Violent Waters: Literary Border Crossings in a Global Age (Issn) (Issn, 27)

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. The series publishes monographs and edited volumes that showcase significant scholarly work at the various intersections that currently motivate interdisciplinary inquiry in German cultural studies. Topics span German-speaking lands and cultures from the 18th to the 21st century, with a special focus on demonstrating how various disciplines and new theoretical and methodological paradigms work across disciplinary boundaries to create knowledge and add to critical understanding in German studies. The series editor is a renowned professor of German studies in the United States who penned one of the foundational texts for understanding what interdisciplinary German cultural studies can be. All works are peer-reviewed and in English. Three new titles will be published annually. About the series editor:Irene Kacandes is the Dartmouth Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. She received three degrees from Harvard University and also studied at the Free University of Berlin and Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. She publishes on a wide range of interdisciplinary topics including secondary orality, rhetoric, aesthetics, trauma, witnessing, family and generational memory, experimental life writing, Holocaust testimony, and narrative theory. She has lectured widely in the United States and Europe and currently serves as President of the International Society for the Study of Narrative and Vice President of the German Studies Association Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Introduction: Water and Unicorns. On Contemporary Fiction -- 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) -- 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) -- 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) -- Chapter 4. Invasion. Religion, War, and the Politics of Narration: Ian McEwan's Saturday (2005) -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index "This volume investigates literary reactions to the violent aspects of globalization, under the overarching theme of border crossings. The discussed literary aesthetics present innovative forms of narration that unfold in the context of various cultural horizons - including the countries of Algeria, China, France, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK, and the United States - and academic disciplines"--Back cover