Tra Est e Ovest. Poetiche del movimento nell’opera di Natascha Wodin

Movement and mobility characterize the biographies and texts of many contemporary authors who were forced to leave their own homelands not only as a result of conflict, war, and repression, but also because of their free existential choices, thus triggering new dynamics that continuously enrich the literary landscape. The work of the writers who paved the way for transcultural relations between East and West Europe is particularly interesting from the transareal perspective (Ottmar Ette) which refers to interconnected areas at an international, national, regional, and local level. This is the context in which the novels of Natascha Wodin – award-winning author for "Sie kam aus Mariupol" (2017, She Came from Mariupol) –, are set. This article will analyse two novels by the author: "Nachtgeschwister" (2009), her tormented autobiographical story, which is also about her comings and goings in the city of Berlin, and "Irgendwo in diesem Dunkel" (2018), the dramatic story of a denied belonging to places and homes. The protagonists and narrators of the two works mentioned above move through and endeavour to take refuge in urban settings, represented by eastern and western places, often described as dark, hidden, and interstitial places. These wandering lives reveal how European history was marked by persecution, violence and dislocations, as well as the painful and hard-fought search for a new and vital freedom of movement, which is also characterized by personal challenge and the ethics of cohabitation.