Literaturehouse Europe ed. by Walter Grond and Beat Mazenauer Literary trends 2015 Ed. by Walter Grond and Beat Mazenauer All rights reserved by the Authors/ELiT The Literaturhaus Europe is funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. For copyright information and credits for funding organizations and sponsors please refer to the appendix of this book. Edition Rokfor Zürich/Berlin B3.115/18-12-2015 Konzeption: Rokfor Produktion: Gina Bucher Grafische Gestaltung: Rafael Koch Programmierung: Urs Hofer Gesamtherstellung: epubli, Berlin FOREWORD TRENDS IN EUROPEAN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE The virtual project «Literaturehouse Europe» invol- ves six institutions from Budapest, Hamburg, Krems, London, Ljubljana and Paris with the common aim of creating a European feuilleton, which focuses on topics in the field of literature, and exami- nes them beyond the limits of linguistic, cultural, cultural-technology as well as media implications. This Observatory of European Contemporary Litera- ture sets annual themes of interest and commissions international correspondents and writers to provi- de contributions on these topics; via the website www.literaturhauseuropa.eu it also publishes their blogs on various aspects of literature as well as literature in general. Quarterly dossiers give an in- sight into the various perspectives in the different countries, and lastly, every autumn a panel of experts and writers debates themes at the European Litera- ture Days symposium, which is held in the convivial atmosphere of Wachau. The new series «Trends in European Contemporary Literature» summarizes the key texts and discussions from the current year and endeavours to compile in- formative overviews. Here, the focus is on a process of dialogue, debate and writing about literature, so- ciety, education and media technology. The Yearbook, published in the Rokfor Edition, defines the trends. The edition’s innovative concept is based on flexible book production thanks to an automated process enabling the text to be provided as a free download in PDF format, or for a modest fee as a haptic «book on demand». FOREWORD The first volume of «Trends in European Contem- porary Literature» includes texts, discussions and summaries featured in the Observatory from January to December 2015 on the following topics: –The Migrants – how is European literature changing due to the increasing numbers of migrant writers from non-European cultures? The Scottish writer A.L. Kennedy appeals to artists and writers to show commitment for human dignity in the face of war and the global refugee trage- dy. The current deep-seated social changes demand greater awareness towards writers from other cul- tures. Their books make far-reaching social change comprehensible. – Trends in contemporary literature in the English, German, French, Hungarian and Slovenian context? For several years there has been a notable trend for novels, which dispense with fiction, and treat facts like fiction or showcase autobiographical elements as a ‘reality show’. However, it is not easy to identify whether this heralds a new realism or a hyper-genre. Additionally, the striving for identity as homo poeticus and homo politicus, in particular, for writers from the former socialist countries represents a challenge. After the collapse of the Soviet Union writers grew to appreciate their freedom from the political sphere. However, the younger generations are developing a new understanding of engaged literature with no connection to debates from the post-war era. – Innovations in the digital field Currently, the media sector and not the literary sector is the focus of most activity. Today, the industry FOREWORD leaders in the book and booksellers’ market are selling fewer ebooks than previously due to the more inflexible price determination, lack of offers and greater access difficulties. However, a constant factor is access to literary content via electronic media and social media networks – especially for young readers circles. Presently, important innovations are ongoing in the area of ebook sales, ebook lending and ebook platforms in small countries like Slovenia. Walter Grond Artistic Director ELIT Literaturehouse Europe INHALT 1. The Migrants . 13 A.L. Kennedy: The Migrants. 15 Ilma Rakusa: The Migrants and European Literature . 24 Posts from the «Observatory» (1) . 27 Talk with Jamal Mahjoub . 31 Najem Wali: On Exile and Home . 36 Posts from the «Observatory» (2) . 40 Iman Humaydan: Migration, Identity and the Literary Imagination . 51 Herta Müller: Homesickness for Future . 55 2. Trends in European contemporary literature . 61 Pierre Alféri: Non sequitur. The garbled story of presence . 62 World Novel – Talk with Patrick Deville . 76 Word and Image - Talk with Marguerite Abouet and Yvan Alagbé. 81 Posts from the «Observatory» (3) . 92 Beat Mazenauer: Trends no Trends . 121 3. Innovations in the digital field . 