«В ПЕРВУЮ ОЧЕРЕДЬ ПАТРИОТКА, А ЗАТЕМ ФЕМИНИСТКА»: НАЦИЯ И ГЕНДЕР В ТРАВЕЛОГАХ СЕРБСКОЙ ПИСАТЕЛЬНИЦЫ ЕЛЕНЫ ДИМИТРИЕВИЧ

Abstract

The paper deals with the intersection of several types of discrimination (gender and age, gender and nationality, race) in the travelogues of the Serbian writer Jelena Dimitrijević (1862–1945). The following aspects of her works are touched upon: 1) the Balkans as an imaginary space between East and West; 2) self-identification of a Serbian female traveler; 3) ageism in Serbian society; 4) imaginary East; 5) the relationship of patriotism and feminism; 6) discriminatory practices in the USA; 7) place in the national canon. Methodologically, the study is based on the achievements of postcolonial and gender theories, as well as on the theory of intersectionality. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the “eastern” and “feminine” topic in Dimitrijević’s texts, their relationship with national problematics, and the racial discrimination is also touched upon. The writer herself encounters various forms of oppression. Sometimes women she meets during her travels are vivid cases of oppression. Quite often various types of discrimination are exposed in her texts (for example, in an American travelogue). In the works of the Serbian writer the search and the rejection of fixed identities are obvious.