caa a22 4500 606172556 CHVBK 20210128100729.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20151201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11059-014-0296-z doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11059-014-0296-z Wasihun Betiel Lincoln College, University of Oxford, Turl Street, OX1 3DR, Oxford, UK aut Kafka's failing migrant and spaces for integration in contemporary German and American literature [Elektronische Daten] [Betiel Wasihun] In this comparative study of Kafka's The Man who Disappeared, Özdamar's Mother Tongue and Mengestu's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, I examine the complex processes of integration and exclusion of the figure of ‘the migrant' that are at work in each of these texts. In Kafka's novelistic fragment the space for integration is gradually undone—a process that is suggested in the title of the novel itself: "The Man who Disappeared.” Özdamar and Mengestu, on the other hand, construct spaces where the possibility of integration is not ruled out. To be sure, Mengestu's African immigrant, who runs a small store in a gentrifying American city, resembles Kafka's protagonist in many respects. However, unlike Kafka's two-dimensional character, who remains radically marginalised, Mengestu's immigrant develops a strong sense of belonging, asserting a place of his own in his American-Ethiopian diaspora. The claim for ownership is also prominent in Özdamar's stories, albeit differently. The Turkish-German author Özdamar works through the linguistic complexities of the migrant's many tongues, forming a linguistic synthesis—or ‘third language'—that opens up other spaces for integration. This contrastive comparison will shed new light on different literary dealings with the figure of ‘the migrant,' distinguishing the uncompromising failure of Kafka's migrant from more "successful” integrations through developments of third (linguistic) spaces in contemporary literature. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary, 2015 Migration nationallicence Third space nationallicence Diaspora nationallicence Post-colonial theory nationallicence Translingualism nationallicence Contrastive comparison nationallicence Neohelicon Springer Netherlands 42/2(2015-12-01), 463-479 0324-4652 42:2<463 2015 42 11059 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-014-0296-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-014-0296-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Wasihun Betiel Lincoln College, University of Oxford, Turl Street, OX1 3DR, Oxford, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Neohelicon Springer Netherlands 42/2(2015-12-01), 463-479 0324-4652 42:2<463 2015 42 11059