SOURCE: Saalmann, Dieter. “Joyce Carol Oates: ‘Speak to Me in Berliner,’ or Deconstructing the Logocentric Closure in East-West Relations.” Studies in Short Fiction 27, no. 1 (winter 1990): 21-34.

In the following essay, Saalmann elucidates the function of the Berlin Wall and the status of East-West relations in “Ich bin ein Berliner” and “Our Wall.”

It was a time of platitudes. …

—Joyce Carol Oates, “Détente”

In Joyce Carol Oates' stories “Ich bin ein Berliner” and “Our Wall,” the Berlin Wall functions as the objective symbol of the tragically divided human psyche. In the latter narrative, the specificity of the East-West barrier is elevated to encompass the philosophical underpinnings of all divides that constrict the mind. In both prose texts, the rigorous assessment of the historical facts underlying Berlin's special status, namely, its allied administrative regimen, is an impressive and convincing concretization of the principle of deconstruction.

In summary fashion, Oates'...