Between alienation and estrangement. Anna Mitgutsch’s In foreign cities

Abstract

Anna Mitgutsch’s In foreign cities is a novel about the experience of a progressive and increasingly complete estrangement. The all-encompassing alienation that pervades the main character, an American who moved to Europe, is reflected at the same time on a linguistic level. The feeling of strangeness she perceives in every nuance of her life takes shape through a growing detachment from her own language, which she eventually loses - and with it, herself. Our close investigation aims to shade light on the connection between the feeling of estrangement and the radicalization of incommunicability. We will show how expressive impotence outlines an extensive identity clash, which transcends conflicts related to non-belonging to a nation, culture, or language, and soon discloses itself as an existential condition.