‘HERKUNFT IST ZUFALL’: ZU OFFENEN HERKUNFTS- UND HEIMATKONZEPTEN IN DER LITERATUR DER DEUTSCHEN POSTMIGRANTISCHEN GENERATION

Abstract

In the context of present mass migrations, escapes and ethnic wars, the traditional approach to origin and homeland in terms of belonging to an ethnically homogeneous nation, monocultures with one mother tongue and a strictly defined territory are subject to criticism and (re)-defining. This article presents and analyses examples of four literary works whose authors are representatives of the young post-immigrant generation in Germany: the prose texts by Saša Stanišić (Herkunft, 2020), Senthuran Varatharajah (Vor der Zunahme der Zeichen, 2017) and Katja Petrowskaja (Vielleicht Esther, 2014), and a radio play by Marina Frenk (Jenseits der Kastanien, 2017). In the selected prose works and radio play, the authors raise the issue of origin and homeland in the context of migration, globalisation, and transcultural movements. The article presents the complex processes of searching for adequate artistic expression for experiences related to disrupting family lineage continuity, loss of homeland as a country of birth, and multilingualism. The traditional patterns of stories about origin and homeland are broken and their semantics are redefined. Hybrid, open and ambiguous narrative forms replace the linearity of cause-and-effect chains. Belonging to a multitude of locations and systems, multilingualism, multi-media, and transcultural strategies are a literary alternative to nationally coded models of origin and homeland.