Postjugoslawische Reisen in der deutschsprachigen Literatur

The study focuses on significant changes within the literary field regarding the narrative subject of Yugoslavia: Between the publication of Peter Handke's "Winter Journey" (1996) and Saša Stanišić's narrative work "Origin" (2019), a discursive shift from 'foreign,' external perspectives on the (post-)Yugoslav cultural space to autobiographical narratives can be observed, particularly evident in the Handke Nobel Prize debate in 2019. The subject of investigation in this study consists of narrative texts based on the personal or familial experiences of flight and migration from three authors: Saša Stanišić, Jagoda Marinić, and Marko Dinić. A central aim is to highlight and differentiate the diversity of post-Yugoslav travel representations within a cultural in-group, both in their themes and motifs as well as in their formal-aesthetic characteristics. Stanišić, Marinić, and Dinić provide intercultural experiential knowledge that contributes to the understanding of (post-)Yugoslav history in the German-speaking world. This study offers innovative connections, especially for literary scholars engaged with intercultural literature. It examines literary journeys through the cultural space of former Yugoslavia, focusing on narrative characters who return to their regions of origin and confront tensions between their current life worlds and their Yugoslav family histories. These journeys involve an exploration of local cultures of memory that delve into historical upheavals such as the Yugoslav Wars.