The mimicry of The Lizard Man: Dariusz Muszer's narratives of migration in the (post-)colonial context

Authors

Jakub Kazecki, Bates CollegeFollow

Publication Title

Postcolonial Slavic Literatures After Communism

Document Type

Book Chapter

Department or Program

German and Russian Studies

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

Dariusz Muszer's novel Der Echsenmann [The Lizard Man] (2001) creates the figure of a male protagonist who is not able to escape from the underprivileged position reserved for an immigrant in the German society of the 1980s and 1990s. This marginal status causes a reaction in the form of postcolonially coded, poetic (and occasionally violent) revenge on representatives of the structures he holds responsible for his social degradation. The article proposes a reading of Der Echsenmann within a post-colonial framework, focusing on the discourse of dissent and cultural negotiation through the conceptualization of space (Foucault 1986; Augé 1995), as well as through the concept of hybridity outlined by Homi K. Bhabha (1994).

Comments

Original version is available from the publisher at: https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-06149-9

Recommended Citation

Kazecki, Jakub. “The Mimicry of The Lizard Man: Dariusz Muszer’s Narratives of Migration in the (Post-)Colonial Context.” In Postcolonial Slavic Literatures After Communism, edited by Klavdia Smola and Dirk Uffelmann, 433-451. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2016.