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ABSTRACT

My paper discusses post-1989 travel writing occasioned by the fall of the Berlin Wall and analyzes two travelogues by well- known Eastern European exiles, namely Eva Hoffman and Slavenka Drakulić. I explore the perceptions of the “Balkans” and “Eastern Europe” as reflected in Exit into History: A Journey through the New Eastern Europe (1993) and Café Europa: Life after Communism (1996). I am also interested in the dis/continuities of the travelogue genre—a genre which, according to critics and scholars like Larry Wolff, Maria Todorova, Vesna Goldsworthy or David Norris, has shaped the way this region came to be known and represented. By following the tradition of early travelogues about the Balkans and Eastern Europe and catering to a certain degree to Anglo-American expectations, i.e., “marketing the post-communist exotic” (to paraphrase Graham Huggan), these post-1989 travel narratives appear as another process of exploiting the region. However, I argue that with Hoffman and Drakulić the travelogue format enables a more critical reconfiguration and a more productive cultural translation of the Balkans and post/communist Eastern Europe.

KEYWORDS: Eva Hoffman, Slavenka Drakulić, travel writing, Eastern Europe, post-communism 

摘 要

本文特就知名流亡作家伊娃‧霍夫曼(Eva Hoffman)及 史拉玟卡‧德古麗琪(Slavenka Drakulić)兩部遊記進行分析, 探討一九八九年柏林圍牆倒塌後孕育而生的旅遊書寫。本文 就《告別歷史舞台:新東歐周遊之旅》(Exit into History: A Journey through the New Eastern Europe)及《歐洲咖啡館: 尋找自我的東歐世界》(Café Europa: Life after Communism) 二部作品,探討作者認知中的「巴爾幹半島」與「東歐」。 本文亦著眼於遊記的連貫性與不連貫性。根據沃夫(Larry Wolff)、托多洛夫(Maria Todorova)、高茲沃斯(Vesna Goldsworthy)與諾瑞斯(David Norris)四位評論家和學者的 看法,旅遊書寫足以形塑讀者對當地的印象與觀感,而一九 八九年以降的旅遊書寫,係承襲自早期巴爾幹半島及東歐的 遊記傳統,並在某種程度上迎合英美讀者的期待。若依胡根 (Graham Huggan)之見,是要「行銷後共產時代的異國情調」 (marketing the post-communist exotic),可說是另一種剝削 當地的過程。然而,本文認為,霍夫曼與德古麗琪的遊記書 寫形式足以重新塑造巴爾幹半島和後/共產東歐地區,並透 過文字讓讀者窺探當地獨一無二的文化內涵。

關鍵字:伊娃‧霍夫曼、史拉玟卡.德古麗琪、旅遊書寫、 東歐、後共產主義