Das Bild der arabischen Welt in der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur als Reflexionsfläche politischer Umbrüche im 21. Jahrhundert

Abstract

Since the 9/11 attacks and the war on terrorism is the Middle East the scene of the various conflicts and problems that cast their shadow not only on the affected Arab countries, but also on many countries worldwide. From an imagological point of view, this article outlines the image of the Arabs based on three narrative texts: Das Tier, das weint (2004) (The Animal that cries) by the German Writer Michael Kleeberg, Die Nächte auf ihrer Seite (2015) (The Nights on Her Side) by the German Writer Annika Reich and Staub (2018) (Dust) by the German Writer Svenja Leiber. The article aims to answer the following questions: why do the three works present the Arab world? And how do these narrative texts cross the boundaries between the literary fictionalized world and the reality? In order to answer these questions, the term “Imagology” and its tasks are concisely outlined. Subsequently, the contents of the three works will be explained in chronological order, because they deal with the image of the Arab World through epochal changes. Finally, the works will be analyzed in the light of the social and political changes, that influence the images of the Arab World in the first two decades of the twenty-first century.