Khider’s Der falsche Inder (2008) Module: Writing the Self/Other

Categorized as 200-level course, 300 or 400-level course, Abbas Khider, Lesson Plan, Migration Studies, Race & Ethnicity

Frame and Preparation

Writing the Self/Other in Abbas Khider’s Der falsche Inder (2008)

Conceptual Frames and Background

  • border crossing, migration, flight
  • transit
  • multidirectional memory
  • narrative re-telling, narrative techniques
  • writing on walls
  • found manuscripts
  • Arab-German studies

Introduction

Der falsche Inder is Abbas Khider’s debut novel. It features a frame narrative, told from the perspective of an unnamed intradiegetic narrator, which consists of just four pages at the beginning and five pages at the end. This frame takes place predominantly on an ICE train from Berlin to Munich, at the beginning of which this narrator happens upon and eventually claims a manuscript titled “Errinerungen.” The middle 148 pages of Der falsche Inder consist of this found text, written by the novel’s metadiegetic narrator Rasul Hamid, and details his experiences as a political prisoner fleeing from Iraq to Germany, where he receives asylum.

Rasul Hamid (as well as the unnamed intradiegetic narrator) relies heavily on the motif of writing to express a specific, dialogic relationship connecting memory and mobility.

Potential Expansions to the Lesson

  • This lesson is the second of a series of lessons in this database that build on each other. Lessons will be linked once they are finalized and published:
    • the first lesson introduces the novels and the module;
    • the second lesson (this one) and third lesson involve close readings of selections from the texts;
    • the fourth lesson works on listening comprehension through a Hörspiel version of Der falsche Inder.
  • This lesson could be further expanded to look at the role and representation of writing in other texts, for example:
    • Khider’s third novel, Brief in die Auberginenrepublik (2013) places a keen emphasis on the written world as it follows a love letter traveling from Bengasi, Libya to Baghdad, Iraq.
    • In Jusuf Naoum’s novel Nura: eine Libanesin in Deutschland (1996) writing proves to be the path to the protagonist’s mental recovery after the death of a close friend and her journals convey the bulk of the plot.

Text and Discussion

Overview

This discussion-based lesson plan focuses on the motif of writing in Der falsche Inder.

Suggested Excerpts and Highlighted Quotes

  • Part I frame narrative introduction, (pg. 7-11)
  • Chapter 2 “Schreiben und Verlieren” (pg. 24-34)
    • “So müsste ich wie alle Gefangenen an die Wände schreiben. Ich habe viel auf diese Wände geschrieben. Hätten sie nur in meine Hosentasche gepasst, ich hätte sie glatt eingepackt und mitgenommen.” (29)
  • Chapter 4 “Sprechende Wände” (pg. 58-66)
    • “Während meiner Mittelschulzeit verzierte ich die Wände der Schule mit provozierenden Unanständigkeiten in Kreide.“ (59)
    • „Am Anfang dachte ich [diese Burschen] kämen schon wieder; aber dann ging das Gerücht, sie hätten unter der Folter zugegeben, die Urheber dieser Sprüche gewesen zu sein. Seitdem habe ich keinen einzigen Satz mehr an die Wand irgendeiner Schule geschrieben.” (59)
    • “Die Wände waren voll von Inschriften und Malereien. Einer meiner Mitbewohner erzählte mir, im Nachbarzimmer stehe ein Gedicht an der Wand, das unglaublich hoffnungslos und grausam klinge. Sein Titel: ‚Chronik der verlorenen Zeit‘. Ich besuchte die Nachbarn und las das Gedicht… Ich brachte kein Wort heraus… und konnte es nicht glauben. Das Gedicht stammte von mir. Was war das für eine Welt?“ (65)
  • Part II frame narrative conclusion, (pg. 153-157)
    • The intradiegetic narrator asks: “…was soll ich sagen? Dass ich ein Manuskript gefunden habe, in dem meine eigene Geschichte zu finden ist, geschrieben von einem Fremden namens Rasul Hamid?” (153)

Discussion Prompts

Diskussion: What images of writing did you encounter in the excerpts?

  • What motivates the characters to write?
  • Where are they writing? What materials do they use? Are they writing in private or public?
  • What types of writing are they producing? What are they writing about?
  • Who is the audience for these written pieces? Who encounters them?

Diskussion: What are the consequences of writing?

  • Are there risks involved in writing? Rewards?
  • Who is the narrator of this book?
  • What is the relationship between the intradiegetic narrator (the unnamed ICE train passenger) and the metadiegetic narrator (Rasul Hamid)?
  • How do the characters express or process experiences? This could include thinking about memories, history and historical events, or how they represent themselves.