The Perception of a State of Insecurity in Literature on Global Occurrences. Gehen, Ging, Gegangen vs. Die Flucht
The paper discusses two currently dominating global occurrences that appear to have common features. First, backed by the example of Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Gehen, Ging, Gegangen (2015) that addresses the migration flows we witness, questions will be raised about the differences in perception of the causes for global cultural changes seeking equalization and upholding, viewed from the perspective of Western civilization, and German particularly. In the second part of the paper Gerhard Gesemann’s novel Die Flucht (1935), marking the anniversaries on the occasion of WWI, is being introduced in its function of a remembrance literature dealing with the retreat of the Serbian military in the Great War together with its expelled residents from the homeland to their asylum in Corfu. By comparing these two novels on both “refugee-ness” and state of insecurity, the paper points out different cultural forms existing because of the accumulated historical experiences, and shows how this circumstance influences the understanding of the aforementioned topics. Following this idea, the contribution underlines additional differences in defining the concept of home by describing cultural patterns and their treatment of the mediated reflected reality.
Lately, two major topics dominated the picture of the media landscape. The first one, the topic of the refugee problem and the associated migration flows seem to have raised fundamental questions about intercultural conditions, especially in the integration discussion. In a global context, the discussions on the First World War and on the occasion of its anniversaries is the second main theme that sheds new light on the question of cultural boundaries, as viewed from Serbian historiography. The paper discusses these two currently dominating global occurrences that appear to have common features. First, backed by the example of Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Gehen, Ging, Gegangen (2015) that addresses the migration flows we witness, questions will be raised about the differences in perception of the causes for global cultural changes seeking equalization and upholding, viewed from the perspective of Western civilization, and German particularly. Referring to the way refugee subjectivity is perceived, it becomes very clear that the cultural pattern of the host community is determined by its historical experience. Such experience made by the German people is irrevocably marked by the division of the German state after the Second World War. In this case, a distinction can be made between a collective memory and the remembrance of individuals.
In the second part of the paper Gerhard Gesemann’s novel Die Flucht (1935), marking the anniversaries on the occasion of WWI, is being introduced in its function of a remembrance literature dealing with the retreat of the Serbian military in the Great War together with its expelled residents from the homeland to their asylum in Corfu. Since the Middle Ages and culminating in WWI the historical experience of the Serbian people created a perception of statehood as an insecure category. In connection with this, the subject area of hospitableness gives a whole new dimension to the context of the migration flows and their cause. This will be examined in the context of cultural contact, especially motivated by the idea of the EU as a project of a common cultural space. Therefore, the question of disintegrative processes on what is today called the Western Balkans is considered to be important.
Relying on a culture founded in universality just the hospitality of Western Europe is questioned, accordingly. In addition, the migration flows towards Western European civilization reveal limits of contemporary cultural understanding. The reorganization of a cultural landscape after the First World War shifted the areas of tension to new ones as a result of the accompanying social changes. As is known, this can be seen in the reporting and media activity which began in the First World War and is becoming ever more intense. Regardless of the historical process during the Second World War, the beginnings of the documentary role of the media since the First World War seem to have reached the climax of their debatable function just today. But a literary-critical approach, including recourse to motifs from the history of literature, both in contrast to a reality staged by the media, provides insights into current processes of general cultural development.
By comparing these two novels on both “refugee-ness” and state of insecurity, the paper points out different cultural forms existing because of the accumulated historical experiences, and shows how this circumstance influences the understanding of the aforementioned topics. Following this idea, the contribution underlines additional differences in defining the concept of home by describing cultural patterns and their treatment of the mediated reflected reality.
