Postcolonial central europe? : Kundera's 'kidnapped west' in the mirror of postcolonial critique
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11210%2F20%3A10424848" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11210/20:10424848 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=hrhdahfIY7" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=hrhdahfIY7</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14712/23366680.2020.2.7" target="_blank" >10.14712/23366680.2020.2.7</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
čeština
Original language name
Postkoloniální střední Evropa? : Kunderův "unesený Západ" v zrcadle postkoloniální kritiky
Original language description
This article has a twofold aim: 1) to introduce four theoreticians who transfer concepts of postcolonial theory to the analysis of post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe; 2) to apply these concepts to the interpretative dialogue of Milan Kundera's essay E Tragedy of Central Europe (1983). The article thus presents the main concepts of the Bulgarian historian Maria Todorova (Balkanism and its similarities with and differences to Orientalism), American-Polish literary historian and Slavicist Ewa Thompson (surrogate hegemon, Sarmatism), Russian cultural theorist Madina Tlostanova (speaking from colonial wounds), and Hungarian sociologist Agnes Gagyi. In particular, the presentation of Todorova and Thompson is complemented by the presentation of the debates caused by their work (Diana Mishkova and Rastko Mocnik in Todorova's case, Stanley Bill, Jan Sowa, Claudia Snochowska- Gonzalez in Thompson's case) and conceptual alternatives (Maria Janion). The concepts of these authors are used to demonstrate how Kundera's essay is based on his ignorance of both non-European world and European internal peripheries, how it homogenizes Central European experiences, how it replaces politics by culture, and how it contributes to conservative identitarian positions which are not shared by Kundera in his other writings. In conclusion, the article discusses the mutual ignorance of Central European discourse and postcolonial discourse, and the possibilities of dialogue. On the meta-level the article also poses the question of how dialogue between theories of literature and political theory can enrich both participants.
Czech name
Postkoloniální střední Evropa? : Kunderův "unesený Západ" v zrcadle postkoloniální kritiky
Czech description
This article has a twofold aim: 1) to introduce four theoreticians who transfer concepts of postcolonial theory to the analysis of post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe; 2) to apply these concepts to the interpretative dialogue of Milan Kundera's essay E Tragedy of Central Europe (1983). The article thus presents the main concepts of the Bulgarian historian Maria Todorova (Balkanism and its similarities with and differences to Orientalism), American-Polish literary historian and Slavicist Ewa Thompson (surrogate hegemon, Sarmatism), Russian cultural theorist Madina Tlostanova (speaking from colonial wounds), and Hungarian sociologist Agnes Gagyi. In particular, the presentation of Todorova and Thompson is complemented by the presentation of the debates caused by their work (Diana Mishkova and Rastko Mocnik in Todorova's case, Stanley Bill, Jan Sowa, Claudia Snochowska- Gonzalez in Thompson's case) and conceptual alternatives (Maria Janion). The concepts of these authors are used to demonstrate how Kundera's essay is based on his ignorance of both non-European world and European internal peripheries, how it homogenizes Central European experiences, how it replaces politics by culture, and how it contributes to conservative identitarian positions which are not shared by Kundera in his other writings. In conclusion, the article discusses the mutual ignorance of Central European discourse and postcolonial discourse, and the possibilities of dialogue. On the meta-level the article also poses the question of how dialogue between theories of literature and political theory can enrich both participants.
Classification
Type
J<sub>SC</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database
CEP classification
—
OECD FORD branch
50601 - Political science
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA18-18675S" target="_blank" >GA18-18675S: Culture wars and national secularisation processes in Central Europe</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2020
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Slovo a smysl / Word & Sense
ISSN
1214-7915
e-ISSN
—
Volume of the periodical
17
Issue of the periodical within the volume
34
Country of publishing house
CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC
Number of pages
26
Pages from-to
105-130
UT code for WoS article
—
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85097460612