Neighborhood in Contemporary Berlin Literature
The neighborhood, as a concept, faces many challenges today. In particular, the scarcity of living space and the competition for affordable housing characterize the daily lives of Berliners and as a topic, proves to be a powerful determinant in what receives media coverage today. Furthermore, the harrowing experiences of flight and exile endured by refugees coming into Europe, as well as the omnipresent fear of poverty, homelessness, and the unknown further place stress on an already fragile social ecosystem. For this reason, great hopes and expectations are being set on local structures within districts and villages. Often the neighborhood thus gains utopian features.
The German term ‘Nachbarschaft’ (‘neighborship’) designates a locality existing within the minimum recognizable amount of space, whose borders, however, are not defined and are constantly in flux. According to the etymology, ‘Nachbarschaft’ means the relationship to whoever is spatially nearest. But in times of digital media, this spatial vicinity is losing importance. ‘Nachbarschaft’ is about living together peacefully but also includes tense and conflictual relationships.
The starting point of this project are the representations and negotiations of neighborly relationships and networks in contemporary literature. Contemporary literature from Berlin especially displays a wide variety of imaginations of neighborhood. Much of the Berlin literature scene being multi-lingual allows for a wider perspective including neighborhoods between countries, languages, with and in other regions. Furthermore, the focus on neighborhoods transcends common dichotomies such as city versus countryside or district versus city and thus affords a view of social networks under the conditions of global interconnectedness.
The project seeks to add a literary perspective to the predominantly sociological discussion of neighborhood. A central concern will be to find common ground in the questions asked, thereby initiating a conversation between authors and researchers of scientific and literary disciplines. The ZfL Literature Days in the Literaturhaus held in November 2019 inaugurated this literary exploration of Berlin’s neighborhoods. The digital anthology, edited by the project researchers, gathers previously unpublished texts by authors and short scholarly essays.
Fig. above: © Dirk Naguschewski
Publications
Neue Nachbarschaften: Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur
Themenheft von Sprache und Literatur
- Christina Ernst/Hanna Hamel (ed.): Online Anthology “Nachbarschaften,” starting 2020
- Dirk Naguschewski: “Von Integration bis Datenschutz. Was Klingelschilder über die Gesellschaft verraten,” in: Tagesspiegel, 17 Nov 2020
Christina Ernst
- 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,
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“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
- Einleitung: Neue Nachbarschaften: Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur, in: Sprache und Literatur 51.1 (2022) = Neue Nachbarschaften: Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur, ed. by Pola Groß and Hanna Hamel, 1–17 (with Pola Groß)
- Lizenz zur Lüge im Angesicht des nahen Todes. Highsmith und Houellebecq über Literatur, in: ZfL Blog, 7 Feb 2022
- Sensibel auf Abstand, in: ZfL Blog, 21 May 2021
- Neue Nachbarschaften? Stil und Social Media in der Gegenwartsliteratur, in: ZfL Blog, 17 Mar 2020 (with Pola Groß)
- Nachbarschaften. Nachlese zu den ZfL-Literaturtagen, in: ZfL Blog, 18 Dec 2019
Events
Media Response
Contributions
14 Feb 2022 Audio
“Das Medium ist die Botschaft – Social-Media-Literatur”
Radio feature by Jakob Stärker with Hanna Hamel i.a. in the program “Mosaik” on WDR 3.
© WDR 3
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
11–12 Jun 2021 Picture Gallery
“Distance”
Pictures of the ZfL Literature Days at the Literaturhaus Berlin, in cooperation with the project “Neighborhood in Contemporary Berlin Literature” and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. With readings and talks with Sharon Dodua Otoo, Joshua Groß, Leif Randt, Olivia Wenzel, Jackie Thomae, Juan S. Guse, Iris Hainka, and Lutz Seiler and a lecture by Johannes Franzen.
© 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