From the Peripheries to the Centre via Asia: The Notion of European Identity in Polish and Serbian Travel Writings About Asia (1850s–1920s)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11649/ch.2963Keywords:
European identity, imaginative geographies, Orientalism, peripheries, Polish travellers, postcolonialism, Serbian travellers, travel writingAbstract
The paper focuses on various dimensions of European identity in Polish and Serbian travel writings about Asia in the period from the 1850s to the 1920s, examining several case studies that show how travellers often identified themselves as Europeans, but sometimes discussed various aspects of European identity and had many issues with this self-description. The analysis is based on a large corpus of Polish and Serbian travelogues, but works by Gustaw Olechowski, Karol Lanckoroński, Pavel Petrović, Jerzy Bandrowski, Milan Jovanović, Eugeniusz Romer, Jadwiga Marcinowska and Jelena Dimitrijević are scrutinised in detail. The following issues are discussed: assuming European identity, European identity and planetary consciousness, overcoming Orientalism, the periphery complex, reversed Orientalism and Occidentalism, patriotism, and identification with Asians.
References
Adas, M. (2018). Machines as the measure of men: Science, technology and ideologies of Western dominance (2nd ed.). Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801455261 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801455261
Ahmed, S. (2014). The cultural politics of emotion (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203700372 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203700372
Bakić-Hayden, M. (1995). Nesting orientalisms: The case of former Yugoslavia. Slavic Review, 54(4), 917–931. https://doi.org/10.2307/2501399 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2501399
Bandrowski, J. (1923). Przez jasne wrota (2nd ed.). Wydawnictwo Polskie.
Barth, F. (1969). Introduction. In F. Barth (Ed.), Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of cultural difference (pp. 9–38). Waveland Press.
Blue, G. (1999). China and Western social thought in the modern period. In T. Brook & G. Blue (Eds.), China and historical capitalism (pp. 57–109). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511470707.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511470707.005
Bošković, V. (2018). Jelena Dimitrijević u kontekstu: Rane feministkinje i putopisci Jugoistočne Evrope. In B. Dojčinović & J. Milinković (Eds.), Čitate li Jelenu Dimitrijević?: Zbornik radova (pp. 155–168). Filološki fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu. https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch11
Bracewell, W., & Drace-Francis, A. (Eds.). (2008). Under eastern eyes: A comparative introduction to East European travel writing on Europe, 1550–2000. Central European University Press.
Budrewicz, T. (2018). Kodeks Polaka w podróży. In T. Budrewicz & M. Sadlik (Eds.), Od Galicji po Amerykę: Literackim tropem XIX-wiecznych podróży (pp. 111–131). Wydawnictwo Naukowe UP. https://doi.org/10.24917/9788380841093 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24917/9788380841093
Buruma, I., & Margalit, A. (2004). Occidentalism: The West in the eyes of its enemies. The Penguin Press.
Chen, X. (1992). Occidentalism as counterdiscourse: “He Shang” in post-Mao China. Critical Inquiry, 18(4), 686–712. https://doi.org/10.1086/448652 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/448652
Crowley, D. (2008). Seeing Japan, imagining Poland: Polish art and the Russo-Japanese war. The Russian Review, 67(January), 50–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467–9434.2007.00473.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9434.2007.00473.x
Diklić, S. (1932). Putničke bilješke jugoslovenskog ratnog dobrovoljca: od Dobrudže do Soluna preko Dalekog istoka. Krbavac i Pavlović.
Dimitrijević, J. (1940). Sedam mora i tri okeana: Putem oko sveta. Državna štamparija Kraljevine Jugoslavije.
Dimitrijević, J. (2020). Sedam mora i tri okeana: Druga knjiga (B. Dojčinović & V. Đurić, Eds.). Filološki fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu. Narodna Biblioteka Srbije.
Dmowski, R. (1904). Ex oriente lux. Niektóre nauki z obecnej wojny. Przegląd Wszechpolski, 1904(9,10,12), 648–655, 748–755, 909–918.
Đurić, V. (2018). Francuska kultura Jelene Dimitrijević: “Srpska duša” između Istoka i Zapada. In B. Dojčinović & J. Milinković (Eds.), Čitate li Jelenu Dimitrijević?: Zbornik radova (pp. 79–94). Filološki fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu. https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch7
Ewertowski, T. (2020). Images of China in Polish and Serbian travel writings (1720–1949). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004435445 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004435445
Ewertowski, T. (2022). The tropics and the East-Central European gaze. Wacana. Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia, 23(1), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.17510/wacana.v23i1.1088 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17510/wacana.v23i1.1088
Forajter, W. (2014). Kolonizator skolonizowany: Przypadek Sygurda Wiśniowskiego. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego.
Forajter, W. (2022). Dyslokacje: Studia o literaturze i innych dyskursach XIX wieku. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego.
Goldsworthy, V. (1998). Inventing Ruritania: The imperialism of the imagination. Yale University Press.
Gregory, D. (1995). Between the book and the lamp: Imaginative geographies of Egypt, 1849–50. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 20(1), 29–57. https://doi.org/10.2307/622723 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/622723
Gvozden, V. (2011). Srpska putopisna kultura 1914–1940: Studija o hronotopičnosti susreta. Službeni glasnik.
Hutcheon, L. (2002). Rethinking the National Model. In L. Hutcheon & M. J. Valdés (Eds.), Rethinking literary history (pp. 3–49). Oxford University Press.
