Defying gravity : redefining cultural and literary boundaries in selected works of Emine Sevgi Ozdamar and Zehra Cirak

Author

Vera Irene Pantanizopoulos-Broux

Date of Award

8-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

German

Major Professor

Carolyn R. Hodges

Committee Members

Nancy A. Lauckner, Stefanie Ohnesorg

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation of perspectives of Otherness in contemporary German literature viewed within the context of selected works by two women authors of Turkish heritage: Emine Sevgi Özdamar, actress, playwright, and prose writer, and Zehra Çirak, poet, performance artist, and short story writer. Both authors live and write in their Wahlheimat,/em>, Germany. The history of the Gastarbeiter immigrants to Germany, and in particular, of the emergence of their literary presence, as well as that of their second generation progeny, is discussed within the context of Özdamar's and Çirak's unique manipulations of the German language in redefining cultural and literary boundaries. The exploration of issues of diversity surrounding the analysis of each author's literary expression serves as a further reflection on the implications of current cultural and literary trends in Germany for future generations of children of multicultural and multiethnic heritage.