This volume presents case         studies of encounters between  people of different cultures as portrayed in narratives by contemporary German-speaking authors. It draws on the work of Günther Grass, Christa Wolf, Ingeborg Drewitz, Hubert Fichte, Jeannette Lander, Uwe Timm, Barbara Frischmuth, and Anna Mitgutsch and investigates how these writers have imagined foreigners, represented the  interaction between self and other, and whether new ways of understanding and communication emerge from their texts. 
 

 
 
CONTENTS
  
  Introduction…………………………………………………. ix
I.
 Gazing at India……………………………………………

Representations of Alterity in Travelogues by Ingeborg Drewitz, Günter Grass, and Hubert Fichte
 

 1
II.
 Conflicting Desires……………………………………….

Recent Novels by Jeannette Lander
 

 39
III.
 The Romance With The Other……………………………

Anna Mitgutsch’s Migration and Travel Narratives
 

 87
IV.
 The Turkish Connection………………………………….

Mystery and Mysticism in Barbara Frischmuth’s Austro-Turkish Novels
 

 123
V.
 So Quick Bright Things Come To Confusion……………

Uwe Timm’s Johannisnacht and the Performance of Identity
 

 161
VI.
 Quarring for Truth………………………………………….

Cultures in Contact in Christa Wolf’s Recent Prose
 

 199
  Conclusion………………………………………………….. 243
  Acknowledgements…………………………………………. 249
  Works Cited………………………………………………… 253