Tales of Berlin in American Literature up to the 21st Century

Joshua Parker is an assistant professor of American studies at the University of Salzburg. He publishes in the areas of narrative theory, transatlantic literature and American studies.

"Parker’s work is a meta-tale of quest and frustration, of mythical past, wished-for projections, and threadbare present, of history, daily life and literature. It is a book of fictional reality, and in-depth documented analysis of endless American mirrors of Berlin and Berliners throughout over one and a half century." - Mariana Net, University of Miskolc US in European Journal of American Studies [Online], 2017 pp. 1-5.

• Acknowledgements Prologue: “a smaller but more intense orchestration” Landscape Place and Space Part One:American Space American Berlin Across Three Centuries Part Two: A Tale of Berlin How American Is It Toy Houses and Playing-Card Lawns “German” Roots Part Three: Rags, Riches and Rooming Houses Riches Rags Rooming Houses The Great DivorceWater Crossings Part Four: “This is our Armageddon” Ruined Landscapes, Ruined Women Women with Attachments: Mermaids, Drink and Drowning City of Night “Certain tendencies”: Queer Berlin0Underground Berlin “Something was different, but nothing had changed” Contaminating City Just off the Kurfürstendamm: Spy Fiction The Garden and the Forest: Natural Space in BerlinThe Weather in Berlin Isolating Berlin Naturalizing the WallEscape from Berlin Part Five: Family Reunions: Searching for Someone in Berlin Women and Children First: Taming History Contemporary Voices: Re-Storing Mythologies Conclusion Bibliography of Fiction Bibliography of Secondary Sources Index