Panel discussion: Stefan Heym - Homeland & Exile
Reading and discussion as part of the 25th anniversary of the Faculty of Philosophy at Chemnitz University of Technology on 16 January, from 4 p.m.
On Wednesday, 16 January 2019, interested parties are invited to a panel discussion on homeland, exile and migration in the work and life of Stefan Heym at the Altes Heizhaus, Straße der Nationen 62. The discussion will be preceded by a reading by the Syrian Chemnitz native Thaer Ayoub, which begins at 4 pm. The subsequent panel discussion begins at 6 pm. Admission is free.
Thaer Ayoub will read from his poetry collection Katharina und Aleppo and then sit on the panel alongside Michael Müller (International Stefan Heym Society), Therese Hörnigk (literary scholar) and Sebastian Liebold (political scientist), adding current perspectives on individual experiences of migration and flight to the discussion.
The discussion will focus on the significance of homeland and exile for Stefan Heym's literary and political work.
How did Heym's life in exile in Prague, and later in America, actually take shape? Did he cultivate personal contacts with other exiled writers? Were there joint projects? Why did Heym - and not only he - return to the GDR in 1952: did he associate something like 'home' with his idea of the GDR? How did his relationship to this country develop and how did his relationship to the political leadership of the GDR develop? Where can his critical view of the system at the time be observed in his narrative and journalistic work? Does this possibly also express an ideal or a utopia of home?
In addition, more general aspects of homeland and exile will also be discussed, such as the significance of language and loss of language under the changed living and working conditions in the host country, questions about the possible creative potential of exile and homeland experiences and their specific manifestations in literature and, last but not least, the comparability of past and present exile and homeland experiences.
Accompanying the discussion, posters with quotations from Stefan Heym's works will be on display, allowing the audience and panellists to form their own impression of Heym's understanding of home.
Further information can be found at
https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/festwoche/jubilaeum.php