Fluchtgepäck

Based on the expansive correspondence of the eminent philologist Eduard Berend (1883–1973), this essay reconstructs the multifaceted history of his exquisite Jean-Paul-collection, which, in 1957, became a cornerstone of the newly established Deutsches Literaturarchiv (DLA) in Marbach. Upon the invitation of the DLA, Berend, a refugee from Nazi Germany who had spent 17 years in exile in Geneva, was able to continue his work on the historical-critical edition of the works of Jean Paul (born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 1763–1825), one of Germany’s most prolific writers of the Classical-Romantic period. The Prussian Academy of Sciences had commissioned the critical edition in the Weimar era, and Berend had begun work on it in 1927. But, as a result of Nazi racial policy, he had been removed as the editor in 1938. The return of Berend and his Jean-Paul-Archiv mark the beginning of the DLA’s history as an exceptional research center not just for exile literature but also of and for exiled scholars.

La Nostra Vita con Ezio e Ricordi di guerra

Our life with Ezio and Memories of War, written by Flora Aghib Levi D’Ancona traces the life of her husband Ezio Levi, a Jewish Italian philologist and hispanist, their experiences of exile in the US where the couple fled after the racial laws. Completed with a historiographical introduction and an appendix of unpublished letters, the volume traces Ezio’s path as a Jewish intellectual in Fascist Italy, his role as a cultural mediator of Spanish contemporary literature to Italy, the trauma of the racial laws, and the challenges of the American exile. Expression of a women’s exile literature, the pages reflect the authors experience as a mother writing for her children left in Italy and of an intellectual Italian Jewish woman dealing with the challenges of exile and memory.

I Feel Well on the Wrong Track: Milutin Doroslovac – Milo Dor

That a writer should change the language in which he writes, or that he or she should write from the start in a non-native language, is an increasingly common phenomenon. Economic migrations in the latter half of the 20th century, intensified in the 1990s by migrations due to political conflict, have resulted in a larger number of writers who do not write in their native language. Also, the question of defining the concept of native language in bilingual or multilingual speakers is quite complex. The established definition according to which the mother tongue is the language that is unconsciously acquired in a natural social environment in childhood, does not necessarily correspond to language development in the diaspora, where the first language to be acquired is not always the language of the family. Authors who write in a language that is not their first are not a new phenomenon in literature; on the contrary, they are a historical constant as are migrations themselves. There have been a number of attempts to coin a name for this phenomenon. Terms like exile literature, gastarbeiter (in German-speaking countries) literature, migrant, intercultural, multicultural or transcultural literature have been used. In their works, writers who as individuals are multilingual but write only in a language which is not their first, often engage with themes inspired by their own or their ancestors' cultural milieu. Also, they often engage in translation, thus additionally contributing to the interweaving of two cultures. The Austrian writer Milo Dor who, apart from some early poetry in his mother tongue – Serbian, created his entire literary oeuvre in the German language, is one such author. He wrote in German, was fluent in several languages principally using German and Serbian for communication, and drew on his cultural sphere and experience for his literary themes and range of social engagement. This interconnectedness of cultures is reflected not only in the themes of Dor's prose works, characterized by biographism, but also in his translations and in his work as editor. For writers from the territory of Yugoslavia, Dor represented for decades an important link with German-speaking countries, working tirelessly to promote them both in Austria and in Germany.

Latvju dainu atbalsis Veltas Sniķeres lirikā

The research “Echoes of Latvian Dainas in the Lyrics of Velta Sniķere” examines motifs and fragments of Latvian folk songs in the poetry by Sniķere. Several poems that directly reveal the montage of folk songs are selected as research objects. Linguistic, semantic, hermeneutical and historical as well as literary methods were used in poetry analysis. The research emphasizes the importance of Latvian folklore in the process of Latvian exile literature, the genesis of modern lyrics, and the philosophical conception of the poet. Latvian folk songs in the lyrics of Sniķere are mainly perceived as a source of ancient knowledge and as a path to the Indo-European first language, prehistoric time, which is understood only in a poetic state. Often, the montage of Latvian folk songs or their fragments in the lyrics of Sniķere is revealed as a reflexive reverence that creates a semantic fracture and opposition between profane and sacred view. The insertion of a song in the poem alters the rhythmic and phonetic sound: a free and sometimes dissonant article is replaced by a harmonic trochee, while an internationalism saturated language is replaced by a simple, phonetically effective language composed of alliterations and assonances. The montage of folk songs in a poem is justified by the necessity to restore the Latvian identity in exile, to restore the memory of ancient, mythical knowledge, to represent the understanding of beauty and other moral-ethical values and to show the thought activity. Common mythical images in the lyrics of Sniķere are snake, wind, gold, silver, stone etc. The Latvian folk song symbolism and lifestyle of the poet are organically synthesized with the insights of Indian philosophy.

LOSS, CULTURAL MEMORY AND LITERATURE OF EXILE

Exile related trauma emerges from the feeling of loss, which is one of the main topics in Edward Said’s Reflections on Exile. Sigmund Freud, in his work Mourning and Melancholia, states that the loss of the homeland is one of the cardinal reasons for mourning. This has led many exile theorists to analyze works themed around moving or relocating to another place based on the psychology of loss. Presenting the opposing positions of Edward Said, Paul Tabori and John Neubauer on exile literature, as well as their definitions of exile, refuges, expatriats, apatrides, this text focuses on the specific importance of cultural memory in exile literature, which refers to those who don’t live in the country in which they were born, or is authored by them. Implementing Azade Seyhan’s examinations of remembrance and what she refers to as “writing outside the nation”, this paper analyses exile literature as intentional remembrance caused by the feeling of loss, which relies on the restorative ability of cultural memory and aims to connect the past and present in integrative wholeness.