Violent Waters: Literary Border Crossings in a Global Age

Alexandra Campana

Published by De Gruyter 2020

Violent Waters: Literary Border Crossings in a Global Age

Alexandra Campana

Volume 27 in the series Interdisciplinary German Cultural Studies

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110678604

Overview
Contents

About this book

The experience of witnessing and undertaking border crossings has become a pillar of the contemporary human condition. In order to respond to our global, multidimensional social reality, writers need to generate innovative forms of narration that expand the confines of literary tradition. This study discusses four types of border crossing (migration, intercultural dialogue, multicultural identities, military invasion) and presents literary aesthetics that unfold in Algeria, China, France, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK, and the USA. These analyses move from the fall of the Iron Curtain to the rise of the internet, and from the turn of the millennium to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Positioned in the field of comparative literature, this book draws upon an extensive background of theoretical thought (e.g. Adorno/Horkheimer, Arendt, Dawkins, Fanon, Freud, Kristeva, Žižek) and reaches into other academic disciplines (such as religious studies). Border crossings thus serve as both theme and methodology, which not only leads to a new definition of post-modern writing, but also underlines literature's relevance in a global society driven by public discourse.

Author / Editor information

Alexandra Campana, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Introduction: Water and Unicorns. On Contemporary Fiction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Migration. Moving through Images and Words: Herta Müller’s The Passport (Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt, 1986) and Gish Jen’s Typical American (1991) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Chapter 2. Intercultural Dialogue. Communication across Space and Time in the New Millennium: Hugo Loetscher’s The Mandarin’s Eyes (Die Augen des Mandarin, 1999) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Chapter 3. Defining the Self. Identity Formation in a Post-colonial World: Martin R. Dean’s My Fathers (Meine Väter, 2003) and Habib Tengour’s This Particular Tartar 2 (Besagter Tatar 2 / Ce Tatar-là 2, 1997–1998) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Chapter 4. Invasion. Religion, War, and the Politics of Narration: Ian McEwan’s Saturday (2005) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of cultural studies; history; literary studies; psychoanalysis; postcolonialism; philosophy; sociology; theology
Pages
- Front matter: 8
- Main content: 274
Keywords: Border crossings; migration; intercultural dialogue; multicultural identities; military invasion

eBook

Published: August 10, 2020
ISBN: 9783110678604

Hardcover

Published: August 10, 2020
ISBN: 9783110673562