From the Clash of East-West Identities up to their Flow into One Another: Spatial Constructions in Trojanow’s Novel “The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Everywhere”

Abstract

The paper sheds light on the different ways Ilija Trojanow deals with concepts of East and West in his novel "The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Everywhere" (1996). The spatially drafted identities of East and West, which are depicted in this novel, seem to be obsolete and multiply decoded. Furthermore, I explore the most important aspects of the reconciliation of different cultures and point out the ongoing tendency of cultural connecting. I start with some remarks from Stuart Hall about "west" and "non-west" identities, Larry Wolff's "Inventing Eastern Europe", as well as Maria Todorova's "Imagining the Balkans". Later on, I use the study by Ilija Trojanow and Ranjit Hoskoté: "The Clash Denial: Cultures don't battle – they flow into one another" to read the novel as reflected in the reconciliation of cultures.