ABSTRACT
The fact that the author publishes this meaningful poem, rich with metaphors, RQWKH¿UVWSDJHRIKLVQRYHOGHPRQVWUDWHVFOHDUO\WKHLPSRUWDQFHWKDWLVDWWULEXWHG WRWKHQRWLRQRIµERUGHUV¶:LQWJHQVLVQRWDORQHLQGRLQJWKLV2WKHU*HUPDQ language authors in Belgium have also given a central role to borders in their QRYHOV ,Q WKLV FKDSWHU ,ZLOO GLVFXVV WKH GL൵HUHQW NLQGV RI ERUGHUV DQG WKHLU meanings in three German-language Belgian novels: Wege aus Sümpfen. Roman HLQHU*UHQ]ODQGVFKDIW7HLO ,(LQH-XJHQGDXIGHP.|QLJVKRI E\/HR Wintgens, Bosch in Belgien E\ )UHGG\ 'HUZDKO DQG 8QWHUZHJV ]X Melusine E\+DQQHV$QGHUHU What kinds of borders appear in these novels? How do the characters experience these borders, and what is their literary function? 7KH¿UVWUHDVRQIRUFKRRVLQJWKHVHWKUHHQRYHOVUHVWVRQWKHIDFWWKDWWKH\ZHUH
all published around the turn of the millennium by authors who belong to roughly the same generation. Second, their histories are all situated in the same spatial and historical context and narrated by a male protagonist who was born during or shortly after the Second World War. Third, they are representative of a shift in the form of remembering that gained importance in the last decades. Instead of trying to forget the past by staying quiet about it, this generation wants to remember the past in order to learn to deal with it, and to try to move on rather than stay stuck with untreated traumas. Literature can be a useful medium in this process. Inspired by the literary theory of Aleida Assmann on cultural memory, I will try to provide an insight into the relationship between the concepts of borders, Heimat, the past and identity in contemporary German-speaking Belgian literature.
