»Eine Landschaft aus Zelten«: Vorläufige Orte in Jenny Erpenbecks Gehen, ging, gegangen

Abstract

Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Go, Went, Gone portrays Berlin, the highly present city in the author’s work, as a city filled with histories and memories, which make up the city’s physical and mental (visible and invisible) layers. Analyses of this novel have so far centered on memory aspects, which implies a certain notion of permanence. This article turns towards the motif of impermanence and shows its predominance in Erpenbeck’s work. By scrutinizing the texture of the specific places in Berlin, this topographical reading aims to show how the places’ structure is shaped by a permanent impermanence. As these continuous transformations can be observed on different levels, the article unfolds a multilayered impermanence of Berlin.