Balkanisms Old and New: The Discourse of Balkanism and Self-Othering in Vesna Goldsworthy’s Chernobyl Strawberries and Inventing Ruritania

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Abstract

This paper explores the discourse and counter-discourse of Balkanism. After an overview of theoretical debates around the concept of Balkanism, Vesna Goldsworthy’s recent memoir Chernobyl Strawberries is considered and placed in a dialogue with her academic study Inventing Ruritania. A final section examines how the idea of Balkanism has been modified in the decade ensuing Inventing Ruritania, in light of recent migration flows from Eastern Europe to Britain and in light of discourses around the “Eastern European body” as represented in British media and literature. The final section also looks briefly at the representations of Eastern Europe in one of Bernadine Evaristo’s blogs and Dubravka Ugreši’s essays.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFacing the East in the West: images of Eastern Europe in British literature, film and culture
EditorsBarbara Korte, Eva Ulrike Pirker, Sissy Helff
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherRodopi
Pages185-203
Number of pages19
ISBN (Print)9042030496
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2010

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