Black and white photo: Four different chairs are standing in front of a brick wall, from left to right: a curved chair without armrests, a cantilever chair, a chair with the backrest cut out at the bottom and armrests, an office chair with castors.

Neighborhood in Contemporary Berlin Literature

Today’s ubiquitous digital interconnectedness brings about new forms of intimacy and distance. Not only do they transform social interactions in the neighborhood, they also change existing ways of producing and perceiving literature. Authors and audiences can now come together not only at readings but also online. Social media’s “new neighborhoods” generate their own forms of exchange such as feedback loops or the mixing of roles of readers, authors, or non-human actors such as platform algorithms. Furthermore, they create overlaps between political, private, and literary expressions that create new challenges for criticism and literary studies.

By analyzing these developments under the aspect of “Nachbarschaften” (“neighborships”), this project aims to identify and describe the new relations in which texts and creators of literature have to currently situate themselves. The changing forms and formats of production, distribution, and reception are as important to the project as are the new practices of cooperation, solidarity, identity, belonging, and distinction—concepts which contemporary literature not only treats in its texts but that are also politically relevant in this context as they change both the mechanisms of the literary scene as well as its local structures.

The project is both a research and a transfer project. The public dialogue with literary creators and scholars in and from Berlin and the cooperation with local cultural and research institutions are essential parts of this work. Transfer takes place in both directions: on the one hand, research questions and topics are presented to an interested public. On the other hand, the public discussion formats bring about new impulses for the research.

The project contributes a literary perspective to the predominantly sociological discussion of neighborhood. A central concern will be to find common ground in the questions asked and thereby initiate a conversation between authors and researchers of scientific and literary disciplines. The ZfL Literature Days at the Literaturhaus held in November 2019 inaugurated this literary exploration of Berlin’s neighborhoods. The digital anthology Nachbarschaften, edited by the project researchers, gathers previously unpublished texts by literary authors and short scholarly essays.

 

Fig. above: © Dirk Naguschewski

2022–2023 funded by the Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health, Long-Term Care and Gender Equality
2019–2022 funded by The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Senate Chancellery – Higher Education and Research
since 2019
Head researcher: Hanna Hamel
Associate Researchers: Christina Ernst, Moritz Gansen (associated)

Publications

Hanna Hamel, Eva Stubenrauch (ed./eds.)

Wie postdigital schreiben?
Neue Verfahren der Gegenwartsliteratur

Literatur in der digitalen Gesellschaft
transcript, Bielefeld 2023, 258 pages
ISBN 978-3-8376-6561-1 (Print); 978-3-8394-6561-5 (PDF)
Pola Groß, Hanna Hamel (ed./eds.)

Neue Nachbarschaften: Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur
Themenheft von Sprache und Literatur

Vol. 51, Issue 1
Brill | Fink, 2022, 136 pages
eISSN 2589-0859; Print-ISSN 1438-1680

Christina Ernst

  • “Haine de l’homosexualité = pauvreté”? Maskulinität und Prekarität bei Édouard Louis, in: Lars Henk, Marie Schröer, Gregor Schuhe (eds.): Prekäre Männlichkeiten. Klassenkämpfe, soziale Ungleichheit und Abstiegsnarrative in Literatur und Film. Bielefeld: transcript 2022, 211–230
  • Transclasse und transgenre. Autosoziobiographische Schreibweisen bei Paul B. Preciado und Jayrôme C. Robinet, in: Eva Blome, Philipp Lammers, Sarah Seidel (eds.): Autosoziobiographie. Poetik und Politik. Heidelberg: J.B. Metzler 2022, 257–273
  • “Arbeiterkinderliteratur” nach Eribon. Autosoziobiographie in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur, in: Lendemains 180 (2020) = Transfuge, transfert, traduction. La réception de Didier Eribon dans les pays germanophones, ed. by  Elisabeth Kargl and Bénédicte Terrisse, 77–91
  • Das Leben schreiben. Annie Ernaux’ Tagebücher, in: ZfL Blog, 22 Jun 2020

