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" Opposing 'real' realities: Critiques of dominant reality constructions in German intercultural writing "
Marcus James Mueller
E. Loentz
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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53174
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TL23128
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3345193
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| Main Entry
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Marcus James Mueller
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| Title & Author
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Opposing 'real' realities: Critiques of dominant reality constructions in German intercultural writing\ Marcus James Mueller
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| College
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University of Illinois at Chicago
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| Date
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2008
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Ph.D.
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2008
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192
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| Abstract
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This dissertation examines literary methods of counteracting dominant societal reality in the writing of three intercultural authors. It reveals that each different author's approach pits a 'reality of language' against the very dominant conditions which exclude cultural minorities from equal participation in society. This counter-reality is invented through the deployment of linguistic dimensions such as sound, materiality and individual speech, emphasizing a language beyond preconceived levels of meaning. In the introduction, the concepts of 'language' and 'reality' are juxtaposed. Informed by language-philosophical theories, especially constructivism, I argue that 'reality' is a construct that cannot be thought of independently from language. Hence the authenticity of a single reality is challenged by the discussion of the presence of different, potentially competing realities. In three chapters I investigate how selected texts by three intercultural authors approach the interlinked concepts of language and reality. In chapter one, poetry by the Spanish-German poet José F.A. Oliver is analyzed with regard to the particular dependence of intercultural identity on dominant linguistic practices, such as unequal modes of dialog with members of the majority. I conclude that sound, in particular, takes the role in Oliver's poetry of an agent for criticizing prevalent ideas of language and reality. The second chapter focuses on the play "Keloglan in Alamania" by the Turkish-German author Emine Sevgi Özdamar. The title character's social and corporeal marginalization is linked to a linguistically constructed understanding of reality. Keloglan's name, in particular, is, on the one hand, a barrier to societal inclusion and, on the other hand, also a chance for emancipation from dominant conventions of naming. The speech act of multiple re-namings--performative speaking--represents an opportunity to oppose prevalent conditions by articulating an alternate potential reality. In the third chapter, selected writings by the Japanese-German author Yoko Tawada are analyzed with regard to the question of the materiality of language, in particular of sound and script. I demonstrate that the author takes the position of a 'foreigner' towards language through a method of reification of language. In doing so she undermines linguistically constructed modes of reality and, ultimately, the concept of foreignness itself.
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Language, literature and linguistics; German; Intercultural literature; Dominant reality; Speech as critique; Oliver, Jose F. A.; Spain; Tawada, Yoko; Japan; Ozdamar, Emine Sevgi; Turkey; Asian literature; Germanic literature; Romance literature; 0311:Germanic literature; 0305:Asian literature; 0313:Romance literature
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E. Loentz
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University of Illinois at Chicago
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