Literary Constructions of the City and Immigrant Characters in Contemporary European Fiction

As part of the research project “Analysis of Systems in Crisis and of New Consciousness in 21st Century Literature” which examines the phenomenon of crisis in contemporary English-speaking, German-speaking and Croatian literature, this paper investigates the construction of urban spaces and their relationships towards literary urban spaces and how these urban spaces influence integration processes. The theoretical foundation for the analysis is based on Juri Lotman's notions of home and anti-home and Umberto Eco's semantic codes. The analysis will be conducted on four contemporary European novels: Seltsame Sterne starren zur Erde (2003) by Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Honor (2011) by Elif Shafak, Der Gipfeldieb (2015) by Radek Knapp and Između (2022) by Kristina Gavran. In three of the examined cases – Özdamar's, Shafak's and Gavran's novel – the new city remains a temporary residence for the immigrants, whereas in only one novel (Knapp's), the immigrant protagonist manages to integrate into the new urban space. The results of the analysis will reveal the marginalized position of immigrant characters in the urban space within the literary context and show that the urban space is an important factor in their failed integration.