EXOTICIST CODES, EXPOSING NEOCOLONIAL AMNESIA IN SUDABEH MORTEZAI’S “JOY”
In my project “Re-imagining Europe in Neocolonial Enslavement Narratives,” I examine fictional accounts of human trafficking, particularly those that focus on Black African women who migrate to Europe and end up as sex workers. I introduce the term “neocolonial enslavement narratives” to describe these texts as they depict late twentieth/twenty-first century experiences of enslavement while exposing Europe’s ongoing exploitation of its former colonies. Although these texts share a genre lineage with autobiographical slave narratives, which typically focus on U.S. antebellum slavery, they differ due to their fictionalization and contemporary European settings. A key strength of this emerging genre is its challenging of “the powerful narrative of Europe as a colorblind continent,”[1] supposedly untouched by the oppressive ideologies it spread globally. By decentering and appropriating the white European gaze, films such as Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy (Austria 2018) contribute to a Black re-imagining of Europe. They also challenge androcentric perspectives in Afropean cultural productions, amplifying the voices of an often-overlooked group within the African diaspora. „Sandra Folie: APPROPRIATING EXOTICIST CODES, EXPOSING NEOCOLONIAL AMNESIA IN SUDABEH MORTEZAI’S “JOY”“ weiterlesen
Aurore Peyroles: FOR OR AGAINST POLITICAL LITERATURE. A French Controversy
In January 2024, a small volume with a deliberately provocative title was published in France: Contre la littérature politique[1] – against political literature. The title, which suggests yet another attack on littérature engagée or message-oriented literature, is remarkable not only because it features contributions by a number of French authors known for the critical power of their texts, their radicalism, and/or their commitment,[2] but also because the book was published by one of the most left-wing publishers on the French literary scene, La fabrique éditions. It is not surprising, therefore, that the contributors do not target political literature as a whole, but a certain kind of political literature, a certain way in which texts that they consider innocuous are labelled political. They criticize the depoliticization of literature at a time when its political significance is being elevated and call for a rethinking of the relationship between literature and politics, renewing the tensions between these two components rather than taking their interrelationship for granted. „Aurore Peyroles: FOR OR AGAINST POLITICAL LITERATURE. A French Controversy“ weiterlesen
Sabrina Costa Braga: What’s There to Laugh About? A REFLECTION ON MEMORY, ART, AND RESISTANCE IN “I’M STILL HERE”
Brazil just won its first Oscar, and the timing couldn’t have been better. It was Carnaval, a perfect moment for nationwide celebration. On social media, there was an extensive campaign endorsing the film I’m Still Here and its lead actress, Fernanda Torres (who had already won a Golden Globe for Best Actress), showing the passion with which Brazilians root for their own. Perhaps this enthusiasm can be traced back to the days when Brazil dominated world football, or maybe it’s a deeper desire to redefine how the world sees us, proving that we are far more than the enduring stereotype of a joyful yet struggling poor nation.[1] Both joy and struggle are indeed part of Brazil’s identity, but they are far more than mere traits. „Sabrina Costa Braga: What’s There to Laugh About? A REFLECTION ON MEMORY, ART, AND RESISTANCE IN “I’M STILL HERE”“ weiterlesen
Sandra Folie: MOHAMED MBOUGAR SARRS »DIE GEHEIMSTE ERINNERUNG DER MENSCHEN« IM ZEICHEN VON ÄSTHETIK UND POLITIK
Auf der ZfL-Klausurtagung 2024 wurde Mohamed Mbougar Sarrs Roman La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (Die geheimste Erinnerung der Menschen) gelesen.[1] Dieses Werk wirft einige Fragen auf, die dem ZfL-Jahresthema »Aktivismus und Wissenschaft« nahestehen: Welche Asymmetrien existieren in der Bewertung von Literatur? Legen Literaturwissenschaft und Literaturkritik abhängig von der Herkunft, Ethnizität und/oder race der Autor:innen unterschiedliche Maßstäbe an? Welche Rolle spielen im Literaturbetrieb Diskussionen um kulturelle Aneignung oder die Praktik des ›Cancelns‹, bei der – wie es im Duden heißt – »einer Person oder einer Organisation aufgrund vorgeworfener [moralischer, politischer] Verfehlungen die bisherige Unterstützung entz[ogen wird]«? Und wie aktualisiert sich das alte Muster Elfenbeinturm vs. Engagement in der Rezeption von Gegenwartsliteratur? Auch wenn Sarr seinen Fokus weniger auf die Wissenschaft als vielmehr auf den Literaturbetrieb richtet, spielt die Einflussnahme von Wissenschaftler:innen auf die Rezeption von Literatur im Roman eine entscheidende Rolle. Sie bildet, wie ich zeigen werde, einen möglichen Ausgangspunkt für die Erkundung des Verhältnisses von Ästhetik und Politik. „Sandra Folie: MOHAMED MBOUGAR SARRS »DIE GEHEIMSTE ERINNERUNG DER MENSCHEN« IM ZEICHEN VON ÄSTHETIK UND POLITIK“ weiterlesen
»ZWISCHEN UNS HERRSCHT NUN KRIEG«. Dirk Naguschewski und Nina Weller im Gespräch mit Anna Melikova über ihren Roman »Ich ertrinke in einem fliehenden See«
Ende 2024 erschien der Debütroman der ukrainischen Schriftstellerin Anna Melikova (Ich ertrinke in einem fliehenden See, übersetzt von Christiane Pöhlmann, Matthes & Seitz Berlin 2024). Zwei Jahre zuvor hatte sie auf Einladung des ZfL im Berliner KVOST (Kunstverein Ost) einige Auszüge auf Deutsch vorgestellt. Der Beginn des russischen Großangriffs auf die Ukraine lag damals gerade sechs Monate zurück, der Krieg war allgegenwärtig. Am 20. Januar 2025 trafen sich Dirk Naguschewski (DN) und Nina Weller (NW) mit Anna Melikova (AM) zu einem neuerlichen Gespräch über die Entstehungsgeschichte dieses Romans, in dem die Geschichte einer obsessiven Beziehung zwischen zwei Frauen mit den politischen Entwicklungen in der Ukraine verknüpft wird. „»ZWISCHEN UNS HERRSCHT NUN KRIEG«. Dirk Naguschewski und Nina Weller im Gespräch mit Anna Melikova über ihren Roman »Ich ertrinke in einem fliehenden See«“ weiterlesen
Gianna Zocco: 100 JAHRE JAMES BALDWIN. Zu René Aguigahs Baldwin-Porträt
Claude Haas hat kürzlich anlässlich des Kafka-Jahres bemerkt, dass die intellektuelle Ausbeute literarischer Gedenkjahre in der Regel mager ausfalle und zu solchen Anlässen »viel Nippes« auf den Markt geworfen werde.[1] Im Fall des afroamerikanischen Schriftstellers und Aktivisten James Baldwin, der 2024 seinen 100. Geburtstag gefeiert hätte, ist die Lage glücklicherweise eine andere. Denn sein Jubiläum fiel in eine schon seit einigen Jahren andauernde ›Baldwin-Renaissance‹, die maßgeblich durch Filme wie Raoul Pecks I Am Not Your Negro (2016) und Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) angestoßen wurde und im Zuge der Internationalisierung der Black Lives Matter-Bewegung nach der Ermordung von George Floyd 2020 weiter an Fahrt gewann. „Gianna Zocco: 100 JAHRE JAMES BALDWIN. Zu René Aguigahs Baldwin-Porträt“ weiterlesen