Women Writings of Men Authors in Contemporary Migrant Literature? Leyla by Zaimoglu and Zaira by Florescu
Abstract
Two novels by contemporary authors of the so called Migrant Literature are presented in the article: Leyla by Feridun Zaimoglu and Zaira by Catalin Dorian Florescu, both written by male authors, but with female narrators. The question arises, what might such a narrative strategy intend.
The answer lies in the concept of the female as the extremely Different (Alien, Strange) - a concept understood in the context of the post-colonial discourse and the theory of the Orientalism, especially of the Mimicry-strategy described by Bhabha and the questions postulated by Said how a non-European might be listened and how the preformed stereotype of the Orient (feminine) Other can be undermined. Irony, changes of the perspective and metaphors are means for the description of the problematic identity of the female figures in these novels and of the nomadic identity of the migrants.
In Leyla this identity corresponds to the corrupted father-daughter relationship which is brought together with the power relations in the traditional paternalistic societies. Further, the question is discussed how a book of remembrance can be presented if not based on personal experience.
The value of the remembrance of the homeland in these two cases is not to be seen in the authenticity - which is also not intended and even not possible -, but in the debate of the collective stereotypes. The remembrances of Zaira and Leyla are based on cultural patterns, their identity is presented as unstable presented and in the form of the Other.