Abstract
This article examines the notion of “Desintegration” (de-integration), as introduced by German Jewish authors Max Czollek and Sasha Marianna Salzmann, against the backdrop of ongoing re-negotiations of identity, belonging, and “Heimat” (sense of home) in contemporary Germany. While many artistic contributions to the debates around “Desintegration” have come from the realm of performance art, I will pay special attention to Salzmann’s prize-winning novel Außer Sich (Beyond Myself) (2017), as a literary approximation of the “Desintegration” paradigm, which showcases what I call a “non-authoritative” poetics of non-belonging. I will conclude by showing that the notion of “Desintegration” and its connection to a broader “postmigrant” trajectory enable novel perspectives on three of the central issues discussed in this article: the current location of German Jewish literature and culture; contemporary German-language contestations of “Heimat” and belonging; and the relationship between art and politics.
Highlights
This article examines the notion of “Desintegration”, as introduced by German Jewish authors Max Czollek and Sasha Marianna Salzmann, against the backdrop of ongoing re-negotiations of identity, belonging, and “Heimat” in contemporary Germany
“Desintegration” and its connection to a broader “postmigrant” trajectory enable novel perspectives on three of the central issues discussed in this article: the current location of German Jewish literature and culture; contemporary German-language contestations of “Heimat” and belonging; and the relationship between art and politics
This process presumes the idea of a dominant societal center, otherwise the demand for integration would make no sense.)
Summary
The title of this article refers to a 2011 interview with Shermin Langhoff (Donath 2011), the director of the Ballhaus Naunynstraße, who took charge of the Maxim Gorki Theater in 2012. This process presumes the idea of a dominant societal center, otherwise the demand for integration would make no sense.) In his short essay “Gegenwartsbewältigung” (overcoming the present), Czollek emphasizes that there are differences between the two theaters and between the roles that Jews and migrants play/are forced to play in German discourse The cultural program of “Desintegration” can be contextualized within the broader field of postcolonial and queer approaches to questions of identity, minority, and representation Many of these interventions are concerned with making visible the existence and (re)construction of normative, homogenizing, and exclusionary patterns, whilst exploring the role of difference in generating and stabilizing what is perceived as the norm. The project seeks to reflect on them as a constituent part of itself
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