Hanna Hamel

Events

Lecture
29 Jan 2024 · 6.00 pm

Hanna Hamel: Postdigitale Kooperationen. Aushandlungsprozesse literarischen Schreibens in der Gegenwart

Hauptgebäude TU Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin

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Lecture
15 Jan 2024 · 10.00 am

Christina Ernst: Autosoziobiografie

Universität der Künste, Mierendorffstr. 30, 10589 Berlin

read more
Readings, installation & panel discussion
30 Nov 2023 · 7.00 pm

Always Near V: Choose Your Future

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Pariser Str. 1, 10719 Berlin

read more
Reading and talk
29 Nov 2023 · 7.00 pm

Always Near IV: Pizza Hawaii in Resteuropa

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Pariser Str. 1, entrance Meierottostr. 8, 10719 Berlin

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Conference
29 Nov 2023 – 01 Dec 2023

Always Near. Nahe Zukunft in der Literatur der Gegenwart

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Pariser Str. 1, Eingang Meierottostr. 8, 10719 Berlin

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Input & panel discussion
08 Nov 2023 · 7.00 pm

Hanna Hamel: Wo beginnt weirdness? Grenzgänge der Gegenwartsliteratur

Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, Chausseestraße 125, 10115 Berlin

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Walk and reading
17 Sep 2023 · 5.00 pm

Von Krähen und Menschen. Verflochtene Lebensräume. Walk and reading with Tabea Hertzog and Cord Riechelmann

5.00 pm Hermannplatz and 7.00 pm Grimmstraße/Dieffenbachstraße, 10967 Berlin

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Lecture
12 Jul 2023 · 4.45 pm

Christina Ernst: “Die Freiheit einer Frau”. Autosoziobiografie als intergenerationelle ‘transclasse’-Erzählung bei Édouard Louis

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Monacensia im Hildebrandhaus, Maria-Theresia-Straße 23, 81675 München

read more
Walk and reading
07 Jul 2023 · 5.00 pm

Verflochtene Lebensräume. Was uns Krähen erzählen. Walk and reading with Tabea Hertzog and Cord Riechelmann

Hermannplatz, 10967 (17 Uhr) Berlin und Floating Berlin (19 Uhr), Lilienthalstraße 32, 10965 Berlin

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Lecture
22 Jun 2023 · 4.15 pm

Hanna Hamel: Intimität des Paratextes (Despentes/Preciado; Bowker/Star)

Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, room JK 31/121, 14195 Berlin

read more
ZfL Literature Days at Literaturhaus Berlin
09 Jun 2023 – 10 Jun 2023

Games

Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstr. 23, 10719 Berlin

read more
Conversation
06 Jun 2023 · 7.30 pm

Always Near III: Empty Planets. On Uninhabitable Landscapes

diffrakt | zentrum für theoretische peripherie, Crellestraße 22, 10827 Berlin

read more
Lecture
24 Mar 2023 · 3.30 pm

Christina Ernst: Postcolonial theoretical references in Didier Eribon’s writing

Freie Universität Berlin, EXC Temporal Communities, Room 00.05, Otto von Simson Str. 15, 14195 Berlin

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Reading and talk
03 Feb 2023 · 6.00 pm

Always Near II: “Neu-Berlin”

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Schützenstr. 18, 10117 Berlin, Aufgang B, 3. Et., Trajekte-Tagungsraum

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Reading and talk
12 Dec 2022 · 6.00 pm

Always Near I: “Die Realität kommt”

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Schützenstr. 18, 10117 Berlin, Aufgang B, 3. Et., Trajekte-Tagungsraum

read more
Reading and talk
07 Dec 2022 · 7.30 pm

Zwischen uns ist jetzt Krieg. Anna Melikova talks with Matthias Schwartz

KVOST – Kunstverein Ost, Leipziger Straße 47, 10117 Berlin

read more
Exhibition tour, reading, podium discussion, performance, music
06 Dec 2022 · 6.00 pm

