<i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea
Since the time of Herodotus’ Historiai, travel writing as a literary genre has been marked by an unspoken premise: Westerners would be the observing travellers, while Orientals or Easterners, on the contrary, the observed natives. Focusing on the recent development of an opposite «counter-travel wri...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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UNICApress
2011-11-01
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| Series: | Between |
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| Online Access: | http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/301 |
| _version_ | 1797722848861618176 |
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| author | Luigi Marfè |
| author_facet | Luigi Marfè |
| author_sort | Luigi Marfè |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the time of Herodotus’ Historiai, travel writing as a literary genre has been marked by an unspoken premise: Westerners would be the observing travellers, while Orientals or Easterners, on the contrary, the observed natives. Focusing on the recent development of an opposite «counter-travel writing» by extra-European authors who live in the West and face its contradictions, this essay defines the historical and literary changes that have overturned this paradigm. Caught between two cultures, two languages, and two nations, authors such as Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, and Suketu Mehta, have profoundly reshaped the representation of the cultural encounter between the West and the East. If “nation” consists in its “narration”, as Homi Bhabha puts it, the same concept of homeland loses its geographical roots and opens itself to the endless contaminations of a global world. West and East thus become “imaginary homelands”: ideal spaces for the renegotiation of cultures and identities which need always to be rethought, retold, and re-imagined. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:54:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-958b0506f38346ceb56c91bbd5fef99e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2039-6597 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:54:40Z |
| publishDate | 2011-11-01 |
| publisher | UNICApress |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Between |
| spelling | doaj.art-958b0506f38346ceb56c91bbd5fef99e2023-09-02T12:18:46ZengUNICApressBetween2039-65972011-11-011210.13125/2039-6597/301228<i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporaneaLuigi Marfè0Università di TorinoSince the time of Herodotus’ Historiai, travel writing as a literary genre has been marked by an unspoken premise: Westerners would be the observing travellers, while Orientals or Easterners, on the contrary, the observed natives. Focusing on the recent development of an opposite «counter-travel writing» by extra-European authors who live in the West and face its contradictions, this essay defines the historical and literary changes that have overturned this paradigm. Caught between two cultures, two languages, and two nations, authors such as Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, and Suketu Mehta, have profoundly reshaped the representation of the cultural encounter between the West and the East. If “nation” consists in its “narration”, as Homi Bhabha puts it, the same concept of homeland loses its geographical roots and opens itself to the endless contaminations of a global world. West and East thus become “imaginary homelands”: ideal spaces for the renegotiation of cultures and identities which need always to be rethought, retold, and re-imagined.http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/301Letterature di viaggioGeocriticaGlobalizzazioneOrientalismoStudi postcoloniali |
| spellingShingle | Luigi Marfè <i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea Between Letterature di viaggio Geocritica Globalizzazione Orientalismo Studi postcoloniali |
| title | <i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea |
| title_full | <i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea |
| title_fullStr | <i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea |
| title_full_unstemmed | <i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea |
| title_short | <i>Imaginary Homelands</i>. Rappresentazioni incrociate di Oriente e Occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea |
| title_sort | i imaginary homelands i rappresentazioni incrociate di oriente e occidente nella letteratura di viaggio contemporanea |
| topic | Letterature di viaggio Geocritica Globalizzazione Orientalismo Studi postcoloniali |
| url | http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/301 |
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