Precarity in Burhan Qurbani's Berlin Alexanderplatz (2020)

Abstract

When Burhan Qurbani's adaptation of Döblin's modernist classic Berlin Alexanderplatz premiered in 2020, criticism included the allegation that Qurbani's protagonist Francis—a Black refugee from Guinea-Bissau stranded at the outskirts of present-day Berlin—does not resemble the novel's released prisoner and street vendor Franz Biberkopf. This article presents a comparative investigation of Qurbani's Francis and Döblin's Biberkopf. Drawing on Judith Butler's writing on precarity, grievability, and the quest for a “good life,” I consider how both Francis and Biberkopf face increased risk of injury, occupy a liminal space in society, and cannot fulfill their intention to be morally good while also achieving upward social mobility. Their failure is a direct consequence of their politically and socioeconomically precarious condition: Biberkopf belongs to the underclass of the lumpenproletariat, whereas Francis, as an undocumented immigrant, is exposed to neoliberal hyper-precarity.