Janion, M. (2006). Niesamowita Słowiańszczyzna: Fantazmaty literatury. Wydawnictwo Literackie.
Jovanović, M. (1895). Tamo amo po istoku: Sveska druga. Srpska književna zadruga.
Koch, M. (2007). ...kiedy dojrzejemy jako kultura... Twórczość pisarek serbskich na początku XX wieku (kanon – genre – gender). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.
Kołodziejczyk, D., & Huigen S. (2023). East Central Europe between the colonial and the postcolonial: A critical introduction. In S. Huigen & D. Kołodziejczyk (Eds.), East Central Europe between the colonial and the postcolonial in the twentieth century (pp. 1–31). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17487-2_1
Kołos, A. (2020). Imagining yourself as the Other and vice versa: Ethnic self-identifications as floating images. In A. Kiklewicz (Ed.), Wizerunek jako kategoria teorii komunikacji, antropologii kultury i semiotyki tekstu (pp. 319–330). Centrum Badań Europy Wschodniej.
Lanckoroński, K. (1893). Na około Ziemi. 1888–1889: Wrażenia i poglądy. Gebethner i Spółka.
Lazarević Radak, S. (2014). Nevidljivi Balkan: Prilog istoriji postkolonijalnih geografija (M. Orlić, Ed.). Mali Nemo.
Lewis, M. W., & K. E. Wigen (1997). The myth of continents: A critique of metageography. Berkeley.
Marcinowska, J. (1911). Z głosów lądu i morza. Wydawnictwo S. Orgelbranda Synów.
Marcinowska, J. (1925). W upalnem sercu Wschodu: Wrażenia z podróży po Egipcie, Indjach, Cejlonie i Jawie. Książnica – Atlas.
Milutinović, Z. (2011). Getting over Europe: The construction of Europe in Serbian culture. Rodopi. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789042032729 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789042032729
Moroz, G. (2020). A generic history of travel writing in Anglophone and Polish literature. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004429611 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004429611
Neumann, I. B. (1998). Uses of the other: “The East” in European identity formation. University of Minnesota Press.
Olechowski, G. (1909). Wzdłuż Azyi 1909 r. Księgarnia St. Sadowskiego.
Osterhammel, J. (2014). The transformation of the world: A global history of the nineteenth century (P. Camiller, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 2009). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400849949
Pagden, A. (1993). European encounters with the New World: From Renaissance to Romanticism. Yale University Press.
Peković, S. (2018). Sestre Turkinje i sestre Amerikanke. In B. Dojčinović & J. Milinković (Eds.), Čitate li Jelenu Dimitrijević?: Zbornik radova (pp. 119–130). Filološki fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu. https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch9
Petrović, P. (1850, December 12). Srpsko pismo iz Hongkonga od 28. septembra 1850. Srbske Novine, 17(138), 527–528.
Pratt, M. L. (2008). Imperial eyes: Travel writing and transculturation (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203932933 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203932933
Radulović, N. (2018). Slika Indije u srpskoj književnosti 19. veka. Dositejev vrt, 6, 33–78.
Rajčević, M. (1930). Na Dalekom Istoku. Štamparija “Đura Jakšić.”
Romer, E. (1964). Japonia i Japończycy: Kilka wrażeń i rozmyślań z podróży na Daleki Wschód. In A. Zierhoffer (Ed.), Wybór pism (Vol. 4, pp. 267–297). Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. Vintage Books.
Sapieha, P. (1899). Podróż na wschód Azyi. 1888–1889. Księgarnia Gubrynowicza i Schmidta.
Sekiguchi, T. (2008). Azja nie istnieje. Teksty Drugie, 2008(4), 48–75.
Siedlecki, M. (1913). Jawa: Przyroda i sztuka: Uwagi z podróży. Wydawnictwo J. Mortkowicza.
Skórczewski, D. (2013). Teoria − literatura – dyskurs: Pejzaż postkolonialny. Wydawnictwo KUL.
Slapšak, S. (2018). Ženska dekonstrukcija orijentalizma: Kripto-kolonijalizam i Jelena Dimitrijević. In B. Dojčinović & J. Milinković (Eds.), Čitate li Jelenu Dimitrijević?: Zbornik radova (pp. 131–154). Filološki fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu. https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18485/jdimitrijevic.2018.ch10
Sowa, J. (2011). Fantomowe ciało króla: Peryferyjne zmagania z nowoczesną formą. Universitas.
Stanojević, V. (1934). Moje ratne beleške i slike. [s.n.].
Subotić, O. (1921). Iz žutog carstva. Natošević.
Thompson, C. (2011). Travel writing. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203816240 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203816240
Todorova, M. (2009). Imagining the Balkans (Updated edition). Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195387865.001.0001
Ujejski, R. (1894). Indye Wschodnie: Szkice z podróży w roku 1891. Jakubowski & Zadurowicz.
Ureña Valerio, L. A. (2019). Colonial fantasies, imperial realities: Race science and the making of Polishness on the fringes of the German Empire, 1840–1920. Ohio University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv224tzkd DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv224tzkd
Wilce, J. M. (2009). Crying shame: Metaculture, modernity, and the exaggerated death of lament. Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444306248
Wolff, L. (1994). Inventing Eastern Europe: The map of civilization on the mind of the enlightenment. Stanford University Press.
Zarycki, T. (2004). Uses of Russia: The role of Russia in the modern Polish national identity. East European Politics and Societies, 18(4), 595–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325404269758 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325404269758
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Tomasz Ewertowski
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
