Widerständige Sprachpraxis und literarische Selbstermächtigung: Postmigrantische Perspektiven auf Ein- und Mehrsprachigkeit in Lena Goreliks Roman Wer wir sind (2021)

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses Lena Gorelik’s latest novel Wer wir sind (2021) in terms of cultural debates on postmigration diversity and multilin-gualism in modern Germany in recent years. The novel Wer wir sind can be read as a process of dealing with the family experience of migration, shown across generations, as well as the difficult process of learning German and settling into a culturally different context. The analysis of the novel focuses on linguistic and narratological means through which the opposition to the national concepts of monolingualism and the identity of migrants as ‘others’ is expressed. The process of learning German, the role of the German-speaking writer and multilingual identity are presented in the novel as strategies of opposition to the hegemonic national discourse. On the one hand, learning German and writing literary works in this language appear to be subversive activities in relation to oppressive cultural and social norms and acts of self-empowerment. On the other hand, literary images of linguis-tic resistance and self-determination are marked by an awareness of linguistic unattainability and uncertainty. ‘Mastering’ a language, as well as writing literature, is an ambivalent process and work in progress.