Neue Valenzen des Heimatromans in Stephan Thomes Grenzgang

In the modern period, the regional novel in German literature has been considered obsolete for a long time. One can think of the 19th century Realism novels, which imply the antinomy between provincial and urban life, or of the "blood and soil" literature of the National Socialism. On closer observation, the provincial novel and its evolution are the result of a cultural crisis, that is to say the deracination of mankind through industrialisation or war. The province or heimat in Stephan Thome’s work, a recent book of the 21st century, gets further interpretations which focus mostly on the self-construction of the individual in relationship to his/her community. The homeland is in Grenzgang for instance the place of finding oneself, the place where a new life stage starts, but also a place of territorial and personal boundaries.