What Makes a Nation Visible Kalogjera, Branka
International journal of diversity in organisations, communities and nations,
2007, Letnik:
7, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Although traditional distinctions between different cultures of the United States are becoming blurred and diminishing, people still prefer to identify themselves according to their ethnic or ...religious belonging. Following the 'melting pot' phenomenon there emerged a pride in one's specific cultural background, but throughout it all the Slavs remained unrecognisable.Within the literary corpus of the US ethnic experience, Slavic writers seem to be occupied with ideas of the homeland – Eastern or South-Eastern Europe – as it was before their friends, families and ultimately characters moved to the States, or as it develops in the time of their absence. Ethnic literature of the United States developed as a "complex project of negotiation between past and present, between physical and psychic relocation" (de Manuel, 2004), which is particularly true of the Slavs and visible in recurring motifs in both their poetry and prose, but while this creates a common ground to many shared experiences regardless of whether the immigrants are for example Polish or Croatian, their histories do differ.What should be done to challenge the stereotyped and often misled "tied image" that the average American reader has in mind when presented with the idea of a person of Slavic descent? Has anything changed since the 1920s, when Croats were called Polacks (Ifkovic, "Anna Marinkovich", 1980) and Slavs were a generic category for "various stock" (Horace M. Kallen in "The Nation", 1915)? As my research focuses on Croatian literature in the United States, I will use samples from that particular segment of US ethnic writing to demonstrate its specific, unique character distinguishable from those of other Slavic groups not only through subtle differences in history, culture, and their resulting mores, but also through a more direct motif - politics. As writers whose origins lie in Eastern Europe (particulary the South East, also known as the Balkans) observed the trials and tribulations of their homelands, struggles rampant in those foreign lands passed through their writings into Slavic communities of the United States. The ultimate aim of this paper is to see which is the effective path in making one small nation recognisable through its literary production - the strategy of "us (the Croats) versus them (other Slavic groups, charged with different meanings and backgrounds)", which exists both in this reality and that of the written word, or the emphasis on, and celebration of one's culture's uniqueness unburdened by comparison or rivalry.
Ljerka Lukić (Živinice, 1962.) diplomirala je na Pedagoškoj akademiji u Tuzli, potom je pohađala diplomski studij kroatistike na Pedagoškom fakultetu u Osijeku. Na Filozofskom fakultetu u Zagrebu ...magistrirala je s temom Književnost bosanskih franjevaca — putopisna proza fra Ivana Franje Jukića u kontekstu putopisa ilirskog pokreta. Bavi se proučavanjem kulturologije bosanskih Hrvata, folkloristikom, likovnim i primijenjenim umjetnostima. Engleski jezik usavršava u Londonu i Oxfordu, gdje je ujedno radila na doktorskoj disertaciji. Tijekom Domovinskog rata boravila je u Živinicama, potom u Zagrebu gdje je radila kao lektorica za bilten hrvatskoga Caritasa.
Ljerka Lukić je pjesnikinja triju domovina, Bosne i Hercegovine, Hrvatske i Kanade. Smatram ju pjesnikinjom između domovina, ali i kozmopolitom. Svojim pjesničkim opusom pjesnikinja uranja u sve ...aspekte
iseljeničkih iskustava, ali se i otvara prema univerzalnim, globalnim temama.
Začeci hrvatsko-američke književnosti vezani su uz pojavu prvih imigrantskih glasila (almanasi, kalendari, tjednici, časopisi) u kojima se uz informativne tekstove, prijevode, oglase, mogu naći i ...prvi pjesnički i prozni pokušaji američkih Hrvata. Tijekom godina stasa i književno se profilira nekoliko književnih generacija američkih Hrvata koje uz književne prinose egzilantskih pisaca svjedoče o bogatoj, raznolikoj i umjetnički vrijednoj književnoj produkciji Hrvata u Americi.
Premda se žanrovsko određenje romana Maria Puza svodi na termin "crime fiction novel" on se može promatrati i kao vrlo zahvalan primjer etničkog romana. Brojne etničke komponente koje su ...inkorporirane u tekst jasno upućuju na to. Svrha ovog rada bila je otkriti ih i tako argumentirati tezu o "Godfatheru" kao etničkom romanu.
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