Page 98 [98]
NIKOLA TUTEK
Canadian literature in general shows a high level of awareness of other, even
distant cultures. However, there is an inevitable shift in meanings of all
cultural information that crosses the Atlantic and can be detected in both
analyzed stories; illustrative examples are the usage of the term pierogi in
"Five Points" and the usage of anglicized and partially incorrect Albanian
words and expressions in "Ihe Albanian Virgin". Furthermore, re-interpreted
features of Balkan cultures/mentalities inevitably follow already existing
cultural preconceptions about these cultures and simultaneously form new
preconceptions which become the basis for identifying and understanding
certain national groups/minorities overseas. After reading the two analyzed
stories by Alice Munro, one can reconfirm or construct notions of both
Croatians and Albanians as traditional, religious, hard working, and, finally,
exotic. However, it is never that simple with Alice Munro. A more careful
reader will notice the plethora of re-interpreted cultural elements of both
appropriated and dominant cultures, which are masterfully intertwined in
the narrations and their semantic connotations.
The essential issue regarding cultural appropriation/re-interpretation in
literature is a question of critical acclaim. While cultural re-interpretation
in literature mostly remains beyond the scope of moral and even factual
scrutiny, it can have a deep effect on the quality of literary works. “Five
Points” is better known and more discussed than “The Albanian Virgin”,
and I believe, based on my research, that this is partially so due to the more
successful cultural re-interpretation in “Five Points”. It is exactly Munro’s
different approach to literary re-interpretation of elements of distant cultures
that makes “The Albanian Virgin” interesting, and “Five Points” outstanding
literature. *°
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kovacs, Attila, Alban-Alpok: Beskjét e Namuna — az elátkozott hegyvidék,
A Földgömb, 3, 2008, 52-58.
LOscHNIGG, Maria, The Contemporary Canadian Short Story in English.
Continuity and Change, Trier, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2014.
MUNRO, Alice, Friend of My Youth, London, Vintage, 1996.
MUNRO, Alice, Open Secrets, London, Vintage, 1995.
NICKLAS, Pascal — OLIVER, Lindner, Adaptation and Cultural Appropriation:
Literature, Film and the Arts, Berlin/Boston, De Gruyter, 2012.
ROGINER, Oszkar, Jugoszlaviai magyar irodalom terei, Zenta, VMMI, 2019.
35 IT would like to express my gratitude to MA in Albanian Language and Arts and BA in Political
Science Anjeza Shatku for providing me an important insight into Albanian language and
culture, and to Dr.sc.phil. Joseph Molitorisz for comments and editing.
+ % +