Interkulturelle Aspekte in der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur am Beispiel der Orient- und Türkenbilder in den Romanen "Sieger nach Punkten" von Thorsten Becker, "Selim oder die Gabe der Rede" von Sten Nadolny und "Das Verschwinden des Schattens in der Sonne" von Barbara Frischmuth

Abstract

The cultural diversity of today's world increases the interest in the foreign cultures. Literature, in which this interest arises, can be seen as a platform for getting to know other cultures. In this context, the present study aims to analyse the intercultural components in the samples of contemporary German literature using the novels Winner on points by Thorsten Becker, Selim or the Talent of Speaking by Sten Nadolny and The Shadow Disappears in the Sun by Barbara Frischmuth. It was questioned whether the novels in question have intercultural potential by supporting the intercultural agreement by prioritizing the meeting of different cultures they have brought with the literary studies of the Turkish culture as the other and making use of the knowledge of intercultural literature. At the same time, it was questioned whether the eastern images exhibited by the novels continued their previous perception patterns or they presented a new intercultural literature style by comparing them with the old eastern images in the his-tory of German Literature. As a literary work, Thorsten Becker's novel, as a masterpiece which has never been dealt with before and which is a wide-ranging work, is prioritized in the analysis section, and the plot is scrutinized in terms of its characters, the narration of Turkish-Ottoman history, Islamic images, intercultural elements and current social discourses. As a result, the analysis of the works reveals that all three novels have an important place in con-temporary German literature because they perceive Turkish foreigners in a different way and move away from traditional orientalism and promote an empathy-oriented perception, in which stereotypes can be overcome by providing new perspectives to the Turks. In addition, the study of the concept of literary interculturality in novels has shown that German writers who do not have immigrant backgrounds can produce literary works that have an intercultural potential and are of great importance in today's multicultural societies.