‘We Become Visible’: Television References As Intermedial Sites for Cultural Encounters in Jenny Erpenbeck’s Gehen, Ging, Gegangen

Abstract

ABSTRACT The 2015 Refugee Crisis was the European media event of the decade. It shed new light on European migration policies and narratives of migration. Through the device of intermedial references, Jenny Erpenbeck’s (2015) novel, Gehen, Ging, Gegangen, presents intercultural encounters as a superable challenge. The novel suggests that media like television continue to function as national mediums, and while they may serve as an impetus for engaging with others, encounters between strangers necessitate modes of engagement that extend beyond listening and watching. The references in the novel encourage a discussion of national frameworks, limits of seeing, embodied nationhood, hospitality, and the enduring relevance of unmediated testimony, especially in light of constant new developments in media.