Marion Acker, Anne Fleig and Matthias Lüthjohann (Freie Universität Berlin)

Language: German

What language does literature speak in a plural present? Who participates in this speaking—and what kinds of feelings are tied to it? Who belongs to the present at all, in Berlin and beyond? And how does social change reshape literary forms and formats?

Motivated by these questions, the CRC project Shared Feelings: Conceptions of Belonging in Transcultural German-Language Contemporary Literature (2015–2023) explored German-language literature before and after the so-called “turning point years.” In this talk, we revisit key moments of this research and show how, in the context of a multilingual and polyphonic immigration society, fundamental concepts such as language, public sphere, and literary form can be rethought and reimagined within literary studies.