A GAME FOR THE DEVIL’S SOUL – ON MULTI-CULTURALISM AND THE LITERARY TOPOS BORDERLAND IN THE CONTEXT OF IVO ANDRIĆ’S WORK AND OF CONTEMPORARY POLISH PROSE FICTION

Abstract

In contemporary discourse multiculturalism is predominantly associated with the processes of globalization. The paper analyses the problems of the historical multiethnic variety at the borderland, as they have been fictionalized by Ivo Andrić and the works describing “the Polish west” of the Polish writers on the verge between the 20th and the 21st centuries (the so-called roots-seekers). The chronotope of these works covers two regions of Europe – Ivo Andrić’s Bosnia, Pomerania and Silesia, parts of which were allocated to Poland after WW2. The methodology of research presents the research theses not only from a literary point of view, but also through the lenses of sociology of literature, culture, multicultural theory and ethnic adaptation. The historical context of the works is to be found in the events in Bosnia during the 90’s of the 20th century, and the public and cultural environment of Polish immigrants in the “West lands”. The various historical events on territories representing ethnic, religious, and cultural crossroads show that multiculturalism yields not only harmony, but threats, as well. Threats, reflecting predominantly the stereotypes of the Other, the Foreigner, along with the historical and cultural impossibility of achieving peace between the ethnic groups.