Placeless language games. About Russians like the birches of Olga Grjasnowa

Abstract

The article analyzes a text, which adds a new aspect to the discussion of immigration literature. The novel by the German-Russian author from Azerbaijan explicitly rejects the German terms »Migrationshintergrund« (migration background) and »postmigrantisch« (post-migrant). Taking the protagonist as an example it describes the emergence of a multiple identity composed of different cultural registers, which is beyond the reach of standardized patterns of multiculturalism, promoting a concept of interculturalism instead. Thus the novel emphasizes biographical as well as political aspects creating a new concept of writing, which differs from traditional modes of narration.