Moving Europe: Literary Interventions - Episode 1: The limits of empathy in Erpenback's Go, Went, Gone (2015)

This episode is hosted by Anna Loi and Ymke van Doorn, both students of the Research Master “Arts, Literature and Media” at Leiden University. The focus is on Jenny Erpenbeck’s Go, Went, Gone (2015), a novel about the encounters of Richard, a retired professor, with a group of refugees in Berlin (Germany). How do literary narratives, such as these, shape our perceptions of migration and of refugees? Can literature evoke empathy and is there a limit to this? Through an analysis of the novel, Anna and Ymke reveal a tension between humanitarian ideals and systemic constraints. In their discussion, they also discuss Ai Weiwei's The Law of the Journey (2017) and Banksy's Inflatable Refugee Boat (2024) and interview Dr Sanne Rotmeijer (Leiden University) about the relationship between empathy and storytelling. For references and additional information, please see the full description (available here as PDF)