Ein Indianer in Ostpreußen. Zur Topologie des Raums in Volker Kutschers historischem Kriminalroman Die Akte Vaterland

The article examines the topology of space in Volker Kutscher’s historical crime novel „Die Akte Vaterland“ (2012). Drawing on Jurij Lotman’s structural-semiotic approach to literary space the article focuses on two pivotal topologies: the topology of nature and civilization as established through the perspective of the ambivalent figure Topala and the national topology. While the prologue of the novel seems to point at the possible existence of a place outside of national membership, the epilogue finally denies spaces which are deprived of the national(ist) topological order.