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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. + % +
