Divided We Write: Uwe Tellkamp’s Der Turm (2008) And Nora Nadjarian’s Ledra Street (2006)

Abstract

The essay analyses two recent texts on division and unification, Uwe Tellkamp’s Der Turm (2008) and Nora Nadjarian’s Ledra Street (2006) with regard to their poetics of separation. It begins with Der Turm and through a close reading of several text passages demonstrates how its poetics participate in discourses of division and possible unification. It then proceeds to Ledra Street and compares the two texts in respect of their poetics. It becomes clear that although the texts hail from different genres and political systems, they have much in common, in particular their belief in the power of poetry to challenge, if not change, the political status quo. Wherever my writing is divided, I feel cold.