Why Do We Live Here?
Shownotes
«A boring, foreign city, and expensive to live in, too…»
Concerns about the end of Berlin might finally come true: the repressive turn that local politics recently took on solidarity movements with Palestine seems to confirm what sceptics always knew – Berlin as a place of freedom and artistic experimentation was at best a utopia for the few, never a reality for the many. Nevermind that Nabokov (or a friend quoted by Nabokov) called Berlin «a boring, foreign city, and expensive to live in, too» already in 1925.
And yet, something new seems to be emerging since last fall: gestures of solidarity between expats and immigrants, two sociologically distinct groups whose life conditions in Western metropolises could hardly be more different, but share decisive characteristics as «foreigners» in a place supposedly run by the «natives».
Last fall, in the heated weeks after the October attacks on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war, Berlin Review editor Tobias Haberkorn sat down with Lauren Oyler and Ryan Ruby, two eminent literary critics of their generation, for a sprawling conversation on German literature, expat life, emigration, the politics of nostalgia, and why they still believe in Berlin.
Ryan Ruby’s essay «Exile Time» is out in Berlin Review No 3 (May 2024); Lauren Oyler’s essay «Why do we live here?» is part of her essay collection «No Judgment», published at HarperOne in March 2024.
Content 00:00 Intro 01:45 Do Germans Read Sebald? 08:16 Ryan Ruby Reads from «Exile Time» 15:09 Layers of Presentism 18:41 Being American in Berlin 24:29 Berlin, City of Exiles? 36:03 Digital Nomads, Global Freelancers 39:28 Lauren Oyler reads «Berlin, not Germany» 44:40 Of Nostalgia and Belatedness 48:08 Time Regimes 53:05 Lauren Oyler on Learning German 57:44 Perfect Underwear 59:13 Q&A
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