Diskurs-Salon #1: “Clapping Won’t Pay My Bills” – Streit über Geld & Arbeit

Museum für Kommunikation Berlin, Leipziger Str. 16, 10117 Berlin

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Panel discussion
02 Dec 2022 · 6.00 pm

Hanna Hamel and others: Wie zusammen wohnen? Alternative Wohnkonzepte in Hinblick auf Gemeinschaft

online via Zoom

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Lecture
23 Sep 2022 · 11.00 am

Hanna Hamel: Track changes: Schreibweisen vergleichender Glättung

Universität Bielefeld, X-Gebäude, Raum B2-10, Universitätsstr. 2, 33615 Bielefeld

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Lecture
22 Sep 2022 · 11.00 am

Christina Ernst: Die ‘classes populaires’ in Édouard Louis’ “En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule” (2014) und Louis-Ferdinand Célines “Mort à credit” (1936)

Universität Wien

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Lecture
29 Jul 2022 · 5.00 pm

Hanna Hamel: Glitch triggern

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, Raum F 007

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Workshop
29 Jun 2022 – 30 Jun 2022

Wie postdigital schreiben? Verfahren der Gegenwartsliteratur

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Schützenstr. 18, 10117 Berlin, Aufgang B, 3. Et.

read more
Panel discussion
27 Jun 2022 · 7.00 pm

Doppelrollen im Literaturbetrieb

Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstraße 23, 10719 Berlin, Garten / livestream

read more
ATTENTION: Unfortunately, the event has to be cancelled!
24 Jun 2022 · 7.00 pm

Tragödienbastard: Wo spielt das Gegenwartstheater?

Vierte Welt, Adalbertstr. 4, Galerie 1.OG, 10999 Berlin

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Reading and talk
14 Jun 2022 · 7.00 pm

“Sie verlassen den heteronormativen Sektor”

Kollektivbar ES, Plügerstraße 52, 12047 Berlin

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Reading and talk
09 Jun 2022 · 7.00 pm

Paperbacks und PDFs

diffrakt | zentrum für theoretische peripherie, Crellestraße 22, 10827 Berlin

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Panel discussion
08 Jun 2022 · 7.00 pm

Spaces of Fanfiction

Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, Chausseestraße 125, 10115 Berlin

read more
Reading, talk & music in the GLITCHES series
17 May 2022 · 6.00 pm

GLITCHES #3: Elisa Aseva and Hanna Hamel followed by Alexandra Cárdenas

Museum für Kommunikation, Kaffeehaus, Leipziger Straße 16, 10117 Berlin

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Reading, talk & music in the GLITCHES series
26 Apr 2022 · 6.00 pm

GLITCHES #2: Elias Hirschl and Hanna Hamel followed by Adi Gelbart

Museum für Kommunikation, Kaffeehaus, Leipziger Straße 16, 10117 Berlin

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Reading, talk & music in the GLITCHES series
05 Apr 2022 · 6.00 pm

GLITCHES #1: Hannes Bajohr and Philipp Schönthaler followed by Manu Louis

Museum für Kommunikation, Kaffeehaus, Leipziger Straße 16, 10117 Berlin

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Lecture
13 Dec 2021 · 4.15 pm

Hanna Hamel: AI and literary production

online via Zoom

read more
Lecture
12 Nov 2021 · 5.10 pm

Hanna Hamel: Philosophische Kurznachrichten oder: Wäre Adorno heute auf Twitter?