123 Szilard Borbely: About Change and Digital Oblivion. 124 About Writing and Reading . 127 About Libraries and Archives . 136 About e-books . 145 Dirk Rumberg: Innovations in the Digital Field. 155 Appendix ELiT Literature House Europe . 161 Authors and editors. 162 Thanks . 166 11 1. THE MIGRANTS The title theme for the European Literature Days 2015 was «The Migrants». At the first European Literature Days in 2009, Jürgen Ritte, a literary scholar at the Sorbonne Paris, gave two emphatic responses in answer to the question «Is there a European literature?» – «No and yes. Yes. Of course there is – there are shared lines of heritage. No, it has always been an export-import undertaking, like Europe and its culture in general. It’s a fruitful melange. A formidable machinery that assimilates everything from Chinese noodles, Japanese prints and South American plants, and has made everything, which it encounters, its own.» In 2015,the Observatory of European Contemporary Literature poses the question about European literature from a socio- political, cultural and literary perspective. How does European contemporary literature change with the growing migration of writers from non-European cultures? The focus is on the migrants. Which languages and which cultural understanding do they leave their native country with, how do they arrive somewhere else and learn a language and culture that are foreign to them, and in turn how do they change the language and culture of the country in which they continue to live? To approach and clarify this issue we must consider writers for whom this tension-ridden area is particularly relevant. The purpose is to trace migrants in Europe – no matter whether they change the focal point of their lives inside Europe or whether they hail from countries outside Europe. A myriad of questions emerges: were they already writers upon leaving their country of origin, or did they first begin writing after their migration? What language do they write in? How did they learn the new language? Are the topics featured in their texts rooted in the culture of their native country or in their new home? Where is the main area of interest for their work? Are they perceived in their new home as writers who belong, or more as migrants and outsiders? How does their literary language alter by living in-between two cultures? How do they change and enrich the language? 13 The commission for the keynote lecture for the European Literature Days 2015 was awarded to the Scottish writer, A.L. Kennedy. 14 A.L. KENNEDY: THE MIGRANTS Opening Lecture of the European Literature Days 2015, Schloss Spitz, 23.10.2015 When I first wrote this lecture a summary of my argument could have been – when art fails, there is cruelty, because cruelty in humans is caused by a lack of imagination. There are not enough enough human beings who are ill in the appropriate kinds of ways to individually create epidemic levels of cruelty. They can do harm. Of course. But to do great harm, cruel societies, cultures of cruelty have to be created – either by accident or design, usually both – so that they can recruit otherwise nornal human beings to be cruel, even though they might not be under other circumstances. That is to say – when art fails, failure of imagination follows and thereafter cruelty thrives. Arts practitioners might reply that they are oppressed by the cruel who very reasonably seek to avoid the possible beneficial effects of art escaping into the wider community. This is true. But it is also true that failure of the arts, of artists, helps the cruel amongst us triumph and begin to oppress us all, even in relatively free societies – including – and perhaps initially, those who are communicators. My talk today will still deal with this area. But between my first draft and my last a photograh of a small, dead boy made it to headlines of many newspapers which had, only hours before, been pouring out hatred at refugees as a moral, cultural, biological, and spiritual threat. As David Cameron put it – «a swarm of people». When people are in a swarm, they aren’t people. They are both of an alien species and a danger. When words put them in a swarm, they don’t receive the real world’s help. Here was a picture of a boy, who looked like many other little European boy. Boys like beaches and sand and the sea 15 – only this little boy in Western-style dress was dead and face down. He was at once familiar – a boy’s body at rest – and horribly changed – a lifeless body, face down, caught in a moment of helpless return to the material. We could easily imagine him as human and alive and not swarming. He developed a name – Aylan Kurdi and stopped being part of a swarm. The others who died in his boat – including his brother – were brought a little closer to not swarming. His parents developed names and they stopped swarming. These people came to be regarded as people. They were imagined as human.