Abstract
Nowadays considered as one of the most important Polish writers, Andrzej Stasiuk is an author of numerous travel journals in which he describes his journeys to the countries of Eastern Europe. The writer’s fascination with the nomadic lifestyle of the gypsies and the countries he travelled through, characterized by a certain economic delay, become an opportunity to ask important questions regarding the changes that have taken place in the contemporary world, driven by the capitalism, about differences and similarities and finally about the national identities (his own et the others’). Firstly, this work analyses the role that travels play in Stasiuk’s prose, as well as the role of the mythology he creates around the lifestyle of the nomads and the meanings he attributes to them (freedom, space, independence of the concept of nationality, lack of borders). In second place, the author focuses on the geographical areas visited by the Polish writer and their way of functioning, standing in opposition to the way of life and the values of Western countries. The author will show, based on Milan Kundera’s essay, that an East-West opposition of identities is being created in the works of Stasiuk. Finally, the present paper introduces the effects of such constructed literary world on the concept of national identities, among others on the image of Polish identity created by Stasiuk, built at the same time on opposition and similarity to the Other.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Travel, Identity, Nomads, Gypsy, Europe, Aestheticization, Disintegration
