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The fall of the Berlin Wall and its literary representations have often been described as a purely (white) German affair, as a discourse regarding (East/West) German identity. Taking on Leerssen's claim for a trans-/postnational imagology, this article provides an analysis of two novels depicting the fall of the Berlin Wall from transnational, not-(only)-German perspectives: Yadé Kara's "Selam Berlin" (2003) and Paul Beatty's "Slumberland" (2008). Comparing images and stereotypes used by both the Turkish-German narrator of Kara's and the African American narrator of Beatty's novel, it aims to undertake an exemplary case study of how imagology may be employed in contexts characterized by complex interferences of national, ethnic/racial, and urban ascriptions of belonging.
Recently the changing and the internationalization of the German philology are increasing continually. On this development not only the cooperation of its actants plays an important role, but also the subject of the German philology itself has been extended. One of the factors of the extension of its subjects is the so called ‘intercultural literature’ in Germany, which is the result of the migration since the beginning of the sixties. In this kind of the literature, among other things, the cultural differences are made a subject of discussion with specific literary means. One of the novels of the intercultural literature is “Selam Berlin” written by Yade Kara. In this article, it should be worked out which identity discourses are developed, how the new social formation in Germany has an effect on the individuals and which role the self and strange perceptions play in this novel.