Centre Marc Bloch, Friedrichstraße 191, 10117 Berlin

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Reading and talk
04 Nov 2021 · 7.30 pm

In Gemeinschaft liest’s sich besser. Reading and talk with Paul Bokowski

KVOST – Kunstverein Ost, Leipziger Straße 47, 10117 Berlin

read more
Reading and talk
29 Oct 2021 · 7.30 pm

In Gemeinschaft liest’s sich besser. Reading and talk with Lea Streisand

KVOST – Kunstverein Ost, Leipziger Straße 47, 10117 Berlin

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Reading & talk followed by a public discussion
21 Oct 2021 · 6.00 pm

Die verführte Nachbarin

Kollektivbar ES, Plügerstraße 52, 12047 Berlin

read more
Lecture
06 Oct 2021 · 2.00 pm

Christina Ernst: Autorschaft in der Autosoziobiographie

Campus Center, Moritzstr. 18, 34127 Kassel, Hörsaal 3

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Lectures, walks, and talks
17 Sep 2021 – 26 Sep 2021

Festival der Kooperationen mit Alexander Kluge & friends “Der Elefant im Dunkeln”

Literaturhaus Berlin a.o.

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Lecture
09 Sep 2021

Pola Groß and Hanna Hamel: Netznachbarschaften 3.0: Autor*innen-Stile und Kollektive

Tübingen

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Project pitch
07 Sep 2021 · 4.00 pm

Pola Groß and Hanna Hamel: Neue Nachbarschaften. Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur

online via Zoom

read more
Lecture
05 Jul 2021 · 12.15 pm

Christina Ernst: Schreibformen der Autosoziobiographie

online via Webex

read more
ZfL Literature Days
11 Jun 2021 – 12 Jun 2021

Distance

Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstr. 23, 10719 Berlin – garden / livestream

read more
Vortrag
26 Apr 2021 · 7.00 pm

Tim Dean: How to Have Sex in a Pandemic

ICI Berlin, Christinenstr. 18–19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin

read more
Digital Workshop
23 Apr 2021 · 9.30 am

StadtLand, LandStadt. Die Stadt-Land-Differenz in Literatur und Gesellschaft der Gegenwart, with Christina Ernst and Hanna Hamel

online via Zoom

read more
Lecture Performance and Artist Talk
11 Apr 2021 · 8.00 pm

STÖRGERÄUSCHE. Ein performatives Zoom-Gespräch von hannsjana

online via Zoom

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Lecture
24 Mar 2021 · 7.00 pm

Jean-Luc Nancy: Touche-touche

ICI Berlin, Christinenstr. 18–19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin

read more
Lecture
11 Feb 2021 · 7.00 pm

Susanna Paasonen: Infrastructures of Intimacy and the Deplatforming of Sex

ICI Berlin, Christinenstr. 18–19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin

read more
Reading and Talk
28 Nov 2020 · 4.00 pm

Zwischenräume. Nachbarschaften im Berlin-Comic “Jein”

Livestream

read more
Readings and Workshop
19 Nov 2020 – 20 Nov 2020

Neue Nachbarschaften. Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur

Online

read more
Livestream: Reading and Talk
28 May 2020 · 6.30 pm

Partner oder Polizei? Über die Zukunft des Zusammenlebens mit Hubots

read more
ZfL Literature Days
22 Nov 2019 – 23 Nov 2019

Neighbourhood

Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstr. 23, 10719 Berlin

read more

Media Response

26 Jan 2023
Stadt, Land, Kiez – Die Online-Anthologie Nachbarschaften des ZfL Berlin

Article by Hilka Dirks, in: Cee Cee Berlin, 26 Jan 2023

24 Feb 2021
Wir schreiben Kiez-Geschichte

Newspaper article by Sebastian Bauer, in: B.Z. (24 Feb 2021), 14–15

Contributions

7 Jul 2023 Audio
“Das geheime Leben der Nebelkrähe”
Conversation with Cord Riechelmann on Deutschlandfunk Kultur
© Deutschlandfunk Kultur

12 Dec 2022 Audio
“Die Realität kommt”
Reading and talk with Rudi Nuss, moderated by Alexandra Heimes at the ZfL
© ZfL

8 Dec 2022 Video
“In Gemeinschaft liest’s sich besser”
Reading and talk with Paul Bokowski, moderated by Georgia Lummert, recorded at KVOST | Kunstverein Ost e.V. on 4 Nov 2021
© ZfL

