Travels among “backward heathens”. J. I. Bajza’s “The Adventures and Experiences of the Young Man René” as a frontier orientalist fantasy
Travels among “backward heathens”. J. I. Bajza’s “The Adventures and Experiences of the Young Man René” as a frontier orientalist fantasy
Author(s): Dobrota PucherováSubject(s): Slovak Literature
Published by: Ústav svetovej literatúry, Slovenská akadémia vied
Keywords: Jozef Ignác Bajza; André Gingrich; Frontier orientalism; The novel of education; Slovak nationalism; Slovak Enlightenment;
Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes the Slovak novel René mládenca príhody a skúsenosti (1783–1785) by Jozef Ignác Bajza as a frontier orientalist fantasy. Unlike in Western European orientalist texts,where images of alien Muslim cultures served as a justification for imperialism, here they are used to fashion a Slovak modernity, confirming the Slovak people’s Christian, European and Slavic identity at a time when it was politically just starting to come into being as a nation. It is further argued that the novel departs from the typical Western orientalist fantasy, figured as a heterosexual heroic romance, towards the narrative of homo-social nationalist self-fashioning.
Journal: World Literature Studies
- Issue Year: 11/2019
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 45-60
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English