Places of the Displaced

Organised by Susanne Frank (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin/EXC 2020), Research Area 1: „Competing Communities“.

The terms „exile“ and „writer (or artist) in exile“ are part of the conceptual lexicon of empire and authoritarian politics. They presuppose politically motivated flight or ejection from the people and the land of one’s belonging. Although placed outside the borders of that land, the writer in exile still in some way longs and labors for—and consequently belongs to—some future form of its social organisation.

We want to question the terms „exile“ and „writer in exile,“ distinguishing among the different reasons writers might find themselves outside the borders which they grew up inside of, the different ideologies they use to make sense of their displacement, and the different ways in which they construct or fail to construct a „home.“ Particular attention will be paid to twentieth- and twentieth-century waves of immigration to the West from the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the political formations that succeeded them. Participants:

Katja Petrowskaja, Kyiv born author of Maybe Esther and The Photograph Looked Back at Me
Eugene Ostashevsky, Leningrad born American author of translingual poetry like The Feeling Sonnets and The Pirate Who Does Not Know the Value of Pi
Moderator: Susanne Frank

Time & Location

Dec 07, 2024 | 06:00 PM

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Department of Slavic and Hungarian Studies
Room 5.57
Dorotheenstraße 65
10117 Berlin

Further Information

For more information please contact: Susanne Frank, susanne.frank@staff.hu-berlin.de