Postfigurationen der Shoah im gegenwärtigen Flüchtlingsdiskurs anhand von Jenny Erpenbecks Roman Gehen, ging, gegangen (2015)
Postfigurations of the Shoah in Contemporary Refugee Discourse in Novel by Jenny Erpenbeck Gehen, ging, gegangen (2015)

Summary/Abstract: Jenny Erpenbeck’s refugee novel Gehen, ging, gegangen [Go, Went, Gone] explores the fundamental complementarity of the Shoah narrative and the current asylum and refugee discourse in Europe, through the spiritually ever-changing protagonist and his encounter with refugees in contemporary Germany. In the face of the decay of human rights, this retired professor of classical philology seeks “refuge” in references to the Shoah and colonialism. The paradox of this transfiguration consists of the fact that the ineffability of the genocide of the Jews in this novel serves to illuminate the social present and to denounce the perversion of the European legislation, which has its roots as the decisive spark for modern human rights in the aftermath of the Shoah itself.

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