8 Dec 2022 Video
“In Gemeinschaft liest’s sich besser”
Reading and talk with Lea Streisand, moderated by Dirk Naguschewski, recorded at KVOST | Kunstverein Ost e.V. on 29 Oct 2021
© ZfL


20 Nov 2022 Audio
“Doppelrollen im Literaturbetrieb”
Panel discussion with Johannes Franzen, Christiane Frohmann, and Lea Schneider, moderated by Hanna Hamel and Eva Stubenrauch at the Literaturhaus Berlin on 27 Jun 2022, broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Audio: © Deutschlandfunk Kultur

4 Aug 2022 Audio
Klassenräume. Autosoziobiografie bei Annie Ernaux
Podcast with Christina Ernst and Margot Lachkar on the science podcast fabulari
© fabulari

27 Jun 2022 Video
“Doppelrollen im Literaturbetrieb”
Panel discussion with Johannes Franzen, Christiane Frohmann, and Lea Schneider, moderated by Hanna Hamel and Eva Stubenrauch

21 Oct 2021 Video
“Die verführte Nachbarin”
Reading and talk with Angela Steidele, moderated by Christina Ernst, at KollektivBar ES
© ZfL

11 Oct 2021 Video
“Nachbarschaften: Stadt Kunst Architektur”
Video essay by Dirk Naguschewski and Nicola Chodan. A production of the project “Neighborhood in Contemporary Berlin Literature” in cooperation with KVOST – Kunstverein Ost (Berlin)
© ZfL

17–26 Sep 2021 Videos
Position beziehen
City walks and panel discussion as part of the festival of cooperations with Alexander Kluge & friends Der Elefant im Dunkeln” with Sebastian Januszewski, Patrick Eiden-Offe, Sebastian Kirsch, Sandra Bartoli, Matthias Glaubrecht, Daniela Danz and Salome Rodeck
© Literaturhaus Berlin

28 May 2021 Audio
“Kochen, Blumen gießen, Schreiben. Nachbarschaft im Internet”
Interview with Hanna Hamel in the program “Studio 9: Kultur und Politik am Morgen” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, moderated by Ute Welty
© Deutschlandfunk Kultur

26 Apr 2021 Video
“How to Have Sex in a Pandemic”
Lecture by Tim Dean (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) as part of the online lecture series “Intimacy,” with Ben Nichols and Peter Rehberg
© ICI BERLIN

24 Mar 2021 Video
“Touche-touche”
Lecture by Jean-Luc Nancy (European Graduate School) as part of the online lecture series “Intimacy,” with Eva Geulen and Apostolos Lampropoulos, with an introduction by Peter Rehberg
© ICI BERLIN

11 Feb 2021 Video
“Infrastructures of Intimacy and the Deplatforming of Sex”
Lecture by Susanna Paasonen (University of Turku) as part of the online lecture series “Intimacy,” moderated by Ben Miller and Georg Dickmann, with an introduction by Peter Rehberg
© ICI BERLIN

28 Nov 2020 Video
“Zwischenräume. Nachbarschaften im Berlin-Comic ›Jein‹ von Büke Schwarz”
Reading and talk with author Büke Schwarz, Christina Ernst, and comic researcher Marie Schröer as part of Comicinvasion 2020
© Comicinvasion

22 Nov 2020 Audio
“Literatur nach Maß? Markt, Stil und Social Media”
Radio feature on the event “Neue Nachbarschaften. Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur” in the program “Kultur heute” on Deutschlandfunk
© Deutschlandfunk

28 May 2020 Video
“Partner oder Polizei? Über die Zukunft des Zusammenlebens mit Hubots”
Reading and discussion with Emma Braslavsky (author) and Rainer Mühlhoff (philosopher, mathematician, programmer, TU Berlin), moderated by Hanna Hamel
© Museum für Kommunikation Berlin