Enduring Empires: History, Trauma and Identity in Recent German Writing from Central and Eastern Europe

《不朽的帝国》选读了1980年以来的德语小说，作者出生于1940年后，或其父母来自除前东德以外的中东欧国家，即捷克共和国、匈牙利、波兰、罗马尼亚、斯洛伐克和俄罗斯。这些作家既包括德国人，也包括自第二次世界大战以来，特别是自共产主义垮台以来移民到德国、奥地利和瑞士的其他人。与土耳其-德国文学、犹太-德国文学和东德文学相比，这些文学都受到了广泛的关注，而来自中欧和东欧（以下简称：中欧和东欧）的德语文学则相对被忽视。这个开创性的项目试图弥补这一缺陷。因为中欧大学对德国文学不仅做出了杰出的贡献，而且做出了独特的贡献。这些作家的作品，其中许多是获奖者，受到了媒体和读者的好评。它们的独特性可以追溯到该地区共同的历史，历代帝国（哈布斯堡、纳粹、苏联、全球资本）的帝国野心都曾在该地区上演，并将继续上演。这些文本涉及的主题是统治、“祖国”、民族自决的受挫愿望、创伤、暴力、移民、多种族主义、多语言以及德国和奥地利及其东部邻国之间的关系。他们列举了历史变化，既有冷战后时代令人眼花缭乱的快速变化，也有共产主义末期不可避免地走向终结的停滞不前。它们见证了那些未能在过去的恐怖中幸存下来的人所遭受的痛苦。他们还讲述了在动荡的上世纪90年代和新千年中，关于混合身份时而痛苦时而快乐的谈判。最重要的是，他们探讨了帝国对臣服于帝国的人民身份认同的持久影响。“不朽的帝国”项目将产生四项产出：三篇发表在同行评审期刊上的文章，以及一份基于网络的参考书目。产出1题为“作为重写本的Heimat：来自中欧和东欧的近代德语小说的见证”，从“容忍错误”的意义上解释了项目标题的“持久”。它审视了发生在共产主义统治时期的小说，这些小说动摇了人们对“祖国”（Heimat）的安逸观念，并证明了极权主义的创伤。产出2题为“异域凝视：中欧和东欧近代德语写作中的移民时刻”，研究了来自东欧集团的移民抵达德国、奥地利和瑞士的小说，这些小说呈现了一种令人不安的西方生活形象。它探讨了这些文本如何对宿主文献构成挑战。产出3题为“持久的帝国：寻找新欧洲的身份”，强调了“持久”的另一种意义，即“持久”。它表明，就像整个项目一样，今天欧洲的身份仍然受到在该地区主张霸权的连续帝国的影响，即使他们庆祝后现代的自由。输出4是一个简单的作家及其作品列表，将成为其他研究人员的宝贵工具。作者将利用她在这一领域的丰富经验。她的工作将结合档案研究、作者访谈和文本细读，并将通过会议和同行评审期刊广泛传播。这个开创性的项目将把焦点放在当代德国和欧洲文学的一个新的和令人兴奋的子集上。它将为德国关于其过去、德国和奥地利与少数民族社区的关系以及他们在世界上的地位的辩论开辟一个新的视角。由此产生的出版物将吸引学者在德国研究，中欧和东欧研究，边境研究，以及任何有兴趣在后共产主义和当代欧洲文学。

Enduring Empires' examines selected German-language fiction since 1980 by writers born after 1940 from, or whose parents were from, central and eastern European countries other than the former East Germany, that is: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Russia. These writers include both ethnic Germans and others who have migrated to Germany, Austria and Switzerland since the Second World War, and especially since the fall of communism. In comparison to Turkish-German, Jewish-German and east German literature, which have all received much critical attention, German writing from central and eastern Europe (henceforth: GWCEE) is relatively neglected. This pioneering project seeks to make good that deficiency. For GWCEE has made not only a distinguished but also a distinctive contribution to German literature. The works of these authors, many of whom are prize winners, have been well received by the media and the reading public. Their distinctiveness can be traced to the shared history of the region in which the imperial ambitions of successive empires (Habsburg, Nazi, Soviet, global capital) have been, and continue to be, played out. The texts concerned thematise domination, 'Heimat' (homeland), thwarted aspirations to national self-determination, trauma, violence, migration, multi-ethnicism, multilingualism, and the relations between Germany and Austria and their eastern neighbours. They catalogue historical change, both the bewilderingly fast change of the post-Cold-War era, and the stagnation of late-stage communism as it ground inevitably towards its end. They bear witness to the sufferings of those who did not survive past horrors. They also tell of sometimes painful, sometimes joyful negotiations of hybrid identities in the turbulent 1990s and the new millennium. Above all, they explore the enduring effects of empires on the identities of the peoples subjected to them.'Enduring Empires' will result in four outputs: three articles in peer-reviewed journals, and a web-based bibliography. Output 1, entitled ''Heimat' as Palimpsest: Bearing Witness in Recent Novels in German from Central and Eastern Europe', interprets the 'enduring' of the project title in the sense of 'putting up with wrongs'. It examines fiction set during communist rule which unsettles cosy ideas of 'Heimat' (homeland) and which testifies to the trauma of totalitarianism. Output 2, entitled 'The Alien Gaze: The Moment of Migration in Recent Writing in German from Central and Eastern Europe', examines novels of arrival in Germany, Austria and Switzerland of immigrants from the eastern bloc which present an uncomfortable image of life in the West. It explores how these texts pose a challenge to the host literatures. Output 3, entitled 'Enduring Empires: The Search for Identity in the New Europe', stresses the other sense of 'enduring', meaning 'lasting'. It shows, as does the project as a whole, how identities in Europe today are still affected by the successive empires which have asserted hegemony in the region, even as they celebrate the freedoms of postmodernity. Output 4, a simple listing of writers and their works, will be an invaluable tool for other researchers.The author will draw on her considerable experience in the field. Her work will combine archival research with author interviews and close readings of texts, and will be widely disseminated through conferences and peer-reviewed journals. The ground-breaking project will bring into sharp focus a new and exciting subset of contemporary German and European literature. It will open up a new perspective on German debates about its past, about Germany and Austria's relations with their minority communities, and about their place in the world. The resulting publications will appeal to scholars in German Studies, Central and Eastern European Studies, Border Studies, andto anyone with an interest in post-communism and contemporary European literature.